# Retirement

Originally published: 2013-05-16
Canonical URL: /2013/May/retirement/

"Rational agents should never be made _worse_ off by more information—well, [almost never](http://www.nickbostrom.com/information-hazards.pdf). So if I can [no](http://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/04/the-horror-of-naturalism/) [longer](http://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/05/relativity/) [contemplate](http://zackmdavis.net/blog/2013/05/relevance/) the big picture without life seeming like a bad thing—the fewer needs you have, the fewer ways in which you can be hurt; if you don't exist, you can't be hurt—then maybe I could just—not contemplate it? If my will to live is something that can be destroyed by the truth, then maybe [P. C. Hodgell was wrong](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/541138-that-which-can-be-destroyed-by-the-truth-should-be)? This needn't entail self-delusion: distraction is quite sufficient. There are plenty of _things to do_ that won't remind me of the vastness of suffering in the multiverse.

"Daily life, exercise, practical programming skills, finding a job—pure math and compsci if I need something intellectual. But no philosophy, history, current events, futurism, social science, biology, or game theory. Not much fiction, because stories are about people's pain. I just don't want to know anymore."