Answers regarding Week 7's questions issued

Should the government allow people to "resign" from life? e.g through suicide or euthanasia
No I do not believe that the act of suicide and euthanasia should be allowed in Singapore. Singapore is a small country with no natural resources and our biggest asset is our people. If suicide is legalized, everyone will turn towards that resort for every small matter, we would lose a lot of our people. And the fact that everyone turns to the easy way out through suicide, we are not able to learn from our mistakes or try to find a way out of our problem. This will lead to Singaporeans giving up easily. However, Singapore does practice the Advanced Medical Directive Act. It is is a legal document that you sign in advance to inform the doctor treating you (in the event you become terminally ill and unconscious) that you do not want any extraordinary life-sustaining treatment to be used to prolong your life. The AMD is about letting nature takes its course for the terminally ill at the last stage of their lives.

escapism, should we take away the virtual life from singapore?

I do not think that virtual life should be taken away from Singapore to a certain extent. The virtual community is a growing community in the world. Yes, one may argue that there are negative effects of the virtual life. One may be so engrossed into his virtual life that he is unable to differentiate between reality and the virtual world. However, the virtual world has it's advantages too. Through the virtual world, we are able to make friends from different parts of the world, we are able to communicate and have a cultural exchange. According to Wikipedia, "Online communities seem to have a direct impact on civic participation. 20.3% of members do something in real life at least once a year to support a cause related to their online community. 65% of members have started involvement in civic causes since they connected to the Internet. 43.7% are more involved with social activism since connecting with their online communities. Over half of virtual community members sign into their respective communities every day and 70% interact with other members daily."

Therefore, I believe that the Virtual Community should not be banned in Singapore but the government should take measures to ensure that the line is not crossed. Technology is taking over the world, if Singapore bans the virtual life, we will be losing out to other countries in my opinion.