90-year-old Nobel laureate takes his own life with the help of doctors, says in email: 'Since I was a teenager, I have believed that the last few years of life are unnecessary, including misery and humiliation'
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It has been revealed more than a year since psychologist and behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman, who died on March 27, 2024 at the age of 90, that the cause of death was suicide. The Wall Street Journal reports the details.
The Last Decision of Daniel Kahneman, the World's Leading Thinker on Decisions - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/daniel-kahneman-assisted-suicide-9fb16124
Kahneman is an Israeli-American who is well known for his work with psychologist Amos Tversky. He is particularly known for his theory showing that some people's judgments about uncertain events are influenced by heuristics, which create predictable biases, and for prospect theory, which argues that people have a stronger desire to avoid losses than gains, and therefore tend to avoid immediate risks even if the outcome is the same. Kahneman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 for his prospect theory.
[Obituary] Psychologist and behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman dies at age 90, awarded Nobel Prize in Economics for his contributions to the development of behavioral economics - GIGAZINE
by nrkbeta
Kahneman was known to have died in 2024 at age 90, but it has now emerged in a Wall Street Journal essay that he chose to end his life with the help of a doctor at an assisted suicide facility in Switzerland, a decision that was only known to close friends and family.
According to Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal, who was a friend of Kahneman's, Kahneman began sending personal emails to those closest to him around March 22, and left his family behind for Switzerland the day before his death.
The email read, 'This is a farewell letter to my friends. My life will end on March 27th.' 'Since I was a teenager, I have believed that the misery and humiliation of the last few years of my life are unnecessary, and I act based on that belief.' 'I am still healthy and enjoying many things in life. However, my kidneys are reaching their limits, and my mental disorders are becoming more frequent. It is time to move on.' 'I am not ashamed of my choice, but I am not interested in making it public. The surviving family will keep the details of the cause of death as secret as possible, so please avoid this topic for a few days.' 'What I have learned from my decision is that I am not afraid of ceasing to exist, and that I believe death is to sleep and not wake up. The last period was not painful, except for seeing the pain I have caused others. So if you feel sorry for me, it is not.' 'Thank you for making my life good.'
by nrkbeta
According to people who knew Kahneman when he was alive, he seemed to be enjoying the last moments of his life and did not seem like he would choose suicide. However, Kahneman had previously advocated the 'peak-end principle,' which states that 'whether an experience is painful or enjoyable is determined by the peak and final moments of our emotions,' so some say that Kahneman was trying to give his life a happy ending rather than letting it take its course.
Zweig also points out that the death of Kahneman's wife, Anne Treisman, in 2018 may have been a factor. Treisman had died of a stroke after suffering from vascular dementia for several years, and her illness had been difficult for Kahneman. In July 2015, Kahneman sent a message to Zweig saying, 'I'm very preoccupied with Anne's health, and it's not going well at all.'
'I think what Kahneman wanted most of all was to avoid decline and to die on his own accord,' Zweig said.
As of March 2024, economist Richard Thaler, whom Kahneman calls 'my second most important professional friend,' said, 'Kahneman had his own psychological ideas. He was an avid pessimist who always thought the worst would happen, but he argued that this was a rational way of thinking because it would make him less disappointed with the results of his life. As a self-proclaimed optimist, I tried to convince him that he didn't need to worry, but to no avail. The fact that he lived reasonably well until he was 90 should have proved me right, but in the end I couldn't change his way of thinking.' It is unclear whether Thaler knew the cause of death at the time.
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