[extropy-chat] Yehuda Yudkowsky, 1985-2004

[Samantha Atkins]

Eliezer,

I am extremely sorry for your [/our] loss.   Death utterly sucks and  
humanity would be much better off never  pretending otherwise. 

When I was 14 my cousin who was 17 died.  He was in a motorcycle 
accident and lingered for some hours.   We were told to pray for his 
healing.   We prayed.  He died.   "It must not have been God's will" we 
were told.  Or "we lacked sufficient faith" to pray effectively.   I 
remember how twisted up inside I felt hearing these things, how helpless 
and how very angry.    How could it be "God's will" to snuff out this 
wonderful young life?   How was it up to us to twist ourselves into 
pretzels somehow in order to save my cousin Virgil or anyone else who 
need not have been put through such suffering to begin with if a "just" 
and "good" God was in charge as we were always told?   How could the 
people say these expected things and be all somber and then immediately 
pretend nothing had happened a mere few hours later?   How could they 
not scream and cry out as I screamed and cried inside?   Were they all 
zombies?

If more people stopped making pious or otherwise excuses for the horror 
of death and disease then we would finally move to end this suffering.   
When I was 14 I didn't know it was even possible to do so.  Many people 
do not know it still.    We must make sure they know.   Many more who do 
know act as if it isn't so. 

We must never forget our dead and never ever resign ourselves, those we 
care about or anyone to death.   We must truly embrace life not by 
acceptance of death but by extending life endlessly and without 
limitation.  

Eliezer, I salute your deep and utter dedication to life.   You are a 
living inspiration to us all.

- samantha