Soldato
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Everybody dies, so why worry
Death/Dying
- Thread starter Ace Modder
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Not to take away the perceived romantic notions of being the stuff of stars, but to follow this on to it's logical conclusion: the universe by law of entropy will eventually wither away and go eternally quiet.
It's all very nihilistic. Obviously, the response to nihilism is to try and make your own reason, but that reason to be is in itself also contained within the same nihilistic boundaries. At which point do we just accept the absurdity of it all?
Four, according to the Buddhist teachings, iirc : hunger, suffering, birth and death.
Soldato
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terrifying. I'd jump at the chance to live forever.
Soldato
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I have the same belief as you, although I prefer the word "manifest" instead of "energy". For as long as your body is alive, the manifest, your being, lies inside your brain. After death, my belief is that your manifest will move on to another living being. As with before birth, there will be no recollection of previous lives. Be it human or an animal, you will be dealt a random number of chromosomes, and of course you will be dealt a random hand as to how life itself will unfold for you.
Probably a different debate here, but what happens to manifest if you teleport? Your body (incl. brain) is broken down into molecules then reassembled at the destination pod. Does the manifest survive that? If not, will you re-manifest as a newborn?
Another hypothetical debate is what happens if a scientist creates a brain? Will that brain now have manifest?
Agreed with you about the potential nothingless. I've been in car crashes, woken up in an ambulance etc, so I'm not as bothered about pain.
rofl notsureifserious.jpg
Extended - Indeed.
However attempting to create a religious structure around everything to justify the absurd nature of things is reflectively absurd - including the final answer to the purpose given by religious people "Only God knows".
So that's existence, the reason and everything = unknown (someone else knows but hasn't shared it).
I think I'll stick with science and build the knowledge in the hope there is a way to actually derive a meaning for the universe's life rather than remain unanswered or even sure if there is someone to answer
It maybe that we're all linked in a quantum scale and our mental processes cause some effect.. but this too boils down to either someone else knows but hasn't shared it; or doing the donkey work to build the knowledge and understanding to see..
I think the "someone else knows but hasn't shared it" is an answer to avoid doing the work to understand everything. This extends to why and what.
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Associate
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I believe in the afterlife. I just think somehow it will be alright. The universe is a big place. Someone will get around to resurrecting me eventually at the least. Or something like that.
You've missed the point of my post.
BTW NickK, I'm not religious. I just like that line from the poem.
And I agree 'the god of the gaps' is equally absurd, but from an empathetic and anthropological point of view we can see easily see why and where spirituality comes from.
I also agree that nihilistic conclusion has a huge gap of knowledge in itself. We are only just starting to understand the universe!
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Obviously afraid of dying in agony, but not at tall worried about what comes after. It could be pure nothingness, or heaven with a bearded god and angels flying around....or anything in between. We really have no clue and one theory is no better than another. I find it strange that people mock the ideas that religion offers about the afterlife when the idea of "nothing" (or anything else) is equally absurd when we have no idea about the true nature of existence.
Suspended
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Bit morbid in here aint it!
I would have thought that 'energy' as an existence occurs on two levels: body potential (i.e. nerves, neurons etc) and quantum forces in matter.
Nerves do not work by "electricity" per-se. Nerves work by the potentials of ions. The reason why nerve 'pulses' move along a nerve is down to the geometry and the ion gates within the nerves. The nerve being a tube, the ions can go in/out of the gates causing a potential difference, the gates when triggered have a little delay timer to rearm. In a flat plane this causes a radiation like a ripple on a lake as the gates prevent the ions from going back.. so they can only extend out into the lake from the centre but not back to the centre. Now wrap that as a tube.. and the result is that your ion 'wave' starts at one point at the end of the tube but the gate delay prevents the wave from going back on itself so the only way is to go forward.. thus the ion pulse moves down the nerve fiber length. The sheaths make the process faster as the ions have to jump over the top.. The pulse then hits the centre of the nerve cell, and if enough potential, then the pulses continue out via the synapse junctions (i.e. cause chemicals to cause the signal to jump over the synapse) to the next cell.. we don't know everything thus we're still investigating.
Now the quantum stuff.. is more interesting.. again this is continuing to be investigated.. but energy changes at a quantum level could be tied across the universe..
So if you're transported from A to B, the ions and therefore the electrical potential differences will also be transported from A to B..
The really fun bit is: is our personality created by the structure and links of the neurons.... or the electrical patterns cycling through the brain (i.e. the feedback of electrical ion pulses... or both.. as both structure (hardware) and the signals could be personality (software data)... just as you can have instruction adapting programs or data-driven programs or a combination of both..
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Eternal, or at least longer life would fundamentally shift society in ways we can't begin to imagine right now.
You've missed the point of my post.
BTW NickK, I'm not religious. I just like that line from the poem.
And I agree 'the god of the gaps' is equally absurd, but from an empathetic and anthropological point of view we can see easily see why and where spirituality comes from.
I also agree that nihilistic conclusion has a huge gap of knowledge in itself. We are only just starting to understand the universe!
I have two grand books.. one is good read and the other is.. well "known".
The first is a book on the nethandertal mind, looking at why we see common belief structures and symbols.. basically it shows that where brain structure is similar (in architecture) when subjected to mind altering drugs of the old days the same shapes and structures appear. The interpretation of these also follow to be similar because of it - but not always.
The other is Sartre "Being and Nothingness". Now this is a thick book, that simply basically (here's the wiki statement): "Sartre contends that human existence is a conundrum whereby each of us exists, for as long as we live, within an overall condition of nothingness (no thing-ness)—that ultimately allows for free consciousness. But simultaneously, within our being (in the physical world), we are constrained to make continuous, conscious choices."
However reading this wall of text is equivalent to Zen and the Art of Reading.. as you cannot simply read, you need to read and contemplate thus speed reading is impossible.
The direction would be clear / no different, I think; at least for the short to medium term anyway, but for longer periods, yes, I'm inclined to agree.
Well, let's start with the fundamental shift. Let's assume that we're no longer mortal, or at least don't have the problems which or current short life spans present.
Do you not agree that would create a whole new value shift in society? People's outlooks, wants and lifestyle dynamics all completely change. Without death, would society stagnate or improve? Take for example careers: if people never die, how would others ever progress? Would a lack of mortality concentrate wealth and power more than it currently is?
Indeed, it's readily observable that society progresses with each new generation that comes to be as it challenges the status quo. How would reduced mortality in the long term affect societal shift?
I believe without mortality being a pressing issue, it also frees people from some obligations. There would be for example, no concern for a 30, 40, or 50-something to return to university and retrain for a brand new field. As time is no longer short, people can experiment. Would knowledge become more specialised? Would there be more or less scientific breakthroughs? Would spiritual and philosophical growth and the pursuit of happiness become the new normal as opposed to generating profit and capital?
It's impossible to know how such an important change in the dynamic of the human condition will affect everything. We can make educated guesses in the very short term, but anything beyond that would be naive and foolish.
Suspended
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