I think I want to learn more about Daniel Kahneman. Kahnman, as you may know, was a behavioral psychologist who won a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, and was the author of the best selling book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, which was published in 2011. Thinking, Fast and Slow posired that there are two kinds of thinking, one which works largely by instinct (fast thinking), and one which works largely through logic (slow thinking), and that one is not better than the other. When something calls for fast thinking, and you hold back to put your logical hat on, you are not necessarily going to come up with a better reaction, just a different one. There is a place for both types of thinking.

Yes, maybe that is what he said; I don’t claim to fully understand it, and over his career, he said a lot more. Look at the 18 points listed under “notable accomplishments” on his Wikipedia page. He was a prolific writer and public speaker. I heard him once speak at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and was impressed. I felt a minor connection to him because his son was a Technion classmate and old friend of one of our Israeli friends.

But none of that is what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about Kahneman’s death in 2024 in Switzerland at 90. I remember reading about it then, and thinking “that’s too bad”, and going on with my life. But I didn’t know how he died until I read a column in Sunday’s New York Times Opinion section by Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer. Maybe you saw it.

They stated that it was revealed last month that Kahneman died via assisted suicide, something that is legal in Switzerland (or perhaps. That Kahneman, who was not fatally ill, had written the following: “I have believed since I was a teenager that the miseries and indignities of the last years of life are superfluous, and I am acting on that belief. I am still active, enjoying many things in life (except the daily news), and will die a happy man. But my kidneys are on their last legs, the frequency of mental lapses is increasing, and I am 90 years old. It is time to go.” They also report that Kahneman was their guest on their podcast a week before he died where he talked about his plans, among other things. And that he carried them out as promised.

I didn’t know much about assisted suicide, other than what I have read from time to time in the newspapers. I knew that it was legal in some states (now I know 10 plus the District of Columbia and under consideration in about eight others), and that it is highly regulated and restricted in all of those states, requiring a number existing preconditions, such as a fatal disease, or chronic excruciating pain or discomfort, and that various forms of certifications by doctors and other professionals are required. What I did not know at all was that in Switzerland (and it has been the case in Switzerland for over 80 years), none of those preconditions are necessary.

In Switzerland, you only have to be of sound mind. And you have to do the deed yourself. In other words, no one can administer to you the medications that will end your life. You are given the means and the instructions, and left to your own devices.

Kahneman was provided assistance through a Swiss non-profit called Pegasus, and I looked up their website, too. They have only been established since 2019, but look to know what they are doing. Their English language website is very tastefully done.

I also read a bit about assisted suicides in Switzerland. There are apparently about 1000 assisted suicides in Switzerland each year (do not hold me to the number – sources vary), and most of them involve assistance from nonprofits like Pegasus, which are not medical organizations. As I understand it, doctors do not get involved in these assisted suicides; and euthanasia (which involves helping someone perform the final act itself or actually administering the dosage) is illegal.

And as I said, although many who commit suicide via this practice are very ill, one’s medical condition does not affect eligibility. Of course, many are against this practice, and many (perhaps most) Swiss doctors are some of the biggest critics. Yet it seems to be ingrained in Swiss culture and recent votes in Zurich on abolishing its legality have upheld the practice by very large margins (like 3 – 1), and by margins almost as large when the question was whether it should be made illegal for foreigners who come to Zurich for this purpose. In fact, the majority of those seeking this help are from abroad, and I now have read that 60% of them are German.

Kahneman wasn’t German (he was Tel Aviv born and American). Nor was French director, Jean-Luc Godard, who died via assisted suicide in his house in Switzerland. He was 91, and also apparently not fatally ill. A family member quoted on Godard’s Wikipedia page said “He was not sick, he simply was exhausted”. Another example given was the case of Sir Edward Downes, a well known British symphony conductor and his wife Joan, who committed suicide together with the help of another Swiss suicide organization, Dignitas, in 2009. Downes was 86 and had become virtually blind and deaf. His wife, who had been a choreographer, was his caretaker and only 74. But when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which had already spread to her liver, and was only given weeks or months to live, they made a choice. She was fatally ill, and he did not know how he could carry on, given his condition, without her. He did not have a fatal condition and could have lived, with diminished senses, for years.

So how do I feel about this? In fact, I don’t know. My instinctual feelings (fast thinking per Kahneman) are to sympathize and emphasize with the individual who wants to end their lives, and to support their choices. And my logical conclusions (slow thinking per Kahneman) reach the same result. But there must be a third type of thinking that even Kahneman didn’t describe. Because, truth be told, something holds me back from giving my approval. What kind of thinking this is, I am not sure.