One point from the blog I have a hard time relating to: "Because whatever problems Aaron was facing, killing himself didn't solve them. Whatever problems Aaron was facing, they will go unsolved forever. If he was lonely, he will never again be embraced by his friends. If he was despairing of the fight, he will never again rally his comrades with brilliant strategies and leadership. If he was sorrowing, he will never again be lifted from it."

I'm not sure what your religious beliefs are, but to atheists [like me] it's pretty clear that death is the end, and while he may have suffered a lot in his life, he surely is no longer suffering, and "his problems" no longer exist. They're gone with him. And in that sense, yes, he solved them for himself. Yes, he gave up the potential rest of his life, but I can relate to the idea of letting go at some point, possibly even without much regret as to what might happen in the future.

I can see how people close to him will now suffer a great deal at this loss, but again, the problems a man struggles with are his own, and I'd rather not mix the perspective of his loved ones with that.

I sense that many people (even non-religious) have a very 'judgmental' view of suicide, like it's some kind of disgrace or stupidity. I'm not saying the blog post author is one of those people, but really, having seen lots of [absurd] suffering in my life I am very understanding of people who are brave or desperate enough to let go.

To me it was the same with a couple friends who died in young age of serious illness. It hurt both sides when they were ill; now it only hurts me, but I am glad they didn't suffer endlessly (or for an extended period of life). To some, extended suffering is hell. I can imagine that it's not the case for everyone though.

That struck me as just poetic language -- completely justifiable mourning for a possible future that suddenly, jarringly, became impossible. It's a genuine tragedy when everything that could possibly happen to someone in the rest of their life is simply deleted.

Thank you, Cory. This wonderful post will bring understanding (and maybe even comfort) to many of us who are sad and confused today.

It will also probably save some lives.

hypocrite.

I don't think that word means what you think it does.

I dont think you know what I thought it meant.

Last year someone else did this. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3231531

Two years ago someone did this. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2074109

In between, before all this, there have been people insisting that suicide is the cheaper option compared to living. This is very much a thing.

I don't purport to have a solution because I fight depression, suicidal thoughts myself and at best I can only say depression is something that you don't get rid of, only something that you learn to co-occupy your mind with.

But one thing I can say we here all live and work in a field that deals with great extremes. Great extremes of success and great abyss of failures. So take care to not be swallowed, by success or failure.

"I don't purport to have a solution because I fight depression, suicidal thoughts myself and at best I can only say depression is something that you don't get rid of, only something that you learn to co-occupy your mind with."

I will say to you that depression is a state of mind that you could totally get rid of. How do I know? I got depressed myself and my family members have the tendency to depress, seriously. Members of my family that almost killed their selves now are much much better.

The are also very smart too (probably it has something to do with it when you think too much while in a negative state).

A lot of people believe that when you are depressed you just could uplift your spirits,making you smile or laugh and in fact you can, for a very short time, but not too long, because depression is an addiction of the brain. The brain has a very powerful chemistry inside and you can't change it too fast.

In the western world, depression is epidemic, because we have things like cars and iphone, but the essential things that people need we don't, like friends and lovers or freedom, or time with yourself or with others, or time outside.

Like rats on a cage since birth, they don't know what they don't have but someway they know they need it, because they feel empty inside.

As you probably know even dogs get depressed if they don't go outside and run enough, people try to care for them but if the basics are not met the dog does not improve.

My advice is:

0-Understand that it took years for you to get into depression and it will take a lot of time to you to get out completely, but you will eventually. Don't try to get out in a weekend because it is impossible, your brain chemistry will change over months, not days.

1- Look at the normal things you need for your life and get them: sleep well, eat well, do exercise every day and love the people around you. Everything else is secondary, Internet, TV, "too much work".... they could wait.

2-Start designing and changing your routines, and change them one by one. Only one every 30 days. The body can't change faster than this, the reason most people fail changing is that they try too much, and this is not reasonable. You can change 12 routines a year, like getting outside very day.

3- Learn to do meditation or if you believe in God, pray. Every single day start thanksgiving (another very important routine).

4- Break the negative cycles in your brain, there is a meditation technique for that called something like "leave your thoughts pass like clouds".

5-Learn from other people, you are not alone: http://www.mortylefkoe.com/rid-depression/?utm_source=rss...

You get the idea. Hope it helps you.

I'm very curious of why people down vote me on this.

I appreciated the response. The reply was information I already know, thought about, and have concluded on but they are helpful nonetheless.

As for the downvotes, my best advice is to not stress about it. It means nothing and the community has grown over the years to downvote instead of just ignoring something and moving on.

Also Sam Roweis in 2010 : http://www.cs.nyu.edu/csweb/People/samroweis.html

My own take (which some might even find depressing, but it helped me): life is very short anyway, it is hardly worth ending it prematurely. It will end soon enough on it's own accord.

A beautifully written article.

I only knew Aaron Swartz from the things written about him on the Internet. But it really feels like he had a lot more to contribute to this world, not just technologically, but socially and philisophically as well. His death to me feels much like when Kurt Cobain died, back in 1994. Both were artists who had much more to contribute, but their lives were cut much too short by mental illness/depression. It's sad.

Kurt Cobain died just a few years before the Internet really took off. I always imagine that he would have embraced this, and would have done things like released his music for free, and would have radically changed the way music was distributed. In a few years, there will be even more technology invented, and it could very well be that had Aaron Swartz stayed alive, he could have found other ways to contribute new things as well.

Aaron was someone who I only knew tangentially until yesterday, and now can only wish that wasn't the case.

I happened to be with some people who knew him much better than I did, and I could only imagine how they're handling this.

Aaron was by all definitions a brilliant guy. His death is visibly shaking the hacker community 2nd only to Jobs (measured by front page stories but also personal experience).

RIP

Cory, a sad and wonderful tribute to Aaron. Thank you.

So where can I get my Aaron Swartz t-shirt?

Wonderfully written article. Thank you.

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