Re: Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics

From: Robin Faichney (robin@ii01.org)
Date: Thu Apr 19 2001 - 18:19:13 BST

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Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 18:19:13 +0100
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics
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In-Reply-To: <20010419155841.AAA25394@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]>; from wade_smith@harvard.edu on Thu, Apr 19, 2001 at 11:58:21AM -0400
From: Robin Faichney <robin@ii01.org>
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    On Thu, Apr 19, 2001 at 11:58:21AM -0400, Wade T.Smith wrote:
    > On 04/19/01 10:19, Robin Faichney said this-
    >
    > >> One wonders if non-suicidal people _ever_ commit suicide? It seems
    > >> impossible- it is certainly unlogical semantically.
    > >
    > >Ever heard of "the tipping point"? :-)
    >
    > Well, I suppose we're here wondering, well, some of us, whether or not
    > there is a tipping point with behaviors like that- whether a magic
    > command will lead, like a hypnotist's wet dream, to unparalleled excesses
    > of wantonness and bizarrity, not to mention rabid buying sprees and extra
    > gifts on top of smiling acquiescence to paying professional fees....

    Perhaps thinking of it as "the last straw" will make it less unlikely-
    seeming. Someone is on the very edge, only holding back for fear of
    pain, and then they come across what looks like a relatively painless
    way of killing themselves.

    Seems plausible to me. 

    -- 
Robin Faichney
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(CAUTION: contains philosophy, may cause heads to spin)

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