Maybe because we have memories and we have been alive now and we surely were not alive before our birth. So it is tehnically different.
Well, it's really not. The cells in your brain are what determine what you are and what your memories are. You do not have any memory before you were born because these cells did not exist, and you do not have the memories after the cells have died, evidenced by countless experiments involving the brain, memory, neuron death, etc (including the lobotomy). Obviously when you die these cells cease to function and they die. Leaving you with nothing more than what you had before you started. Unless you're arguing that you grow some immaterial soul or something, which is absolutely baseless and has no reason to be respected as a rational argument.
Well that isn't absolute, like almost everything after death. . .
Absolute? No. It's also not absolutely true or false that I'm not a brain floating in a jar on a random planet in the Andromeda galaxy, but it's very unlikely that I am.
I am not here to argue buuuut
Why would it be any different than before you were born?
Maybe because we have memories and we h… moreave been alive now and we surely were not alive before our birth. So it is tehnically different.
Do you remember anything before that?
We don't have anything to remember. We don't even remember our birth but that doesn't mean we have never been born.
Will there be anything after death? No.
Well that isn't absolute, like almost everything after death. . . Too bad we'll all have to experience, or rather not, alone.
When people believe in reincarnation... I sometimes wonder if it involves microbes or relatives of microbes that came from our body upon decomposition eventually finding their way into another body. Just it might be an Earth Worm next time. It could be why some people have vague memories of events that they never lived. Most accounts from children. Sometimes from hundreds of years before they were even born. Interesting idea but... Say it took hundreds of years for what little bit of them remained to find it's way into a new human body, if ever at all. It is said even an insect has memory so.... It would partly explain why all living creatures are pre programmed with specific thoughts and memories as well. Like human's natural fear of spiders, snakes, large cats, dogs/wolves and large birds, as those are uniformed predators that are feared by a large percent of living creatures on the planet.
I guess I don't get the intended meaning. Saying that we are zombies because we function through the neurons that comprise the brain just doesn't make sense.
It really is too long for it to be explained both properly and concisely. Try looking up philosophical zombie on Wikipedia; it goes into greater depth.
I guess I don't get the intended meaning. Saying that we are zombies because we function through the neurons that comprise the brain just doesn't make sense.
It really is too long for it to be explained both properly and concisely. Try looking up philosophical zombie on Wikipedia; it goes into greater depth.
Close your eyes and you'll see how it's to be dead, there is nothing after death, nothing except darkness. There isn't an "past you", there is only you as present. Before the creation of light, at the beginning of time there was only darkness, and this is how darkness like but the gods turn up the lights.
"Darkness is not a symbol of negativity but the state, where we can concentrate on the real light of Life" - Samar Sudha
"Darkness is just light turned inside out." - Beelzebub
When people believe in reincarnation... I sometimes wonder if it involves microbes or relatives of microbes that came from our body upon dec… moreomposition eventually finding their way into another body. Just it might be an Earth Worm next time. It could be why some people have vague memories of events that they never lived. Most accounts from children. Sometimes from hundreds of years before they were even born. Interesting idea but... Say it took hundreds of years for what little bit of them remained to find it's way into a new human body, if ever at all. It is said even an insect has memory so.... It would partly explain why all living creatures are pre programmed with specific thoughts and memories as well. Like human's natural fear of spiders, snakes, large cats, dogs/wolves and large birds, as those are uniformed predators that are feared by a large percent of living creatures on the planet.
Maybe I can't grasp the concept, but the idea of just ceasing to exist after death just doesn't sound right. I think you either go on as yourself, or you're re-incarnated as someone else. Although that raised an interesting question; let's say you're born in completely different circumstances than in your past life. Had you been born in a similar environment as in your past life, would you become a similar person to who you were? Basically, would you be born as the same person, and have your experiences determine what you become?
When i saw this thread, I wasn't sure if I wanted to post but I feel I must. But before I begin, I should like everyone to know writing this is probably one of the most touchy things I've ever will write.
Mortality has always been a sensitive issue for me. Whenever it is brought up, I will always act defensive and afterwards return it to the back corner of my mind, hoping never to bring it up again. I'm not stupid, I know human life never lasts long, with old age, cancer, I suppose what I fear isn't death, it's inevitability. Knowing it's going to happen and there isn't a damn thing that can be done. Yet, I interject by saying medical science is continuing to help find ways for life extension, and I foolishly believe one day I will be able to afford it.
Back to the topic at hand, all my life I've been touchy about religion. I was born methodist, yet to me I do somewhat believe in God but some of me doesn't want to be enlightened and be told it's all part of God's plan. I don't know how to explain it, I have faith but it's not religious faith, can't that count for something? Early on back in 2008 I stopped taking an anti depressant that I have been taking most of my life, at first I was good then gloom and doom were all I thought about, my mind focused on dark things, everyone I knew and loved would be gone. And then it would be my turn. I returned to the anti depressant and all is right, to all it can provide. What upsets me the most is the concept of "being one with God" I take it as sacrificing my individuality which I will not do. Yes, I've read heaven is a wonderful place, always surrounded by happiness and everyone of my family together forever.
But that's not what I want. Another depressing thoughts that I keep trying to block out of my mind are Earth and the universe's end. Scientists and astro physicists have concluded what will happen, but I feel it's still just a theory. I try to believe life will find a way. I use that as a shield to keep the dark thoughts at bay. Keep denying inevitability, how foolish I am.
All things have their time, we've always been told. And that's added to my list. So if and when the time comes, hypothetically speaking, to me with heaven's glamor and everlasting peace, I feel to me it will just be another prison, just like the mad world I live in now. I'm not certain if changing religions will help but I suppose I could try.
I just keep hoping, that whatever afterlife awaits (and I hope there is) it's something I can cope with. I also wish to believe anything is possible and I hold on to that.
So to the question I answer: I don't know. I wish anything can be possible and just to have faith. Isn't that all we can do?
Thank you for anyone who took the time to read this. This is me opening up my soul, my deepest feelings. I'd like to hear what others think.
I think I know how you feel, and in a way I feel the same way, but at the same time, it goes into Dawkin's 'Blind Clockmaker' analogy - if you come upon the shore and find a pocketwatch, you will believe that something so intricuate will be unique and have a maker; but human consciousness is not as great a leap as we would like to believe - thoughout evolutionary history there has been a clear and delineated progression in the development of consciousness. One minor example is the way that dogs cannot recognize themselves in the mirror - neither can really young infants. Going back to its origin, the most primitive forms of 'consciousness' are merely reactions to tactile stimuli, and those gradually have built up on one another to produce modern human consciousness. Dogs mourn, elephants can even cry. Humans really aren't that special.
I do not know. I often ask myself how the phenomenon of a person experiencing conciousness can even happen if there really nothing after dea… moreth. The idea of a person experiencing consciousness being just an effect of an elaborate cause (our neurological pathways) just does not sit right with me. If that were so, would we not be tantemount to zombies: just shambling through existance, with no perception of anything, not even ourselves?
I just try to remain agnostic about this. If there is something, huzzah. If there is not, I will not be around to care.
Close your eyes and you'll see how it's to be dead, there is nothing after death, nothing except darkness. There isn't an "past you", there … moreis only you as present. Before the creation of light, at the beginning of time there was only darkness, and this is how darkness like but the gods turn up the lights.
"Darkness is not a symbol of negativity but the state, where we can concentrate on the real light of Life" - Samar Sudha
"Darkness is just light turned inside out." - Beelzebub
You let me shapeless, I've got no form, I'm formless.
"You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend." - Bruce Lee
You're the personification of a wonderful rainbow that's coming from a storm, a storm that seems to never ending.
I just think that when you die, you just go into a sleep that lasts forever and you can't wake up from it. I don't believe that there's Heaven, Hell or anything like that.
Eh, I hardly think your conscious at all after death. I imagine it as like before you were born. There is no such thing as a "you" anymore. Your nothing at this point and have no thoughts or anything.
You let me shapeless, I've got no form, I'm formless.
"You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it beco… moremes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend." - Bruce Lee
You're the personification of a wonderful rainbow that's coming from a storm, a storm that seems to never ending.
The idea of eventually "losing yourself," whether that be to oblivion or unification with a higher power, is a tough thing for anyone to come to grips with. The inevitability of it, like you said, is particularly disheartening to think about, but to me that certainty also affords a strange sense of freedom.
Because there isn't anything you can do about your eventual mortality, there's nothing to do about it. Worrying about it is as fruitful as worrying about the fate of a character in a book you've already read. You know what's going to happen. The ending's not going to change. The best and really the only thing you can do is enjoy the story as best you can.
When i saw this thread, I wasn't sure if I wanted to post but I feel I must. But before I begin, I should like everyone to know writing thi… mores is probably one of the most touchy things I've ever will write.
Mortality has always been a sensitive issue for me. Whenever it is brought up, I will always act defensive and afterwards return it to the back corner of my mind, hoping never to bring it up again. I'm not stupid, I know human life never lasts long, with old age, cancer, I suppose what I fear isn't death, it's inevitability. Knowing it's going to happen and there isn't a damn thing that can be done. Yet, I interject by saying medical science is continuing to help find ways for life extension, and I foolishly believe one day I will be able to afford it.
Back to the topic at hand, all my life I've been touchy about religion. I was born methodist, yet to me I do somewhat believe in God but some of me doesn't want to be enlightened and … [view original content]
I suppose your right. Thank you for your insight. Yet, I seem to fall back to the cushion of the advancements of medical science. Hoping I'll find a way. And there I go again.
The idea of eventually "losing yourself," whether that be to oblivion or unification with a higher power, is a tough thing for anyone to com… moree to grips with. The inevitability of it, like you said, is particularly disheartening to think about, but to me that certainty also affords a strange sense of freedom.
Because there isn't anything you can do about your eventual mortality, there's nothing to do about it. Worrying about it is as fruitful as worrying about the fate of a character in a book you've already read. You know what's going to happen. The ending's not going to change. The best and really the only thing you can do is enjoy the story as best you can.
Don't put your faith there. Cell replication is just too fickle. Even with all of the knowkedge we have about aging we just can't implement it in a way to prevent eventual cell decay and death. Your faith should probably be placed in technological advancements for immortality.
I suppose your right. Thank you for your insight. Yet, I seem to fall back to the cushion of the advancements of medical science. Hoping I'll find a way. And there I go again.
But...I'll try that, enjoy the story.
Don't put your faith there. Cell replication is just too fickle. Even with all of the knowkedge we have about aging we just can't implement … moreit in a way to prevent eventual cell decay and death. Your faith should probably be placed in technological advancements for immortality.
Don't put your faith there. Cell replication is just too fickle. Even with all of the knowkedge we have about aging we just can't implement … moreit in a way to prevent eventual cell decay and death. Your faith should probably be placed in technological advancements for immortality.
When it comes to the preservation of human conciousness yes, I would place bets on computer technology before I would fixing chromosomal degradation. Obviously neither are likely to happen, but I find the former more probable.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to believe in a comforting afterlife. But it's probably best not to make it the sole pillar upon which your sense of hope rests--especially if you're the type of person who lapses into doubt every now and then. Focus on enjoying life for what it is and let the afterlife, if and when it may come, be a happy surprise.
Even if there is an afterlife, I hope it's something...
I don't know. Just not all angels and bright light. Maybe something different; completely speculating. I just want to believe anything is possible.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to believe in a comforting afterlife. But it's probably best not to make it the sole pillar upon which yo… moreur sense of hope rests--especially if you're the type of person who lapses into doubt every now and then. Focus on enjoying life for what it is and let the afterlife, if and when it may come, be a happy surprise.
I don't know - Is there some afterlife we go to and eternally do nothing? Do we go to Heaven, Hell, Valhalla, The Underworld etc.? Are we given a choice to live as a new person? Do we just relive our life over and over in an infinite loop? Do we dream for eternity and live out our fantasies and dreams like they're completely and entirely real and the truth? Do we just decompose and end up seeing nothing but darkness? Do we just.... fade away...? Or perhaps what each individual thinks will happen to them when they die is what happens to them? Perhaps we each somehow get a choice in what happens to us after death?
Comments
Well, it's really not. The cells in your brain are what determine what you are and what your memories are. You do not have any memory before you were born because these cells did not exist, and you do not have the memories after the cells have died, evidenced by countless experiments involving the brain, memory, neuron death, etc (including the lobotomy). Obviously when you die these cells cease to function and they die. Leaving you with nothing more than what you had before you started. Unless you're arguing that you grow some immaterial soul or something, which is absolutely baseless and has no reason to be respected as a rational argument.
Absolute? No. It's also not absolutely true or false that I'm not a brain floating in a jar on a random planet in the Andromeda galaxy, but it's very unlikely that I am.
I believe that there is a Heaven or Hell after death.
When people believe in reincarnation... I sometimes wonder if it involves microbes or relatives of microbes that came from our body upon decomposition eventually finding their way into another body. Just it might be an Earth Worm next time. It could be why some people have vague memories of events that they never lived. Most accounts from children. Sometimes from hundreds of years before they were even born. Interesting idea but... Say it took hundreds of years for what little bit of them remained to find it's way into a new human body, if ever at all. It is said even an insect has memory so.... It would partly explain why all living creatures are pre programmed with specific thoughts and memories as well. Like human's natural fear of spiders, snakes, large cats, dogs/wolves and large birds, as those are uniformed predators that are feared by a large percent of living creatures on the planet.
I guess I don't get the intended meaning. Saying that we are zombies because we function through the neurons that comprise the brain just doesn't make sense.
It really is too long for it to be explained both properly and concisely. Try looking up philosophical zombie on Wikipedia; it goes into greater depth.
I've got time
Close your eyes and you'll see how it's to be dead, there is nothing after death, nothing except darkness. There isn't an "past you", there is only you as present. Before the creation of light, at the beginning of time there was only darkness, and this is how darkness like but the gods turn up the lights.
"Darkness is not a symbol of negativity but the state, where we can concentrate on the real light of Life" - Samar Sudha
"Darkness is just light turned inside out." - Beelzebub
Reminds me of the explanation behind the whole 'reading memories' thing from Assassin's Creed.
Maybe I can't grasp the concept, but the idea of just ceasing to exist after death just doesn't sound right. I think you either go on as yourself, or you're re-incarnated as someone else. Although that raised an interesting question; let's say you're born in completely different circumstances than in your past life. Had you been born in a similar environment as in your past life, would you become a similar person to who you were? Basically, would you be born as the same person, and have your experiences determine what you become?
I simply believe that we're re-incarnated into someone else, with no recollection of our past lives.
When i saw this thread, I wasn't sure if I wanted to post but I feel I must. But before I begin, I should like everyone to know writing this is probably one of the most touchy things I've ever will write.
Mortality has always been a sensitive issue for me. Whenever it is brought up, I will always act defensive and afterwards return it to the back corner of my mind, hoping never to bring it up again. I'm not stupid, I know human life never lasts long, with old age, cancer, I suppose what I fear isn't death, it's inevitability. Knowing it's going to happen and there isn't a damn thing that can be done. Yet, I interject by saying medical science is continuing to help find ways for life extension, and I foolishly believe one day I will be able to afford it.
Back to the topic at hand, all my life I've been touchy about religion. I was born methodist, yet to me I do somewhat believe in God but some of me doesn't want to be enlightened and be told it's all part of God's plan. I don't know how to explain it, I have faith but it's not religious faith, can't that count for something? Early on back in 2008 I stopped taking an anti depressant that I have been taking most of my life, at first I was good then gloom and doom were all I thought about, my mind focused on dark things, everyone I knew and loved would be gone. And then it would be my turn. I returned to the anti depressant and all is right, to all it can provide. What upsets me the most is the concept of "being one with God" I take it as sacrificing my individuality which I will not do. Yes, I've read heaven is a wonderful place, always surrounded by happiness and everyone of my family together forever.
But that's not what I want. Another depressing thoughts that I keep trying to block out of my mind are Earth and the universe's end. Scientists and astro physicists have concluded what will happen, but I feel it's still just a theory. I try to believe life will find a way. I use that as a shield to keep the dark thoughts at bay. Keep denying inevitability, how foolish I am.
All things have their time, we've always been told. And that's added to my list. So if and when the time comes, hypothetically speaking, to me with heaven's glamor and everlasting peace, I feel to me it will just be another prison, just like the mad world I live in now. I'm not certain if changing religions will help but I suppose I could try.
I just keep hoping, that whatever afterlife awaits (and I hope there is) it's something I can cope with. I also wish to believe anything is possible and I hold on to that.
So to the question I answer: I don't know. I wish anything can be possible and just to have faith. Isn't that all we can do?
Thank you for anyone who took the time to read this. This is me opening up my soul, my deepest feelings. I'd like to hear what others think.
I think I know how you feel, and in a way I feel the same way, but at the same time, it goes into Dawkin's 'Blind Clockmaker' analogy - if you come upon the shore and find a pocketwatch, you will believe that something so intricuate will be unique and have a maker; but human consciousness is not as great a leap as we would like to believe - thoughout evolutionary history there has been a clear and delineated progression in the development of consciousness. One minor example is the way that dogs cannot recognize themselves in the mirror - neither can really young infants. Going back to its origin, the most primitive forms of 'consciousness' are merely reactions to tactile stimuli, and those gradually have built up on one another to produce modern human consciousness. Dogs mourn, elephants can even cry. Humans really aren't that special.
probably nothing, it's depressing to think about
If you had a little more edge you would be a square.
<;~;>
Nothing. Everything you are just ceases to exist. You are your mind. And when that goes in entirety, so do you.
You let me shapeless, I've got no form, I'm formless.
"You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend." - Bruce Lee
You're the personification of a wonderful rainbow that's coming from a storm, a storm that seems to never ending.
There's a no-ending rainbow that you gotta walk on for the eternity.
Nothing.
What did you say!
Here is the proff
Probably nothing.
I just think that when you die, you just go into a sleep that lasts forever and you can't wake up from it. I don't believe that there's Heaven, Hell or anything like that.
Eh, I hardly think your conscious at all after death. I imagine it as like before you were born. There is no such thing as a "you" anymore. Your nothing at this point and have no thoughts or anything.
Jesus help, i'm being harrased by a maniac spouting Bruce Lee quotes!
The idea of eventually "losing yourself," whether that be to oblivion or unification with a higher power, is a tough thing for anyone to come to grips with. The inevitability of it, like you said, is particularly disheartening to think about, but to me that certainty also affords a strange sense of freedom.
Because there isn't anything you can do about your eventual mortality, there's nothing to do about it. Worrying about it is as fruitful as worrying about the fate of a character in a book you've already read. You know what's going to happen. The ending's not going to change. The best and really the only thing you can do is enjoy the story as best you can.
I suppose your right. Thank you for your insight. Yet, I seem to fall back to the cushion of the advancements of medical science. Hoping I'll find a way. And there I go again.
But...I'll try that, enjoy the story.
Don't put your faith there. Cell replication is just too fickle. Even with all of the knowkedge we have about aging we just can't implement it in a way to prevent eventual cell decay and death. Your faith should probably be placed in technological advancements for immortality.
Heh, if you're alluding to simulating replicated brain states as a less fickle alternative to functional immortality, I have some bad news...
People don't really go to heaven when they die. They're taken to a special room and burned.
Even if there is an afterlife, I hope it's something...
I don't know. Just not all angels and bright light. Maybe something different; completely speculating. I just want to believe anything is possible.
Replicated brain or technological? wouldn't that mean the loss of human soul? Or are you referring to nanotechnology?
. . . Oh, yeah, the soul.
When it comes to the preservation of human conciousness yes, I would place bets on computer technology before I would fixing chromosomal degradation. Obviously neither are likely to happen, but I find the former more probable.
My thoughts exactly.
Pretty sure there is nothing such as a soul.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to believe in a comforting afterlife. But it's probably best not to make it the sole pillar upon which your sense of hope rests--especially if you're the type of person who lapses into doubt every now and then. Focus on enjoying life for what it is and let the afterlife, if and when it may come, be a happy surprise.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. And thank you for being so insightful.
I don't know - Is there some afterlife we go to and eternally do nothing? Do we go to Heaven, Hell, Valhalla, The Underworld etc.? Are we given a choice to live as a new person? Do we just relive our life over and over in an infinite loop? Do we dream for eternity and live out our fantasies and dreams like they're completely and entirely real and the truth? Do we just decompose and end up seeing nothing but darkness? Do we just.... fade away...? Or perhaps what each individual thinks will happen to them when they die is what happens to them? Perhaps we each somehow get a choice in what happens to us after death?