CharlesPhipps wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:33 pm
I mean all ambiguity goes out the window in the fact the guy wants to live and can't without losing his family and having all of his planet saving work thrown out.
Oh wait fuck was that what was gonna happen? I thought "someone else will finish where you left off, so it's cool you can get euthanized lol" and that was it lol
Losing his family well yeah, if he permanently leaves their planet and the family is so obsessed with this rule that they'll "love him but be ashamed of him", then it does suck - but I thought that was the highest stake there lol; man I'm rusty
Yeah, the government said, "Yeah, if you don't commit suicide then we're going to not use any of your work."
CharlesPhipps wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:33 pm
I mean all ambiguity goes out the window in the fact the guy wants to live and can't without losing his family and having all of his planet saving work thrown out.
Oh wait fuck was that what was gonna happen? I thought "someone else will finish where you left off, so it's cool you can get euthanized lol" and that was it lol
Losing his family well yeah, if he permanently leaves their planet and the family is so obsessed with this rule that they'll "love him but be ashamed of him", then it does suck - but I thought that was the highest stake there lol; man I'm rusty
Yeah, the government said, "Yeah, if you don't commit suicide then we're going to not use any of your work."
What if we're all wrong and this episode has nothing at all to do with personal suicide and is infact a metaphor for a society that is unwilling to change to meet the present challenges and therefore commits societal suicide through their intransigence.
drewder wrote: ↑Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:26 pm
What if we're all wrong and this episode has nothing at all to do with personal suicide and is infact a metaphor for a society that is unwilling to change to meet the present challenges and therefore commits societal suicide through their intransigence.
I think that's at least an implicit element of the allegory in the episode.
drewder wrote: ↑Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:26 pm
What if we're all wrong and this episode has nothing at all to do with personal suicide and is infact a metaphor for a society that is unwilling to change to meet the present challenges and therefore commits societal suicide through their intransigence.
It's such an absurd exaggeration of that idea it looks like a strawman.
drewder wrote: ↑Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:26 pm
What if we're all wrong and this episode has nothing at all to do with personal suicide and is infact a metaphor for a society that is unwilling to change to meet the present challenges and therefore commits societal suicide through their intransigence.
I think another interpretation that is closer to home is the idea that society is ageist. That the elderly after a certain point in time are considered drains on resources and abandoned. Mind you, that isn't a metaphor that entirely works since the elderly from 50 years ago are still holding onto power.
drewder wrote: ↑Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:26 pm
What if we're all wrong and this episode has nothing at all to do with personal suicide and is infact a metaphor for a society that is unwilling to change to meet the present challenges and therefore commits societal suicide through their intransigence.
It's such an absurd exaggeration of that idea it looks like a strawman.
Star trek has never been subtle about beating people with their message.
Riedquat wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 6:26 pmToo bad if you reach 80 in good health eh? My grandpa was still walking a few miles every day until a few months before he died at 91. He was over 80 the last time he went white water rafting. Read maths books right up until the day he died.
Survivorship bias. Most people are not so fortunate as do die suddenly while in seemingly good physical and mental health. Usually there is a slow, agonizing decline: cancer, Alzheimers, dementia, Parkinson's, heath problems, broken hips, macular degeneration, etc.
I think more people would give a fig about obesity and exercise if the effort got them another 30 years of prime life rather than another 30 years of having someone wipe your ass for you because you have forgotten how to.
Hm, huh? Exercise and healthy lifestyle *do* prolong prime life, and improve/prolong post-prime life too.
Whether it then also prolongs your dementia etc. phase, I'm not even sure whether it does.
clearspira wrote: ↑Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:51 amI know someone in my life in their early twenties with a parent slowly dying of kidney failure in their late 50s. They're on their last gasps, bedridden with dialysis working less and less each day. The thing is, this person inherited the same kidney trouble.
Now, you'd think they'd be freaking out making sure to take nice good care of their kidneys to make it themselves over 60 at least, but no, it's me who is the one bugging to get more water into them and such. You know what the reply to that is? "Uguuuh! But if I do that then I'll have to pee all the time and I don't wanna bother with that!!".
We all have our own faults when it comes to long term troubles. I mean with my own family's history of heart trouble I bet I'm not doing exactly everything I can do forestall it.
Preferring an optimal prime life during youth to managing a declining old age life, is a good trade-off decision to some.
