Tentative: have you tried telling him that the universe isn’t keeping score?
It seems to me that he’s running a script of trying to prove that he deserves to live. Or possibly a script about whether he’s allowed to let himself feel good about what he does. Check for influence from Ayn Rand. Some of her ideas are good, some of them are utterly poisonous.
There’s some level where he’s still trying to live, even if all he’s doing is trying to feel a little better by talking about what he’s thinking.
On the therapy side, I think bodywork helps, though it isn’t the only route. (Strong belief here.) Habitual thoughts and emotions correlate with neuromuscular pattern—that’s why, if you know someone well, you can tell what they’re thinking about by looking at them. On the therapeutic side, giving a person the experience of not going into those patterns can be useful.
I don’t know know how much difference your protesting his desire for suicide makes—as far as I can tell, it depends on how emotionally close he feels to you. It seems fairly common for people to not commit suicide because there are particular people they don’t want to hurt.
Honestly, I don’t know how much you can do. I’m having a hard fight with less serious depression—some progress, which I’ll probably write up.
Meanwhile, I think Holy Basil is doing my mood some good. This is a very tasty holy basil and rooibos blend.
As for the larger rationalist question, I don’t know. I don’t believe FAI + uploading = immortality. There’s too much that can go wrong on the individual level even if the clade survives.
Tentative: have you tried telling him that the universe isn’t keeping score?
It seems to me that he’s running a script of trying to prove that he deserves to live. Or possibly a script about whether he’s allowed to let himself feel good about what he does. Check for influence from Ayn Rand. Some of her ideas are good, some of them are utterly poisonous.
There’s some level where he’s still trying to live, even if all he’s doing is trying to feel a little better by talking about what he’s thinking.
On the therapy side, I think bodywork helps, though it isn’t the only route. (Strong belief here.) Habitual thoughts and emotions correlate with neuromuscular pattern—that’s why, if you know someone well, you can tell what they’re thinking about by looking at them. On the therapeutic side, giving a person the experience of not going into those patterns can be useful.
I don’t know know how much difference your protesting his desire for suicide makes—as far as I can tell, it depends on how emotionally close he feels to you. It seems fairly common for people to not commit suicide because there are particular people they don’t want to hurt.
Honestly, I don’t know how much you can do. I’m having a hard fight with less serious depression—some progress, which I’ll probably write up.
Meanwhile, I think Holy Basil is doing my mood some good. This is a very tasty holy basil and rooibos blend.
As for the larger rationalist question, I don’t know. I don’t believe FAI + uploading = immortality. There’s too much that can go wrong on the individual level even if the clade survives.