Nobel laureate and renowned Israeli-American psychologist Daniel Kahneman passed away on March 27, 2024, at an assisted suicide facility in Switzerland, as revealed by columnist Jason Zweig in an essay for The Wall Street Journal.
Kahneman, best known for his groundbreaking book Thinking, Fast and Slow, had kept his decision private, confiding only in close friends and family. On March 26, Kahneman sent a farewell email to his loved ones, informing them of his choice to end his life.
Zweig wrote, “I think Danny wanted, above all, to avoid a long decline, to go out on his terms, to own his own death.”
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the author did not endorse assisted suicide for others or advocate for it, as highlighted by Kahneman’s friends and family. Those close to him suggest his decision was deeply personal.
His friend and colleague Philip Tetlock, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, speculated that Kahneman had carefully weighed the quality of his remaining years.
“Right to the end, he was a lot smarter than most of us. But I am no mind reader. My best guess is he felt he was falling apart, cognitively and physically. And he really wanted to enjoy life and expected life to become decreasingly enjoyable. I suspect he worked out a hedonic calculus of when the burdens of life would begin to outweigh the benefits—and he probably foresaw a very steep decline in his early 90s,” Tetlock said, adding, “I have never seen a better-planned death than the one Danny designed.”
In his final email, Kahneman reflected on his decision, writing, “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 ninety years old. It is time to go.”