Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman traveled to Switzerland and chose to end his life around his 90th birthday, citing a lifelong belief that the final years of life should not be prolonged unnecessarily.
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At 2:28 · chapter starts 1:00
The episode opens in earnest with a portrait of Daniel Kahneman: psychologist, Nobel laureate, author of 'Thinking, Fast and Slow,' and one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. As Kahneman approached his 90th birthday in relatively good health and with a sharp mind, he made a deliberate decision — he traveled to Paris to celebrate with family, then on to Switzerland, where assisted dying has been legal since 1942, and ended his life. In an email to friends, he wrote that he had believed since his teenage years that the suffering of the last years of life was superfluous, and that he was acting on that belief [1] — Stephen Dubner "At 90, Nobel economist Daniel Kahneman traveled to Switzerland and ended his life, citing a lifelong belief that 'the miseries and indignit…" 02:28 . Al Roth — Stanford economist, fellow Nobel laureate, and friend — describes Kahneman's decision as considered and unhurried, made by a man who had witnessed difficult deaths and simply did not want one for himself. But the segment does not romanticize the choice: Dubner raises that at least one mutual friend was devastated, feeling that Kahneman's physical and mental health were still good enough that the loss was premature. Roth acknowledges he might have argued against it had he been closer, but insists he would not want to legislate his views onto anyone else. The conversation immediately establishes the episode's animating tension between personal autonomy and the grief of those left behind.
At 90, Nobel economist Daniel Kahneman traveled to Switzerland and ended his life, citing a lifelong belief that 'the miseries and indignities of the last years of life are superfluous.' His close friend Al Roth says the decision was considered, unhurried, and consistent with who Kahneman was.
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