
I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words. - alpeb
https://twitter.com/hintjens/status/783254242052206592
======
jwildeboer
I have known Pieter since around 2002. We didn't meet or talk that often, but
usually we would have a fun few hours every FOSDEM. On one of those occasions
we defined "our" religion, stallmanism.com Pieter transferred the site and
domain to me a few days ago.

In the past few months I have been almost obsessed with consuming everything
he wrote and published. It is exactly my way of thinking. Of questioning
reality and turning it upside down so it works even better.

I will miss him. And I will continue to learn from him. We all knew this was
going to happen, he was most transparent in keeping us informed about it. So I
am sad, yes. But I am also immensely grateful and positive.

Pieter, it was an honour and a privilege to have shared time with you. Peace
for you.

~~~
Lambdanaut
I'm just discovering him, and reading through his blog.

His writing is just what I needed right now, at this time in my life.
Particularly about how to be happy.

I think when you've lived such a prolific life, you don't need any last words.
His life's work speaks for itself.

~~~
mind_heist
> His writing is just what I needed right now, at this time in my life.
> Particularly about how to be happy.

This is the particular blog post in which he talks about 'how to be happy'

[http://hintjens.com/blog:99](http://hintjens.com/blog:99)

~~~
happy-go-lucky
> 8\. Revalue your time

> Stop wasting your time on commuting, boring jobs, meetings, TV. Do only
> things that you feel are worthwhile, with people you like. If this means a
> cut in income, so be it. Be the person you really want to be. Don't take it
> all too seriously, we all die.

Thank you.

~~~
JamesBarney
Just spent 9 hours in a conference arguing about how we are going to implement
12 months worth of features which are slated release in 3 months.

Quote hits very close to home.

~~~
bbcbasic
This is your fallback then:

> 10\. Want nothing, accept everything

> Above all, explore the world without desire or demand, and be tolerant of
> whatever happens. Most people are nice, and even the others teach us. When
> you want nothing, you cannot be disappointed. When you accept everything,
> you will see beauty in every moment.

------
escapologybb
I have a degenerative spinal condition, 38 years old, no idea if/when the
degeneration will reach the point where I need to use a ventilator or when my
faculties will dip below a certain point on the [CGS][1].

But when these things start looking more imminent, I hope I have the courage
to do what he has just done, I really do.

Incredibly brave decision.

[1]:[http://www.glasgowcomascale.org/](http://www.glasgowcomascale.org/)

Edited to Add: Added link to the Glasgow Coma Scale, shouldn't have assumed
knowledge of it.

~~~
JshWright
I don't think GCS is a terribly useful metric for evaluating your own quality
of life... You may place more or less value on certain functions, so a '13'
might be totally fine, or not worth carrying on, depending on which points
were 'lost'.

------
LeanderK
This keeps me up at night. I hope the collective advancement in science makes
it possible to defeat cancer some day. I believe/hope that my contribution as
a insignificant CS-student helps somebody develop tools that help somebody
researching etc.

I am really convinced that every advancement is connected somehow and the
collective improvement in efficiency and livings standards makes it possible
to commit more resources and train even more students to work on hard
problems.

Even the work on something unrelated like React might somehow help if you
observe humanity as a whole.

Also f*ck cancer (i read the guidelines and i found no statue against
insulting cancer, if there is a user named cancer its a misunderstanding and
you should really consider changing your username)

~~~
escot
There is an immense amount of software work to be done in biotech. Molecular
biology research is in need of better automation, analysis, visualization
techniques, and on and on. We need folks at all levels. I entered biotech as a
web developer and have been able to pick more challenging problems to approach
on a monthly basis. We know next to nothing about the human body. Im
optimistic that tech will help out us on a stable path towards more robust
research practices.

~~~
toomuchtodo
My background is distributed computing/grid computing. How can I contribute?

~~~
heuermh
At the UC Berkeley AMPLab we're working on scaling genomics [0], all open
source under Apache 2 license. Or more generally, any of the Open
Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF)[1] projects could use a hand, open source
licenses vary.

[0] -
[https://github.com/bigdatagenomics/adam](https://github.com/bigdatagenomics/adam)

[1] - [https://www.open-bio.org/wiki/Main_Page](https://www.open-
bio.org/wiki/Main_Page)

~~~
escot
Oh very cool.

------
dmichulke
If I were going to die, I'd feel very sad but not because of me nor because of
my wife or friends. They are adults and they must deal with this.

I'd feel that I let down my children and couldn't give them a happy and
careless childhood without having to deal with the cruelty of reality.

So, may his kids have the strength to deal with it without losing their light-
heartedness.

------
tostitos1979
Pieter: I don't know if you are reading Hacker News at this point or not. Most
likely not. I respect your rights and understand the challenge you are faced
with. We don't know each other but your work has touched me profoundly as a
fellow technologist. All I have to say is I am crying at the moment. I'm
crying because I feel very helpless. As a fellow human I am unable to do
anything to help you. I am sorry.

~~~
drzaiusapelord
>I'm crying because I feel very helpless. As a fellow human I am unable to do
anything to help you. I am sorry.

Although this is a poor comparison for a million reasons, I just put my
beloved dog down a week ago. Helpless is the word here. Its incredible how
many game-enders we casually flirt with everyday, how powerful illness can be,
how illness makes us make tough decisions, how poorly we handle end of life
issues, and how badly grief hits us. We purposely avoid thinking about this
stuff, consider it taboo, and engage in gallow's humor for a reason.

Death is difficult. It never gets easier.

~~~
snuxoll
Pets are no less an important member of your family than a spouse, children,
parents, etc. We may obtain these companions knowing full well we expect to
outlive them many times over, but that doesn't mean the eventual loss impacts
us less than losing any other member of our family.

Never think your comparison isn't apt because it's "just a pet" :)

~~~
waterpowder
Actually yes, a pet is a much less important member of your family than a
spouse, children or parent.

~~~
nommm-nommm
That depends... Some family members are not good people... Unfortunately.

------
happy-go-lucky
From the article Confessions of a Necromancer:

if you have the trust of your client, and s/he has real power, you have done
half the work already.

don't make stuff and then try to sell it unless you are growing an existing
client base.

breaking into markets you don't know is probably impossible.

Build up trust with the client and sometimes they will reward you for it.

When you've paid for all the mistakes, you should know how to do it right the
next time.

A good specification lets diverse people work together without confusion or
conflict.

If you can test each piece alone, and you have reliable ways of putting them
together, the whole should work.

Don't be afraid to charge the real cost.

be aware of your expenditure and manage your losses. You can survive a long
time with less income if you are in tight control of what you spend.

What's good software? Good software is used by people to solve real problems.
Good software saves people money, or makes them a profit. It can be buggy,
incomplete, undocumented, slow. Yet it can also be good. You can always make
good software better yet it's only worth doing when it's already good.

~~~
jnbiche
To expand a little on this comment, it is highlighting some of the main ideas
from one of Pieter's most recent posts (and one of his very best, which is
really saying something).

It's presumably the parent's tribute to him, which I can appreciate.

~~~
happy-go-lucky
You may want to read his The Ultimate Lessons at:

[http://hintjens.com/blog:125](http://hintjens.com/blog:125)

------
boothead
I've been completely blown away with Pieter's courage and willingness to share
his journey. I hope I have 10% the dignity when my time comes!

~~~
Klathmon
I am as well, and I hope that his writing and sharing of the process can help
euthanasia become more widespread.

I just hope that when it comes time for me or my loved ones to go, that they
will be able to do it on their terms.

------
giis
I don't know you, Just read
[http://hintjens.com/blog:115](http://hintjens.com/blog:115)

Thanks for the your contributions and sharing the journey.

To fellow HN users: Please check out "Think of the Children" and donate if
possible. thanks!

~~~
edelans
The "Think of the Children" is worth pasting it here :

Please use this article to add your stories. If you have them elsewhere, or
you emailed me, copy/paste as a comment. Feel free to write in Dutch or French
if that's your language. I'd really like a single place where my kids can come
and read what other people say about their dad.

Many people have asked my PayPal address ph@imatix.com, to send a donation for
my children.

------
k_sze
Having recently started using ZeroMQ at work, I must admit that Pieter gave
the world a really elegant message queue solution.

The world is losing another great hacker.

Would a black bar be considered?

~~~
d33
> Would a black bar be considered?

As on top of HN? I guess somone would have to e-mail admins for that.

~~~
Kiro
You sound like you don't know so... black bar usually happens when someone
prominent in the community dies. Pretty sure the HN admins are reading this
thread and are fully aware.

~~~
d33
Thanks, I actually didn't know that.

------
nathell
Context: [http://hintjens.com/blog:115](http://hintjens.com/blog:115) and
other recent posts by Pieter.

~~~
wruza
>It can be horribly awkward to talk to a dying person (let's say "Bob"). Here
are the main things the other person (let's say "Alice") should not say to
Bob:

Same thing at funeral. I'm always trying to convince others to remember good
things, not go into depression. You can't do much after it happened.

------
woliveirajr
Few hours ago there were this discussion on HN:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12631488](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12631488)

And now we have this tweet from someone I respect very much, someone who took
part of his time too tell his feelings on how you could/should treat someone
that is having his final moments.

------
kls
Just wanted to mention that in previous posts Pieter mentioned that donations
(he was not soliciting them) for his kids and family could be sent via PayPal
to ph@imatix.com . I did not know him personally so I cannot speak for his
situation, but in those posts it was apparent that he was not a wealthy man
(my take on the conversation). I could not imagine leaving my children to fend
for themselves in this world. It struck me that our children are so similar in
ages.

------
DanielBMarkham
I find this post along with the comments unsettling, but I am unable to
articulate why. (It is not the choice, nor the announcement of the choice.
There is something about the dynamic here that doesn't sit right with me.
Apologies for my failure to elaborate.) I wish him the best and deeply
appreciate his sharing part of his journey.

~~~
shin_lao
Would it be the inevitability of death that disturbs you?

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Nyah. I'm 51 years old and buried my parents. Death is real and probably
closer than I imagine.

Perhaps it's the productization of death?

I received this news as a retweet in my Twitter feed. Next to it was a bit.ly
link about Configuration Management tools, the announcement of a speaker at a
conference, and a famous quote from Einstein.

Right now on HN it's #4. Next to it is a blog post about tools and frameworks
and a post about a PostgreSQL extension. The response to Pieter's tweet is
lengthy and very kind. It would be a privilege to hear those thoughts in my
own life before I leave. But the thoughts will still keep coming, probably
long after he's gone.

I met a nice lady three years ago. She was a "social media consultant" in the
local area, which basically consisted of teaching small business owners how to
navigate the web. We met for lunch several times when I was in town.

Soon, though, she learned she had stage 4 lung cancer. I had lunch with her
one more time. I'll never forget how weary she looked.

She held on for almost a year, then she passed.

For many weeks after that, however, Facebook was full of her many friends
offering their condolences. Facebook would remind me that she liked certain
things as a way to sell me on things. Every so often people would think of her
and post on her wall. These posts appeared in my feed.

Last week I finally had to unfriend her. She was dead. But it didn't stop the
computerized social network that Facebook to stop trying to monetize as much
of her presence as they could. Even if somebody had set her account to
deceased, Facebook will always own some part of her existence.

It feels like turning a tender, emotional, precious thing into a bucket of
bits. I find that repugnant.

~~~
sabmalik
I am in 2 minds about this. Part of me agrees with you but the other part of
me doesn't.

Personally, I feel death (and afterlife) has played an important role in
popularising (selling?) religion.It is still a difficult subject to talk
about, in some cultures even joking about your own death is a big no-no. Maybe
this is the best way to break this barrier and understand that death is
"normal" and it's okay to talk about it along with other normal things. Maybe
this "productization" will get us all to a point where we are all okay talking
about it openly and frankly, without making a big deal about it?

~~~
DanielBMarkham
I agree with what I think you're saying, but the right words can be very
tricky here.

 _Maybe this "productization" will get us all to a point where we are all okay
talking about it openly and frankly, without making a big deal about it?_

What's a "big deal"? For my friend, I knew her and she seemed like a nice
person. I did not know her that well, though. The first couple of times
somebody posted how sad they were on her wall, I was moved. The second couple
of times, sad to say, not so much. By the time we got to 20 or 30, I was both
annoyed -- and angry at myself for being annoyed.

How about her husband? He got to watch her die, bury her, and then watch all
this come in, day-after-day. Two months later he was dead.

Social networks take everything and genericize it. What was a big deal to me
was probably a huge deal to him. Assuming those little bits were somehow part
of who she was, you can't just assume that they were the same kind of "big
deal" to everyone involved. To me, to the husband, to the still living kid.
[ed: and it's not right to try to force it into the same kind of deal for
everybody. That's dehumanizing.]

I'm a transhumanist and I think the singularity is coming and I'm okay with
that. But as we evolve, we _have_ to stop and take a freaking look at what
we're doing. Software may be eating the world, but the world is not all the
same stuff. The differences matter.

~~~
sabmalik
I am not great with words, please accept my apologies.

When I say "big deal", I meant it more like talking about homosexuality is now
less of a "big deal" then it was back in the day. I am not saying that the
loss itself is not a big deal, just talking about it shouldn't be.

Maybe, if we live in a society where it's easy to talk about death then maybe
the grieving process would become easier too. Right now, people tend to act
weird around people who has just lost someone (I have experienced that first
hand), the people who are suffering the loss feel like they have to "stay
strong" and not show their emotions to others because they don't want to be a
burden. It's a vicious cycle which we can break by just talking about it.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
I agree that it should be easier to talk about death. And tech really isn't
the issue there -- unless the tech is keeping us in a cocoon.

Back when the U.S. Civil War happened, photography was still new. Some folks
thought that the new tech would finally wake people up to the horrors of war.

Didn't work out like that. People already knew the horrors of war and dying.
You could run a picture of ten thousand people dead on a battlefield and while
people felt the severe pain of that loss -- it was not horrifying to them.
They lived with it everyday. (In fact, some early uses of photography was
taking pictures of the recently dead. So you could remember them.)

I don't know. I may feel completely different about all of this when it comes
my turn. I am really glad that the voices of people about to be silenced
forever can be heard. In fact I think it's such a special thing that it really
shouldn't appear next to an ad for Spacely's Space Sprockets.

We should have open and honest dialogues about death, yes. That doesn't mean
that we should think of death in the same way as we might think of buying a
newspaper. There's a categorically different thing going on here, regardless
of any extraneous baggage that anybody might carry into the discussion.

~~~
sdegutis
What you described above, the "productization" of someone's death, is part of
a bigger problem, where people are isolated from each other by technology and
by a dehumanizing (and uncoincidentally technophilic) culture that turns
people into appointments or tasks or problems to be solved or opportunities to
make money or anything and everything more convenient and less difficult than,
well, _people_. I could go on and on naming examples, but I think HN itself
does a well enough job by self-selecting perfect examples to the front page
every day. You're 51, I'm only 31, so you obviously have a lot more life
experience than me (almost twice as much). But I think the fact that I'm
already weary and wary of pretty much everyone and everything around me,
including everyone and everything at HN, probably says _something_ about
modern suburban American culture.

~~~
K-Wall
Not to derail the conversation but this whole discussion on "productization"
reminded me of the plot line of a Black Mirror episode. When I originally
watched it I found it mostly absurd but now in the context of this thread it
makes a whole lot of sense.

Here is the episode I am referring to:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Right_Back_(Black_Mirror)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Right_Back_\(Black_Mirror\))

------
jwildeboer
I'm a bit sad that so many here go on tangents instead of finding out what
Pieter really is/was about. Trust me, when you go through his blog entries at
hintjens.com and read his books, you will find yourself in a magic wonderland
of better ways to program and be happy. This is not a sad day.

------
paparush
Glad he was a citizen in a society humane enough to let people choose this
final option.

------
wslh
He has left us a lot of work. I knew about ZeroMQ, "The Psychopath Code" [1],
"The Devil's Wiki" [2], could we make a summary here as a tribute?

[1]
[https://github.com/hintjens/psychopathcode](https://github.com/hintjens/psychopathcode)

[2] [http://wiki.hintjens.com/](http://wiki.hintjens.com/)

~~~
0xmohit
Books by Pieter Hintjens [0].

[0] [http://hintjens.com/books](http://hintjens.com/books)

------
sgt
I don't know much about Pieter but when I first read ZeroMQ's documentation it
became clear he's an exceptionally talented individual.

------
b3lvedere
Goodbye Pieter.

(This really hits me, since my brother in law may be about to do the same in a
few weeks.. days perhaps.)

------
esoteric_nonces
Pieter,

Thank you. For everything. I'm sure the rest of the community shares my
opinion that you've contributed so much to the field.

For all that it matters, I wish you a pleasant departure.

------
gravypod
When does a computer scientist stop being a computer scientist?

It's sad seeing Bob and Alice used in such a morbid context but at least we
know we'll be thinking in terms of protocol, complexity, and CS even on our
death beds. It's something that will never leave us.

I've read very little of his work. I think I'll change that.

------
jrockway
This is where we are all headed. Few of us will choose the time and place.

------
mehdix
Like many others, I've never met him, but he has touched my soul.

I enjoyed his writings on community building most. He himself being a very
approachable person, taught me everything we do is about people, not software.
I'll definitely miss him in the days to come.

Peace Peter.

------
0x54MUR41
I don't know what to say. I just knew Pieter Hintjens when he wrote posts
about his condition, fighting cancer that he has. By that time, I also just
knew that you're a great man behind ZeroMQ. I used your works and it's such an
amazing library.

Thank you for being transparent about your condition. It makes me to remind
about death. I am sorry. Thank you for contributing everything what you have
done for people in the world.

Peace Pieter. You will be missed.

------
chriswwweb
This should remind us that life can be short and will end one day anyway. So
we should try to enjoy every bit of it and don't waste time with bullshit.

R.I.P. Pieter Hintjens. For more about Pieter Hintjens check out
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens)

------
happy-go-lucky
Fighting Cancer [http://hintjens.com/blog:123](http://hintjens.com/blog:123)

Heart-wrenching.

------
frederikvs
Sad to read this. And actually also a bit surprised, considering that 2 weeks
ago he posted an article that mentioned "This is a short book more than an
article. I'll continue to revise it over time, according to your comments."

[http://hintjens.com/blog:125](http://hintjens.com/blog:125)

~~~
creshal
Correctly predicting timing is hard with cancer.

~~~
k__
Yes. I knew someone (about 30 years old) who had brain cancer.

When he had chemo, he looked like he was dying any second now. A week after he
looked like a normal healthy person.

Last time I saw him was a few weeks before he died, we were partying like he
wasn't even sick and suddendly he was dead.

But it's generally a strange feeling to lose people around you.

In the last two years I lost about 4 people. One to old age, two to cancer and
one was even murdered. I still have the last moments with them in my memories.
We were like "yeah lets go do XYZ together in a few weeks/months" and now they
are simply gone and won't come back.

------
rcarmo
I was kind of expecting a black bar on HN by now, but the comments here are
more of a statement of how much people respected him than any symbol.

------
tonetheman
ZeroMQ and his work are amazing. He will be missed.

------
jprzybyl
I've never met Pieter, but I have enormous respect for him. His writing is
some of the most insightful there is, and it changed my thinking on a lot of
things, especially outside of computer science.

He finished his book Confessions of a Necromancer recently. It's well worth a
read:

[https://www.gitbook.com/book/hintjens/confessions-of-a-
necro...](https://www.gitbook.com/book/hintjens/confessions-of-a-
necromancer/details)

I don't really know what to say anymore. I will always admire him.

------
aban
Just watching Pieter's interview with Adam:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApqI9XLRk4k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApqI9XLRk4k)

Thank you for the journey, Pieter.

------
Skylled
It makes me sad that I'm only becoming aware of this man and his work through
the announcement of his chosen death.

Thank you HN for exposing me to worlds I would never otherwise discover.

On a personal note, I definitely will be using 0MQ in all my future projects.
As a matter of fact, I'm glad I found it exactly this moment.

------
staticshock
If anyone here hasn't listened to his "protocol for dying" episode of The
Changelog from several months ago, you really should:
[https://changelog.com/205/](https://changelog.com/205/)

------
jMyles
Pieter, I always really appreciate the conversation here. It was a pleasure to
have the back-and-forth with you on HN. Your username is one of the few that I
routinely recognize and it will definitely be missed.

------
luckydude
I'm pretty astounded at how some pretty cool guy's decision to die has morphed
into people talking about themselves.

I'm a geek, I sort of get it, but aren't the people talking about themselves
and their choices and their views even slightly ashamed? Could we have a
fucking moment to just honor this guy? I don't even know him, I'm just
cringing.

~~~
go_go_
People love to talk about themselves, it's what they know best.

Take your post as an example.

------
bryanwbh
I got to know Pieter, as I was listening The ChangeLog's podcast and his
sharing was amazing.

Thank you Pieter and rest in peace.

------
aws_ls
I was moved by his blog post, few weeks back, on HN. As a token of my respect,
I just bought his book, The psychopath code[1]

[1]
[http://hintjens.com/blog:_psychopaths](http://hintjens.com/blog:_psychopaths)

------
bogomipz
I discovered his writing only recently. What a great thinker and a brave
person. This is sad news.

------
dmitripopov
Brilliant mind, exceptional work.

------
maubalpes
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXEsbnOJQI&list=PL58VN51OpN...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXEsbnOJQI&list=PL58VN51OpN-
QTo9nJoPjhVKVG6yNa5OJK)

------
bouh
His post on living systems is absolutely great, just discovered thanks to his
thread...

[http://hintjens.com/blog:74](http://hintjens.com/blog:74)

------
amyjess
Pieter,

I don't know you, and I don't even know who you are, but my heart goes out to
you. Nobody should have to suffer in pain, and I deeply respect you for taking
control of your last moments.

Fare thee well.

------
iuliandita
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Hintjens)
Updated already...

------
asheinfeld
Godspeed Pieter, thanks for everything! See you on the other side

------
andrewvijay
Very saddening to hear something like this. But after knowing his work in
software it's even more hurting. Rest in peace sir. You have our deepest
respects.

------
mobiuscog
With the greatest respect to Pieter and the situation, announcing it this way
on social media to many people _is_ (was ?) last words.

------
eric_bullington
Well done, Pieter. Thank you for your excellent writings and ground-breaking
open source work, and for sharing your humanity. Farewell.

------
danieltillett
This is one of those occasions when I hope someone's account has been hacked.

Farewell Pieter and may you live on in our memories.

------
bogomipz
I discovered his writing only recently. What a great thinker as well a brave
person. This is sad news.

------
imre
Can someone explain me the python(3) reference from the end? I don't seem to
get the pun

------
markonthewall
A remarkable mind and a keen and joyful lad, I hope Peter finds rest at last.

------
danso
Goodbye, I enjoyed reading your work and comments here.

------
AaronM
I wish I lived in a country that gave someone this choice

~~~
dev1n
Please take a look at this [1]. Very difficult topic but I think this comment
maps out the concerns very helpfully.

[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12631488](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12631488)

------
yoamro
An incredible pioneer that will be greatly missed.

------
throwanem
May flights of angels sing him to his rest.

------
julsimon
Very sad. RIP Pieter.

Black bar on Hacker News, please.

------
igauravsehrawat
RIP Pieter.

------
yandrypozo
Nice people dying and terrible people living like forever, this world sucks :(

------
topfun
it was a honor knowing you.

------
M_Grey
Baruch dayan emet.

------
INTPenis
What is ETD?

~~~
krapp
Probably estimated time of death.

~~~
boothead
I think I prefer departure

~~~
OnACoffeeBreak
There was a recent The Moth: Radio Hour [1] where an emergency room physician
talked about dealing with death in the ER. I was struck by the deliberate
decision to be blunt about what had happened. She specifically says that she
cannot mince words and say that the patient "departed" or "moved on" because
inevitably the concerned family and friends will assume that their loved one
has been moved to another hospital or something.

This is not to argue your point of preference. It's just something that
changed my perspective recently, and it may be interesting.

1\.
[http://player.themoth.org/#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyId...](http://player.themoth.org/#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyId=11561)

~~~
igravious
They made this a serial joke on Arrested Development if you remember. Starting
with the doctor saying, "We lost your father" and the whole family goes into
shock and mourning. The doctor continues, "We can't find him anywhere, we have
no idea where he is" and the Bluth family go beserk at the lexical ineptitude
of his communication.

~~~
evanb
"He's going to be all right."

"Oh, thank god!" "Finally, some good news from this guy!"

"That's a great attitude. I gotta tell you, if I were getting this news I
don't know that I'd take it this well."

"But, you said he was alright?"

"Yes. He's lost his left hand, so he's going to be all right"

------
zump
Erm, why is he not frozen?

~~~
Artoemius
For some reason, in Europe, even less people seriously consider cryonics as an
option, despite the population being generally less religious. Some view it
with cynicism. Others just laugh.

~~~
emodendroket
Probably because it's quackery. [http://thebaffler.com/salvos/everybody-
freeze-pein](http://thebaffler.com/salvos/everybody-freeze-pein)

~~~
Houshalter
What a garbage article. It goes on and on about how _weird_ cryonics is
without discussing the science or whether or not it works. Of course cryonics
is weird. That's not an argument.

Cryonics works. The connectome of your brain, what makes you, _you_ , is
preserved. At −238 degrees almost anything organic can be preserved for a
_long, long_ time. And with careful procedures done to prevent the formation
of ice crystals, the damage done by the freezing process is minimal. It's by
far the best chance you have of surviving.

~~~
emodendroket
Actually, it describes several ways in which it does not work.

