Mister A Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 News report: http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/features/x1547940540/Somerville-man-left-suicide-note-online-before-shooting-himself-to-death-at-Harvard Note: http://www.suicidenote.info/ebook/suicide_note.pdf At least he had the integrity to follow his evil ideas to their logical ends instead of becoming a professor to kill the souls of others. Good riddance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maximus Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Good riddance... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecherry Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 I wonder how much time he bought himself with the rationalized excuse "I have to write this epically long note before I die." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayR Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Im surprised and disappointed that he didnt choose a much more fantastic way to kill himself. Someone who puts that much effort into a suicide note certainly could have come up with something a little more over the top. Shame. j.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussK Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 News report: http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/features/x1547940540/Somerville-man-left-suicide-note-online-before-shooting-himself-to-death-at-Harvard Note: http://www.suicidenote.info/ebook/suicide_note.pdf At least he had the integrity to follow his evil ideas to their logical ends instead of becoming a professor to kill the souls of others. Good riddance. His work will probably find its way into some text book... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0918 Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Rand is mentioned twice in the document, and described as having an "Ãœber-Hobbesian individualism" that radicalized the "libertarian, secular right". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0918 Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 (edited) Apparently, he was striving for complete objectivity: The most rigorous objectivity implies indifference to the consequence of objectivity, i.e. whether the consequences of objectivity yield life or death for the observer. In other words, the elimination of subjectivity demands indifference to self-preservation when self-preservation conflicts with objectivity. The attempt at rigorous objectivity could potentially counter the interests of self-preservation or even amount to rational self-destruction. The most total objectivity appears to lead to the most total self-negation. Objectivity towards biological factors is objectivity towards life factors. Indifference to life factors leads to indifference between the choices of life and death. To approach objectivity with respect to self-interest ultimately leads to indifference to whether one is alive or dead. The dead are most indifferent; the least interested; the least biased; the least prejudiced one way or the other. What is closest to total indifference is to be dead. If an observer hypothesizes death then, from that perspective, the observer has no vested interests in life and thus possible grounds for the most objective view. The more an observer is reduced to nothing, the more the observer is no longer a factor, the more the observer might set the conditions for the most rigorous objectivity. Of course, the context he drops is the goal of observation, the goal of the desire for objectivity. He mistook objectivity for the ultimate goal, rather than a means toward the end of one's life. Edited September 28, 2010 by brian0918 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whYNOT Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Rand is mentioned twice in the document, and described as having an "Ãœber-Hobbesian individualism" that radicalized the "libertarian, secular right". I don't know how you managed to read through it. I had to bail out to save myself. What I saw looks like the classic case of a vast amount of non-integrated knowledge, a high intelligence ... and not the slightest grasp of reality.(IMO) Reminds me of people I've known, great brains and zero rationality. Quite insane - and maybe finishing his 'opus' put him over the edge, so I feel some pity for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Quite insane - and maybe finishing his 'opus' put him over the edge, so I feel some pity for him. Me too. He came to the wrong conclusions... and then acted on them. Sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandros Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 (edited) Pg. 33, the statement of St. Anselm's argument for the existence of God. That's where the breakdown occurs. If one truly believed that god does not exist, and then could come up with no other way to refute St. Anselm's logic than to conclude that existence is not superior to nonexistence, that person would most likely end up with a gun to their head. Edited September 28, 2010 by Alexandros Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0918 Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Pg. 33, the statement of St. Anselm's argument for the existence of God. That's where the breakdown occurs. If one truly believed that god does not exist, and then could come up with no other way to refute St. Anselm's logic than to conclude that existence is not superior to nonexistence, that person would most likely end up with a gun to their head. It's more likely that he wanted to kill himself the whole time, and tried to justify/rationalize it through crap like this, than that he simply concluded incorrectly and acted upon those conclusions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandros Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 It's more likely that he wanted to kill himself the whole time, and tried to justify/rationalize it through crap like this, than that he simply concluded incorrectly and acted upon those conclusions. I don't know why that's more likely. I once watched as someone I loved was destroyed by philosophical pursuit. She never tried to justify anything. She learned something that she thought made sense, dug deeper and deeper into the idea until she swallowed a bottle of pills. When I met her, I thought she was the most beautiful person I had ever met. I'm talking about who she was. She loved living. At the time, I wasn't very interested in philosophy and I never spent much time thinking about the big picture. The only answers I had to offer up were things like "But think about everyone who loves you!" or I'd assert that life has meaning without being able to prove it. Thankfully, she didn't die. She found reasons to live, but I'm not sure if they made her happy or not. Last we talked, her personal heroes were guys like Carl Jung, Ram Dass, and Jimmy Carter. It wasn't long before we went our separate ways. I know anecdote is bad form, but I doubt your basing your statements off much more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0918 Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 (edited) I know anecdote is bad form, but I doubt your basing your statements off much more. He bought the website suicidenote.info in April 2008 according to WHOIS (if I'm reading it correctly), so he would have at least had to have his suicide note completed by then, no? He couldn't have simply been researching philosophy at that point, correct? Yet his bibliography lists at least 4 sources that didn't exist at that time. And his PDF wasn't compiled until September 17th. The book could certainly have been the result of earlier scribblings, in which case you could very well be right. I would expect that if someone *happened upon* the conclusion that "I should kill myself", after lengthy investigation, he would want to check/re-check/re-re-check his conclusions and investigate further, especially if his life was otherwise a happy one. The fact that he seems so certain of his conclusions indicates that his life was not going well otherwise, and that may in fact have been the source of his suicidal tendencies, which he simply later justified through his lengthy writings. They could have occurred simultaneously, with his philosophical investigations driving his view of the worthlessness of humanity, which made him more depressed and antisocial, and drove his nihilism deeper, etc, like a feedback loop. But what is likely to have started it all? Edited September 28, 2010 by brian0918 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RationalBiker Posted September 28, 2010 Report Share Posted September 28, 2010 Apparently, he was striving for complete objectivity: Of course, the context he drops is the goal of observation, the goal of the desire for objectivity. He mistook objectivity for the ultimate goal, rather than a means toward the end of one's life. Also, he interchangeably uses the words "objectivity" and "indifference" when they should not be used interchangeably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D'Ippolito Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 He bought the website suicidenote.info in April 2008 according to WHOIS (if I'm reading it correctly), so he would have at least had to have his suicide note completed by then, no? He couldn't have simply been researching philosophy at that point, correct? Yet his bibliography lists at least 4 sources that didn't exist at that time. And his PDF wasn't compiled until September 17th. Nope, he could have bought the URL and "squatted" on it while he wrote the thing elsewhere. In point of fact I wouldn't be surprised if that's close to the time he started the note--he may have decided to do himself in and post a note at the same time--and secured the URL to ensure it would be available when he was finished writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0918 Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 (edited) Nope, he could have bought the URL and "squatted" on it while he wrote the thing elsewhere. That was my point - he planned to write a suicide note all along, so he (potentially) was writing up the rationalization of his previously-held suicidal tendency. Edited September 29, 2010 by brian0918 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D'Ippolito Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 That makes much more sense than your suggestion that he had completed it by 2008 (first sentence I quoted). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0918 Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 That makes much more sense than your suggestion that he had completed it by 2008 (first sentence I quoted). I was asserting that as a necessary conclusion if one follows Alexandros' claim. In other words, if the book was started as an investigation, and later led to the conclusion of suicide, then it would make sense that its contents would have had to be written before 2008. But if the book was written as an after-the-fact rationalization of his pre-determined wish for suicide, then it would make sense that he registered the website first, *then* wrote the book later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D'Ippolito Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 Ah... it wasn't clear to me you were following Alexandros' claim to its logical conclusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEgoist Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 I'm glad he took the time to type up a 1900 page letter, so a bunch of figments of his imagination could read it before he blew his brains out. I'm of the opinion this guy was probably already mentally ill, and this Nihilism just suited him. Clearly a guy that isn't dumb, just astoundingly insane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandros Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 He bought the website suicidenote.info in April 2008 according to WHOIS (if I'm reading it correctly), so he would have at least had to have his suicide note completed by then, no? He couldn't have simply been researching philosophy at that point, correct? Yet his bibliography lists at least 4 sources that didn't exist at that time. And his PDF wasn't compiled until September 17th. The book could certainly have been the result of earlier scribblings, in which case you could very well be right. I would expect that if someone *happened upon* the conclusion that "I should kill myself", after lengthy investigation, he would want to check/re-check/re-re-check his conclusions and investigate further, especially if his life was otherwise a happy one. The fact that he seems so certain of his conclusions indicates that his life was not going well otherwise, and that may in fact have been the source of his suicidal tendencies, which he simply later justified through his lengthy writings. They could have occurred simultaneously, with his philosophical investigations driving his view of the worthlessness of humanity, which made him more depressed and antisocial, and drove his nihilism deeper, etc, like a feedback loop. But what is likely to have started it all? Ahhh, very good. I didn't know that information was available. I agree with you now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffS Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 "Mitch was a smart, witty and gentle person. He was a friend and a great support to my band," Nathanson added. "We shared many good conversations about the world, music and the ridiculousness of being. Clear the Hahvahd Yahd. We've got another Bullet-Catch contestant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister A Posted September 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 It's more likely that he wanted to kill himself the whole time, and tried to justify/rationalize it through crap like this, than that he simply concluded incorrectly and acted upon those conclusions. Or he was trying to articulate the mindset that aborted his will to live at a very early age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapereAude Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 What I saw looks like the classic case of a vast amount of non-integrated knowledge, a high intelligence ... and not the slightest grasp of reality.(IMO) My take it as well. at least this little wannabe got nipped in the bud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0918 Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 Or he was trying to articulate the mindset that aborted his will to live at a very early age. I'm not sure if this is meant as an argument against academia, but whatever will to live he had was aborted through his own actions and evasions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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