(January 10, 2013 at 4:11 pm)Mark 13:13 Wrote:(January 10, 2013 at 4:03 pm)Esquilax Wrote: In a more serious form of answer, despite the fact that I don't think it'll actually inform Mark at all: no, I would not push the button. Death may be permanent, final, and feature no afterlife, but that does not absolve me of trying to make the one life we do have here on Earth better. Especially if, as per your hypothetical, I'm some form of civic leader.
I mean, duh. Perhaps I just like tilting at windmills myself.
Ok so am I to take that as no because you still feel there is hope to end suffering in time and want to keep working on it, and that although life is fleeting it is still valuable. Not trying to put words in but just trying to clarify?
Essentially, yes: since I believe in no afterlife, there is no utility in ending the one life I- and everyone else- does have. You can't make anything better through nonexistence. You can, however, improve the world if it's still there; not only for my own lifetime, but for all of them going forward. There's also a host of ethical and moral issues that simply boil down to the fact that I have no right to decide for everyone else on the planet whether they should continue living.
I must also, however, ask what your purpose is in asking this? Nobody is seriously going to say that they would end all life on earth, because we aren't comic book villains. You're simply not going to get the "all life is pointless and therefore yes" answer that you (maybe!) want. Hell, even if you can find an atheist who's also a psychopath, there's an excellent chance that they also won't say yes, because saying yes would also harm them. So... what do you think is going to happen here?
"YOU take the hard look in the mirror. You are everything that is wrong with this world. The only thing important to you, is you." - ronedee
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Want to see more of my writing? Check out my (safe for work!) site, Unprotected Sects!