Do you believe in the afterlife?

[Moon Ronin]

How death doesn't make sense, from a scientific perspective:

Interesting, but no. Our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and experiences are not matter thus are not bound by the Law of Conservation or action and reaction. The romantic idea of making some digital heaven akin to the Amazon series Uploaded (good show by the way) to contain all of the people that have ever died is something that can never happen as they are gone and so is that information. As for in the future, I'm not in neuroscience but the idea that we will be able to upload who we are to some mainframe, if (and that is a huge if) that happens it will be long after I'm gone so it really doesn't matter to me.

[Kirby101]

Interesting, but no. Our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and experiences are not matter thus are not bound by the Law of Conservation or action and reaction. The romantic idea of making some digital heaven akin to the Amazon series Uploaded (good show by the way) to contain all of the people that have ever died is something that can never happen as they are gone and so is that information. As for in the future, I'm not in neuroscience but the idea that we will be able to upload who we are to some mainframe, if (and that is a huge if) that happens it will be long after I'm gone so it really doesn't matter to me.

There is no evidence that all our thoughts, feelings, emotions and experiences are not the result of a physical action of matter and energy in the brain. Or that they exist outside the natural world. There is no mind outside the brain.

I am not referring to the latter part of your post about "uploading", that is another debate and I agree even if it is possible it will be a long time from now and it is hard to say that the resulting electronic person wouldn't really be just a simulacrum of the person. I don't think the mind works at all like a computer, so finding all that is a person stored in the brain and transferring it to a computer might be impossible.

[Scott Taylor]

Yes.

My evidence is that people I knew who have died still live on in my memories. And others have told me that they experience the same thing with the dead in their own lives. Also I believe that we (people and animals alike) have a spiritual aspect that lives on. My evidence for that is that I have been around people and animals who died and felt their spirit pass by as they left the body.

[Starter Set]

My evidence for that is that I have been around people and animals who died and felt their spirit pass by as they left the body.

Did you know? Well, debate's over.

[Scott Taylor]

Did you know? Well, debate's over.

So I guess you disagree? The debate was over before it started if you are looking for some kind of proof rather than belief.

Consider - science didn't prove germs existed until the 1860s. Did they exist prior to that time? We had no idea there was DNA until the 20th Century. No inkling of the relationship between matter and energy until Einstein. New scientific discoveries happen all the time. But sure, go ahead and believe that the plague is caused by having too many cats around.

Our technology as it stands today can't prove the supernatural or test for it. All we really have is negative data, which is proof of nothing, and debate.

[Moon Ronin]

There is no evidence that all our thoughts, feelings, emotions and experiences are not the result of a physical action of matter and energy in the brain. Or that they exist outside the natural world. There is no mind outside the brain.

I am not referring to the latter part of your post about "uploading", that is another debate and I agree even if it is possible it will be a long time from now and it is hard to say that the resulting electronic person wouldn't really be just a simulacrum of the person. I don't think the mind works at all like a computer, so finding all that is a person stored in the brain and transferring it to a computer might be impossible.

Not sure if your agreeing with me or not... My response was to the flawed concept in the video that Adam Allen about how "consciousness" should be subject Law of Mass Conservation, that when we die meaning it goes "somewhere" because science law says so. I didn't say that it was outside the natural world just that the natural law that was applied in that video was used incorrectly. Many look at the brain like a computer hard drive... when it comes to the human brain its more like RAM, cut the power and every thing that was there is gone.

[DrNewGod]

I am uncertain most things, including afterlife, to a point that I can't say I believe. Hope on the other hand...?

[Rob Allen]

I'm with them:



AFTER LIFE GOES BY
©2003 Lou and Peter Berryman

Every indication is my spiritual foundation is
On permanent vacation on the whole
Tho death be drawing nearer nothing's getting any clearer
When I look into the mirror for my soul
Tho up to now I've been a cynic and sarcastic to the core
My gray hairs make me hopeful that there may be something more
But when my heart starts evoking further scenes beyond my croaking
My ol' brain just thinks I'm joking like before

CHORUS:
I believe there's nothing after life goes by
I believe it's over when we die die die
Others may be thankful their beliefs are strong
But every night I'm praying that I'm wrong wrong wrong

The trouble with my praying is I find it so dismaying
That no one may hear me saying what I say
I should be a believer in a heavenly receiver
But I'm not sure of that either by the way
And the problem of believing is, you can't decide you do
Not like how you decide you want to paint your kitchen blue
Plus whenever I try kneeling flinging questions toward the ceiling
I get echos back revealing not a clue

CHORUS

Now some have a fixation on their next reincarnation
And believe we're in rotation here on earth
That right after we expire we're reborn a tubeless tire
Yet I hear myself inquire what's it worth
For this idea that you return without your body or your mind
And return without a mem'ry of the life you left behind
Has my poor cerebrum churning since the gaps within my learning
Leave exactly what's returning undefined

CHORUS

Now some do think that later we'll be meeting our creator
That ol' prestidigitator in the sky
But if you talk to others we'll be meeting with our mothers
And our dear departed brothers by and by
If there be any truth to that, I had a dog I can't replace
And when I call old Hildy she'll come licking at my face
Oh, it really would be super to rejoin that faithful trooper
So I'll bring my pooper scooper just in case

CHORUS

[Mia]

As a Christian-and let me emphasize that I am speaking here from a Christian perspective, yes I do. What does it look like? The book of Revelation has a description, but keep in my that was written from the view/knowledge of a man who lived at the turn of the first century. So he just described it based on what he knew at the time. So he would have had no idea of a word for spaceship . That being I once heard a Christian theologian describe the afterlife, or as they say in Judaism the world to come. As a world that is pretty similar to the ones we have now, without the vagaries of human nature and endless companionship with the Almighty (for those who have chosen this). Physically I see it filled with nature and beautiful architecture and the endless capacity to learn.

[Ragged Maw]

I’m don’t believe it’s going to be what those old little holy books describe. I believe that consciousness as each of us knows it is pretty much DONE when the big moment happens. But at the same time I don’t think it necessarily means (total) oblivion either, given that energy (in this case, the electrical signals that interact with the now-decomposing meat that was our brain) technically can’t be destroyed.......That’s about all I can say.

[CaptCleghorn]

I believe there is something more than we are. I do not know what that is, and I am not able to define it in any detail. I feel this way because of the admittedly anecdotal evidence in my life. Those seeking incontestable proof would not agree with me on this, but those are the standards I choose to use. Now my belief system does not have any role for an afterlife. My lack of detail and structure makes my ability to expand on anything somewhat suspect. But I do hope there is an afterlife and the soul lives on to grow from the experiences of this lifespan. Is it this way? I have no idea but I am not ready to take the step I need to find out.

[Adam Allen]

As a Christian-and let me emphasize that I am speaking here from a Christian perspective, yes I do. What does it look like? The book of Revelation has a description, but keep in my that was written from the view/knowledge of a man who lived at the turn of the first century. So he just described it based on what he knew at the time. So he would have had no idea of a word for spaceship . That being I once heard a Christian theologian describe the afterlife, or as they say in Judaism the world to come. As a world that is pretty similar to the ones we have now, without the vagaries of human nature and endless companionship with the Almighty (for those who have chosen this). Physically I see it filled with nature and beautiful architecture and the endless capacity to learn.

So, this is not at all any kind of a Christian afterlife I'm thinking of here, but I want to speak to it because for most of my life, I was not able to imagine any kind of "Heaven" at all, but now I kind of can ...

And yeah, it's crazy, but hear me out on this ... the concept is kind of inspired by video games. You know, there are online type games now, where every player can have their own allotted island or what have you, and in that space they can use the mechanics and material of the game to create whatever they want. Then, other players can visit what they've created; you can visit what others have made, invite people to hang out and see what you've built, and so on. People can create whole mini-games within their spaces, for others to come and play.

It's kind of a crazy concept, but "Heaven" could be something like that. No person ever dies, every "soul" is allowed after death to create their own world/universe/multiverse ... their own version of whatever their concept of paradise is, then invite anybody or everybody to visit their world, if they want. Or, when they get bored of their own "universe", there is an infinity of others they can visit ... every family member and friend, every famous person they've admired or historical figure they've wanted to meet, they can go look up all of those people's "worlds" or whatever, and see what they've been up to.

I always kind of had a problem conceiving of "infinity" before, and I'm not saying I can fully grasp it now, I mean I think the concept is somewhat beyond us very unavoidably finite earthly beings ... but, due to this relatively new wrinkle in technology that ... well, computers existed when I was born, and nowhere near with the capacity that they do today. The internet definitely didn't exist, and really I think the possibility to even imagine it, or that it would open up the possibility of just games like they exist today ... it's crazy, to think of how much we can take for granted today, that would have been just beyond the ability for anybody to imagine, for most of human history.

I am rambling, but I guess my point is that I'm not really prepared to declare what is "impossible", considering how much is possible and even commonplace today, that people could not have imagined just a few decades ago. Especially when -- really, what is the nature of self-awareness? Or consciousness, whatever you want to call it? How exactly is it created? Because we haven't been able to recreate it as humans. We are just aware that we are aware. So, how can we really say for a fact that awareness or sentience or whatever can be destroyed, can ever really end, when we do not in fact really understand what it even is?

So, yeah. I guess, I don't know if I believe. But, I definitely want to.

[Tendrin]

How death doesn't make sense, from a scientific perspective:



People Watching is a pretty awesome series.

This was neat.

I think a lot of our energy with regards to death winds up spent justifying why we *need* to die, because death is seemingly so ultimately unfair. It is also, as James Baldwin, ultimately the only fact we have and a lot of our actions are ultimately coming down to how we handle knowing our own mortality.

I certainly think we can beat death by aging, and I think we're actually much closer to than we realize at this time. A lot of the cutting edge science going on right now could extend life substantially.

[numberthirty]

One guy's take...

There are a lot of things that can be scientifically proven in the here and now that humanity once could never even have conceived of.

Could an afterlife eventually wind up being something along those lines?

Can't really rule that out, but things don't seem like they point to it right now.

[DanMad1977]

I didnt even grasped the concept of me being existent.

I mean, why me? Am I something special? Or the opposite?

And if I have an afterlife that I can't remember, it really doesn't matter if I believe in an afterlife or not...