Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I’m a terrible decision maker. Even when it comes to considerations over inconsequential topics, my process is tedious, creeping, dawdling, ponderous, plodding, and sluggishly leaden. (I couldn’t even decide which adjective to use in that sentence.) If you want my feedback on which backpack or new set of headphones to purchase, you’ll need to give me at least two years notice. I can’t imagine how long it would take me to make a decision about the timing of the end of the my life—but I’m pretty sure natural causes would have the final word before I did. Unlike me, Daniel Kahneman was widely viewed as the world’s leading thinker on decisions. So it’s worth pondering the broader meaning of his decision to send the following email to his friends: “This is a goodbye letter I am sending friends to tell them that I am on my way to Switzerland, where my life will end on March 27.” Jason Zweig in the WSJ (Gift Article): The Last Decision by the World’s Leading Thinker on Decisions. “Kahneman was widely mourned nearly a year ago when his death was announced. Only close friends and family knew, though, that it transpired at an assisted-suicide facility in Switzerland. Some are still struggling to come to terms with his decision … I never got to say goodbye to Danny and don’t fully understand why he felt he had to go. His death raises profound questions: How did the world’s leading authority on decision-making make the ultimate decision? How closely did he follow his own precepts on how to make good choices? How does his decision fit into the growing debate over the downsides of extreme longevity? How much control do we, and should we, have over our own death?”