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/sci/ - Science & Math

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4783384 No.4783384 [Reply] [Original]

/sci/... I'm guessing a majority of this board is compromised of atheists, but I'm wondering what they'd do in this situation.

Kid with a terminal illness ~12 years old. You know he won't live more than a couple days. S/he asks you whats going to happen when they pass.

Would you lie? Would you fantasize? ...or would you tell them what you believe to be the truth?

>> No.4783388

Is it supposed to my kid? Because I'd ground him for asking such a question.

>> No.4783386

I'd hug them and tell them I don't know.

>> No.4783389

Lie-by-omission, probably.

Lines like "The pain is going to stop." if their disease is painful, that sort of thing. "You're going to go to sleep, the longest and best sleep you've ever had." would also be valid, in a close-enough sense.

>> No.4783392

I'd probably start tearing up and tell him that I'm not sure.

>> No.4783391

Give him the whole stardust speech

>> No.4783397

>>4783389

Yeah I'd probably do something to this effect.

>> No.4783395

Kids at 12 understand the concept of death. I was an atheist at 12.

You tell them the pain is going to end soon and say good bye to their family and friends.

If the child was 4 then saying they are going to sleep soon and they'll see their mommy and daddy in their dreams, etc etc etc

>> No.4783401

tell him not to worry about going to hell. tell him that the eternal pits of fire will not be where he is going.

>> No.4783404

I rather lie and tell him he will live because the doctors have just found a cure and he will 100% live than tell him he is going to heaven.

>> No.4783425

>>4783391
A mix of this and your energy will become one with the universe (read: force).

>> No.4783437

Can't answer without knowing if this is my kid or not.

>> No.4783895
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4783895

>>4783384

What is this picture? It looks too elaborate to be a mere cooling pond. Fuel assembly area? Or is it prior to reprocessing?

Either way, I like it!

>> No.4783902

I'd smirk, poke him in the ribs and say "You're going to hell for eternity, buddy."

>> No.4783899
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4783899

Nuclear engineers, who the fuck knows what they do.

>> No.4783919

"Honestly, kid, I have no idea. But don't worry! Your mother's coming with you."

>> No.4783927

>>4783437
Then answer in both scenarios doofus. Doesn't hurt to make an assumption but offer the counterpart as well.

>> No.4783948

I would tell the kid he will get better.
Being an atheist doesnt mean i can lie. It would be (in my mind) the right thing to do.

>> No.4783969

"Wait and see!"

The only rational answer.

>> No.4784008
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4784008

I would tell him that it depends on wether he wants to be buried or cremated, if it's not my kid.

If it is, I wouldn't be visiting him. I prefer the pain of never having seen my kid in his last moments than the one I'd experience if I saw him die.

>> No.4784038

Well, probably matters how the kid asks.

Say the kid asks you "will I be in heaven soon?" there is no good reason to say he should not believe stupid bullshit like that. Same if he asked if he would get his 72 virgins soon, he has a few days to live, he can believe every single thing he wants.

If he just goes "what will happen to me?" I will probably tell him something like he will cease to live as he currently does, and what happens then, I am not sure, but it will be fine.

>> No.4784043

>>4784008
How about his pain during the last few days of having some comfort due to his parents being near him? Sure, he will be dead, but in a way, wouldn't you feel better knowing you made his last days feel better than they would have been if you didn't visit at all?

>> No.4784184

If its my kid:
"- son, when your brain ceases to function, daddy will order the docs to freeze your body in the cryogienic freezer with grandpa and grandma. When my time comes, I'll freeze myself to, and so does mommy and your sis. When the time comes, this nanotech company that daddy started las year will unfreeze and fix us, and then were gonna live forever as awesome super - cyborgs!
- Like Iron Man, daddy?
- Better than Iron Man, kiddo. So much, much better..."

>> No.4784213

Just tell them when you die, youll just be born again as something. "Life" is the sense of time or being different, so that feeling will transfer over to some other something being born/coming to existance at that time.

So when you die, this life ends and you start iver as something new being made at that time.