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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025

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And even if you're healthy, what happens if you get Alzheimer's? You wouldn't even know it, and eventually you'd either freeze to death trying to walk to work or get in a car accident if you still drive.

I have never been in a romantic relationship and furthermore have no friends or loved ones, and the very day I become conscious of physical or mental deterioration, I'm checking into a hotel and euthanizing myself with the strongest poison I can get my hands on.

And even if you're healthy, what happens if you get Alzheimer's? You wouldn't even know it, and eventually you'd either freeze to death trying to walk to work or get in a car accident if you still drive.

As opposed to keeping to exist basically as a vegetable in the nursing home your children paid to let you in, which I suppose is much better.

Nursing homes are containment areas.

Yes aging to death in there is horrible for everyone involved, but it involves fewer people and keeps the horror away from anyone who isn't professionally obliged to deal with it.

You degenerating in your home means neighbors, landlords and everyone nearby need to deal with your increasingly disagreeable behavior and appearance, if you still drive then you may also endanger other people in traffic, and even if not everyone around needs to be on their guard lest you burn the house down.

It's horrible either way, but making you die under controlled conditions is somewhat more pro-social. Except for you of course, but you aren't really part of society anymore by that point.

God, I hope I just die from lightning strike.

Haul my demented ass into the Alaskan wilderness for one last walk in the woods. If I come back, I'm not too demented; if I don't, good for the local wildlife.

Point taken. But OP's comment and the reply only concern the effects of the black pill lifestyle on yourself. Your comment concerns its effects on everyone else. Those are rather different things especially in the case of Alzheimer's when you're unaware of what's happening to you either way.

Fair. But what is the ideal way for a practical egoist to deal with Alzheimer's?

the very day I become conscious of physical or mental deterioration, I'm checking into a hotel and euthanizing myself with the strongest poison I can get my hands on.

So you're going to kill yourself by 40? Certainly just about everyone is in worse physical shape at 40 than at 20.

This isn't a gotcha, the point is that very slow decay is, uh, very slow.

40?? I'm already 57. I walk eight miles a day and I'm still in great health (though I put down enough beer that my liver probably isn't thanking me (I never get hangovers though)), but that can't last forever.

You're 57 and you've noticed zero deterioration in 37 years?

Other than losing my hair and having to urinate every hour or so, no. I guess I got lucky in my genes.

Yeah, mental deterioration is something I also fear. I'm mostly fine living in solitude, but I do have fears of tail-risks involving medical episodes that could be fixed by just having someone to call an ambulance or tell me I've lost it.

I'm checking into a hotel and euthanizing myself with the strongest poison I can get my hands on.

These are strong words to say when you're young, and I've heard this sentiment from many people, but I've seen very few actually follow through.

The man's 57.

I've known people who feel this way and aren't young. especially healthcare workers.

Who said I was young?

I do have fears of tail-risks involving medical episodes that could be fixed by just having someone to call an ambulance or tell me I've lost it

You can always consider getting a roommate or checking yourself early into some sort of supervision program.

I've heard this sentiment a few times, but realistically 50, 60 years is a long time; plenty of happily married couples end up with someone dying and the other being forced to go it alone, the kids end up apathetic/abusive/fuck ups etc.

I'll grant that having a family does give you better odds of mitigating these tail risks compared to being permanently single, but I've seen enough elderly end up alone and abused even with a big family to know that it's no guarantee.