"As a functional human..yes as a brain dead vegetable ..no."
I don't want to pick on Manny here or any other rider who prefers to go lidless. Wearing a helmet is a choice just like riding a motorcycle is a choice. You can end up just as dead or disabled with a helmet on too - it's just that the odds of a good outcome are better with a lid on. We all have a different level of risk that we're comfortable with. The wise rider weighs the risks and acts appropriately.
It's not as easy as just saying 'if I die it's my problem' or 'it won't happen to me because of my safety gear". Bottomline is that regardless of your choice, IF you crash and IF you end up disabled, that will have profound effects on your family and your community.
Forget the vegetable scenario, just break a hip without health insurance and figure on $50,000 to $100,000. You can't choose to put a gun in your mouth, because you'll be unconscious when the decisions are made. You, your family or your community, somebody's gonna pay for it. I owe my kids a start in life, my responsibility is to keep that cost off their backs and off their mom's back, so they can have a childhood, an education and a chance to have a life.
My responsibility is to support my family and safeguard my kids. My fun is riding a bike. For me the risk of riding a bike is acceptable IF I take all the reasonable precautions - helmet, armored leathers, added lighting, health and life insurance, safety classes, no booze on a riding day, no riding with guys who have a deathwish.
If I didn't have a family to support and 2 kids that will need to go to college in a few years (the days of making a good living right out of high school are long gone brothers and sisters...), my assessment of risks and benefits might be different. (In fact they were a lot different pre-marriage and kids...) If my employer gave me long-term disability and an enormous life insurance benefit, that might affect my choices too.
And of course if I still had hair I might like to feel the wind in it once in a while ... ;-)