if you had the choice to be born would of chosen life?

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i'd choose yes .
'cause if i'd never been born, i'd never have met my girlfriend.

although, the thought of dying scares the hell out of me.
not the actual state of death so much as the actual painful and gruesome process.
if there were just a painless, instant, "off-switch" on the body somewhere to press when you're old and decrepit and figure you've lived long enough, that'd be cool.
or i hear dying of old age in your sleep isn't so bad,
but for all the other methods of dying, i might have chosen no, just to avoid.
but hey, i'm already alive and now it's just an eventuality, so i'm just going to see the sights and enjoy the ride for as long as i possibly can .

Of course not. It's a wonderful life.

Other than my obvious fear of death, I can't help but seem perplexed by people's thoughts. Naturally, I chose the only logical answer - "Yes". I, however, seem bewildered at why the masses seem to say "No, I would rather remain dead - rotting in a grave - or having never been embodied in this world to begin with"... Even with all the blooming suffering we may have faced, my only thought is that people must be pretty messed up to want to say that they wished they'd never experienced life, ever, to begin with. For that reason, I would question everyone who chose "No"'s sanity...

I'm not even going to elaborate on my own thoughts of disgust right now at all those in this community whom chose any option but "yes", seeing as how 42% have said yes, 38% have said no and 20% are unsure... I hope the reasons of my disgust are obvious and/or apparent. I like to clarify, this is me trying to "bite my tongue", so to speak. If someone can give me any logical reason why saying "No" or "Maybe" is better for some people than saying "Yes", please, speak up now so I may attempt to see your point of view.

What generosity of spirit, Etular, you humble us all! I'm sure people will fight each other for the opportunity to justify their choices in front of you, especially since you so generously promise you "may attempt to see their point of view".

Etular, the reply is simple. Too much suffering causes most 'higher animal' species to lose the will to live.
If you chose to disdain those who are suffering from their own suffering, you close the eyes to reality, more than than, you judge other people with a ruler that's not made for them. I can understand you point of view, of course, but I don't share it, and I believe it to be counterproductive in most cases. Do you believe telling a dyslexic to just get a grip on themselves cures their dyslexia?
Depression - and in most cases the replies here will be caused by it - is real, and it does not go away by ignoring it, nor by telling people that they aren't supposed to feel that way, or by implying that there are insane. What's worse it that by judging people this way, you do not gain anything (if you do, I'd really like you to question your personality), and yet so many other people suffer a loss from it.

I got used to being alive, so much that I don't want to miss it.
This has not always been the case.
I experienced a lot of things I do not wish any other person to experience. I survived them, and I survived the impact they had on me, on my psyche and personality. It would have been a lot easier if I hadn't been born, not for me but for other people. (Obviously there wouldn't have been a me, so it couldn't have been easier for said me.)
Still, I'm alive, and I want to be alive. And I want to be able to die some day knowing that I gave my best to live a good life, in my own moral values.

No.

I voted yes, even though I wonder how you could have made the choice if you were not alive in the first place?
To Abraham: I don't think it's true that autistic people live only for themselves. We can contribute with a lot, also personally.
Are we repulsive and should not have been born? I don't think so.
Such statements make me want to live for at least 100 years. Out of mere protest!

I don't want to die, but I think I should have never been born.

There appears to be a vast, yawming, chasm between my own worldviews and those of people like Etular.

"Irreconcilable differences" to put it into legal terms.


I CANNOT HELP seeing his views as anything other than illogical. That is....they are firmly opposed to the rational self-interest of the individual.

Thus....i'm not naive enough to think i'm going to be able to convince him
to accept my side of things no matter what I say.


Francis said something about Etular's Pavlovian response being broken and I must concur.

Again...this appears to be a question of one's RATIONAL SELF-INTEREST and nothing more.


Suppose I was given the opportunity to go on an all-expenses paid trip to Malyasia ( just one place in this world i've always wanted to see.)

But let's say there was just one catch. Let's say I somehow KNEW I was going to be miserable the whole time I was there. Let's say some very bad things would happen to me there which wouldn't have happened if I just stayed home.

Suppose I KNEW I would be raped and robbed while there. Suppose I KNEW I would also contract some immiserating tropical disease while there and that I would be violently ill and incapacited the entire time.


Why on Earth would I choose to go? Would it be within my rational self-interest to go on the trip? Would I be able to get any significant enjoyment from the things I went there to see and do?

Ditto for life itself if I somehow KNEW (and could choose to opt out of life), prior to my exit from mother's womb, my life would be what it has been for the past forty years.

I would choose to remain in oblivion...the infinitesimally small pleasures i've had in this life are infinitely outweighed by the suffering i've experienced.

So unless there is some "greater good" to all this suffering which i'm totally oblivious to or unless I actually took some sort of ubermasochistic pleasure (which I don't) in all the suffering and misery i've experienced...what would be so wrong with my choice to remain in oblivion? Why exactly would such a choice be so horrible, insane, irrational, immoral, etc....????

Can anyone tell me in strictly rational/logical terms devoid of emotionally/religiously/spiritually-based reasoning?

Don't plenty of people with very painful terminal illnesses choose to die? Few give people like that any grief and tell them they are "digusting" for making such a choice.

Is there some objective and provable law in the universe which states that life is always, unconditionally and unqualifiably, a good?

"No"

I voted maybe. Being a girl might be an exciting thing.

"Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f***ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of f***ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f*** you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f***ing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f***ed up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... " - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/quotes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koP4O6QAzx4


In other words, no.

If given the choice of having the life I have now or never being born; I would chose NOT to be born. I am a burden to my family & society. This world would is constantly reminding me of how they do NOT want me in it. If I was a truly selfless person I would of killed myself a long time ago instead of making things more difficult