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Comment by siphon22 | Hacker News Reader

Maybe this is one problem that VR can solve. Virtually simulated suicides? Virtually simulated anything. You don't have to die or hurt yourself, try X in a safe simulation first to see if you really want to go through with it.

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The virtual piece of it would ruin the last second regret. The regret comes from the realization that you've crossed through a door with no return.

Can't ever get that in VR unless somehow the subject does not realize it's fake.

Would it be ethical to subject someone to a virtual suicide they thought was real...in order to convince them to not attempt in the future? The technology seems to be getting to a place we could create such an experience, terrifying though it may be.

VR seems unnecessary. Just have a gun around with blank rounds.

At the range of direct contact to the head, the explosive force of a powder load is deadly whether or not there's a bullet along for the ride.

Good point. How about weakened blanks?

You'd think that once VR got to such an advanced state, we'd have already long before synthesized effective medications / electrical-magnetic therapies (e.g. shock therapy or TMS) to effectively treat depression enough that the VR suicide simulation would be pointless.

OTOH, the most effective treatments we have for depression are almost a century old, have tons of awful side effects, and were discovered by accident (i.e. MAOIs and electroconvulsive therapy), so I'm not too optimistic in the pharmaceutical and psychiatric industries.

Suicidality does not imply depression: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5116433/

Total Recall / P.K. Dick "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale".

That's like learning how to trade using paper money. It removes any threat of consequences and is ultimately not a very useful approximation of reality.

I see where you're coming from, and I think there's an interesting question here -- is the immediate regret a conscious, rational determination? Or is it a primal self-preservation instinct?

While video games and paper money can remove threat of consequences, VR is still extremely good at triggering ancient, subconscious brain pathways e.g. fear of heights. If regret from suicide is similar to fearing heights, then perhaps it would actually be useful?

No, this will increase death by suicide. We know that reading about suicide or watching fictional depictions increases risk.

VR marriage apps with faceapp induced aging.

Placebo pills?

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