Do you believe there is some form of self-conscious life after death?

[HansMustermann]

Surely in this context, "to believe" means "to accept something as true IN THE ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE!" Who here can honestly say that he believes in anything? I sure & hell hope I don't.

No, not really. That's the faith part, not the belief. Believing X simply means you think that X is true. Or for the followers of the prophet Bayes basically you think P(X)>0.5.

WHY you believe or don't believe something, well, that's a whole other question. It can be evidence, or extrapolating from personal experiences/anecdotes, or trusting some authority, or blind faith, or a delusion, or whatever.

And really, I don't see why it's relevant to answer the poll. If X believes in an afterlife, it can be faith, or it can be based on some lame personal evidence like having seen a ghost. The latter would certainly not tick a box saying they believe for no reason. But both ultimately think that the proposition is true.

 

[ynot]

The poll asks "Do you believe?", not "Why do you believe?"

I also added "No explanation required." in the OP as I'm only interested in the numbers.

 

[Thor 2]

Interesting the lack of support for the second option.

 

[KatieG]

I voted no.

 

[3point14]

I am a biological accident on a cosmological accident.

When the machine that is me stops working, there will be no me.

 

[Dave Rogers]

No, not really. That's the faith part, not the belief. Believing X simply means you think that X is true. Or for the followers of the prophet Bayes basically you think P(X)>0.5.

I think that's a bit of a low threshold. If I roll a dice, there is a 5/6 possibility that the result will be 5 or less, but that doesn't mean that I believe that the result will not be a 6.

Dave

 

[abaddon]

Interesting the lack of support for the second option.

Perhaps such belief is an all or nothing deal?

 

[HansMustermann]

I think that's a bit of a low threshold. If I roll a dice, there is a 5/6 possibility that the result will be 5 or less, but that doesn't mean that I believe that the result will not be a 6.

Dave

Well, Bayesian reasoning is all about probabilities, rather than absolutes. So using the above example, it's accurate to say that the result probably won't be a 6.

 

[Seismosaurus]

No. No good evidence, so no belief from me.

 

[MaartenVergu]

Statistically, there is a huge change that you will live again, because there is evidence that it happened once (this live) that you came from nothing in a universe. Why should it not happen twice.

 

[Donn]

Statistically, there is a huge change that you will live again, because there is evidence that it happened once (this live) that you came from nothing in a universe. Why should it not happen twice.

Which part of your trillion molecules is you?

 

[Thor 2]

Which part of your trillion molecules is you?

This reminds me of a delightful book of verse by Ame Perdue - "The New Rubaiyat - Omar Khayyam - Reincarnated"

An extract:

I sipped my wine and said my say.
I laughed and sighed and had my little Day,
And, when my Vital Cells had served their Term,
Like Pharaoh proud and Jamshyd, went my way.

The Ganglions that formed my Ego broke
Into Disintegration, then awoke
Revitalized, their countless Units then
Scattered amongst the Brains of Other Folk.

It seemed to me that this Coincidence:
That these dull microscopic Cells of Sense
Could in there Trillions re-unite again:
Was contrary to all Intelligence.

But lo, the Cosmic Chemist, witless, blind,
With vagrant, fumbling Fingers, chanced to find
The Combination of my Ego that
Its empty Husk had long ago resigned.

So I, a New Khayyam, am come again
Back to the Caravanserai of Men,
Yet I am Old, for one must pass the Test
Of Years to bring All Things within his ken.

 

[Seismosaurus]

Statistically, there is a huge change that you will live again, because there is evidence that it happened once (this live) that you came from nothing in a universe. Why should it not happen twice.

If this holds true, why do we never see people living again?

 

[HansMustermann]

Statistically, there is a huge change that you will live again, because there is evidence that it happened once (this live) that you came from nothing in a universe. Why should it not happen twice.

Actually, statistically that one won't be you. The probability of there ever being the same combination of synapses, so it's, you know, YOU, is beyond negligible.

 

[Denver]

I didn't vote, because I don't want to jinx it.

 

[Cosmic Yak]

If this holds true, why do we never see people living again?

We do. It's just that they're always either Cleopatra or Julius Caesar.

That's what a past-life regressionist will tell you, anyway. No-one was ever a leper.

 

[deaman]

I think a good question is: How differently will you act, based on your belief, concerning the OP question?

 

[JoeMorgue]

I think that's a bit of a low threshold. If I roll a dice, there is a 5/6 possibility that the result will be 5 or less, but that doesn't mean that I believe that the result will not be a 6.

Oh man someone should totally start a thread about proving immortality using Bayesian statistics using a lot of dice metaphors! There's no way a thread like that could ever go wrong!

 

[John Jones]

We do. It's just that they're always either Cleopatra or Julius Caesar.

That's what a past-life regressionist will tell you, anyway. No-one was ever a leper.

Ain't that the damned truth?

 

[ynot]

We do. It's just that they're always either Cleopatra or Julius Caesar.

That's what a past-life regressionist will tell you, anyway. No-one was ever a leper.

Re Spoiler – Well that simply isn't true! Not only was I a leper in my past life but my entire body was covered in a pox, I was also blind, only had one leg and my teeth and hair had fallen out. The cow went dry, the hens stopped laying and my wife left me for an uglier man. Oh wait . . . I think all that was in this life. Hope I never get reincarnated.