What is death like?

[The Dark Lord]

On the second to last episode episode of the series, House gave Wilson some kind of drug. Wilson is knocked out, and when Wilson wakes up, House tells him that that is what it will be like to be dead*, except for that he will never wake up.

*

Wilson (ironically an oncologist for those of you who didn't watch the show) has terminal cancer but refuses to get chemo, which could extend his life by a few years.

 

[Halfcentaur]

The great majority of people who were pronounced clinically dead and later resuscitated have reported no near death experience. The majority of people, believers and non believers, report nothing at all. A dreamless sleep no different than before you were born and were able to form memories.

 

[Halfcentaur]

To bad we just don't know the reason for it.

Why is it too bad? Is it too bad we don't know the reason for hills? Is it too bad we don't know the reason for angles?

We know why hills happen, we know why angles happen, but we don't know what the reason is for hills or angles. There is no reason for hills or angles. it is nonsensical to ask what the reason for a hill is, it's like asking what a color smells like, or what all hills tastes like. It's a mistake in the way the human mind uses reasons as a frame work for forming observations.

 

[punshhh]

I missed the high speed rerun part. Now I think I got ripped off.

It might depend on the circumstances, what were they?

For me the first time I was drowning and second was a cocktail of drugs. Both quite traumatic.

 

[punshhh]

There is a difference between what the evidence supports and what one might like to be the case. Are you attempting to conflate the two in this thread?

I'm more interested in whether people have reconciled themselves with what it means to them and their psychology.

Also focussing on our inability to imagine the state of being dead, while knowing that it is our destiny.

 

[punshhh]

.
We will never know.
We stop totally at death.
It's similar to the nothing that one feels after waking from being anesthesized..
You are aware of nothing during that period of being "out".
Death is that, only forever.

Not existing "forever", it doesn't compute.

 

[punshhh]

Well done, once again you understand.

Nice, I can't wait, not long now.

 

[punshhh]

For a perspective on dying: Enter the Void. Watch it.

For a perspective on death: I had a major surgery and was put under anesthesia for 6 hours. I remember falling asleep, and it was hard to wake back up, but the space of time between sleep and becoming aware of my existence was instantaneous from my point of view. I didn't know how long I was out, couldn't even make a guess.

There was not even a void filling the space of time, no perceptible hole in time at all, it was like someone stitched the moment of falling asleep to the moment of waking up. If someone had stitched that moment to the death of the universe and end of time, I wouldn't even know the difference. That space of invisible time between going under and coming out is the only way to describe death.

I had a five hour operation. Thinking about it I had a strong feeling of not knowing where I was and had lost track of time, when I began to come round. Also I experienced receding down a tunnel on the way in.

 

[Ocelot]

Also focussing on our inability to imagine the state of being dead, while knowing that it is our destiny.

In twenty years time I will either be alive or dead. I find it difficult to imagine what being alive will be like at that age. I have no difficulty knowing whether a state of non-existence will feel like anything at all

 

[punshhh]

Precisely. Before you were born you didn't exist for over 4 billion years. Death is just like that. Nonexistence.

Life is a brief and fleeting moment of consciousness. You get one very short chance to do whatever you want, then you're gone forever. Use it wisely.

Yes I know this view of it. Although I would say it was more than 4 billion years, it was and will be an eternity.

 

[punshhh]

Are you bothered to think that every soap bubble that is ever formed and pops out of existence ceases to be?

What about the bacteria that were killed when you washed your hands today?
Do they all continue on somewhere else when they cease to be?
What about the trees that are struck by lightening? Do they go on forever after they die?
Your pets?
Your ideas?


Why are we different?

I don't know, do you?

 

[punshhh]

Yes. You simply cease to be.

That's why some of us choose to cherish every day, every second, because this is it. What we are, here and now, will never come again.

This is reality. Some cannot accept this and flock to religion for comforting lies, something 'warm and fuzzy' to believe in. I, as well as many others here, chose to face the reality, savor every moment life has to offer on the one and only time we're going to ride this ride.

I'm going to a baseball game tonight with my 5 year old son. Friday is ZZ Top with 3 Doors Down in concert. I see some Chinese food in the near future too. Life is good!

I entirely agree, I take this view for different reasons, the result is the same.

 

[punshhh]

Nothing, but you don't notice even that there is nothing.

Interesting.

 

[marplots]

It might depend on the circumstances, what were they?

For me the first time I was drowning and second was a cocktail of drugs. Both quite traumatic.

First time drowning, second time falling off the face of a cliff. Wets and drys I guess.

There was one other, but while I knew I wasn't in danger, my body seemed to think I was -- jumping out of an airplane. I simply blacked out for a second or two. The parachute was on a static line and the shock of the chute opening snapped me back (I assume, I was out for the "jerk"). That was more just losing consciousness under duress though, no thoughts of dying in that one at all.

 

[punshhh]

Originally Posted by punshhh
It seemed to me that if I were dead for millions/billions of years or longer and then became alive again, that time would have passed in an instant. In fact if I were dead for a nearly infinite period of time eventually inevitably I would become alive again by chance alone and it would be in the blink of an eye.

Very much a possibility, but we don't know if the universe is that big.

But if existence is endless, this would happen surely.

 

[punshhh]

Epicurus understood this, also. Subjectively, life is long and death is nothing, not even short.

Instantaneous?

 

[punshhh]

First time drowning, second time falling off the face of a cliff. Wets and drys I guess.

There was one other, but while I knew I wasn't in danger, my body seemed to think I was -- jumping out of an airplane. I simply blacked out for a second or two. The parachute was on a static line and the shock of the chute opening snapped me back (I assume, I was out for the "jerk"). That was more just losing consciousness under duress though, no thoughts of dying in that one at all.

Interesting, when I was drowning, I came up twice trying to escape, but knowing I didn't know how to swim, it was futile. It was after this and after accepting that I had given up trying, when I entered the dream state and the slideshow.

The second time, the drugs were so strong that I was obviously hallucinating. Interestingly the slideshow was similar to the first time. Although there was much more perception of time all existing in the same moment.

 

[dafydd]

But if existence is endless, this would happen surely.

Our existence is not endless.

 

[Darat]

Our existence is not endless.

These types of threads seem endless to me!

 

[Brian-M]

But if existence is endless, this would happen surely.

Why? And how? Even assuming (incorrectly) that existence is endless?

What possible set of circumstances could possibly result in all the correct molecules forming together to exactly reproduce a specific brain complete with memories at time of death, along with a viable functional body?

I don't mean just because it's absurdly incredibly unlikely, or even because infinity doesn't necessarily mean that all possibilities eventuate, but how would it be physically possible for all the molecules to just assemble that way?

What kind of environment would allow this, other than a new body being born with identical genes and living an exactly identical life... and presumably dying again? But in that case you don't get to continue living. You still die at the same point, or at best die at a slightly later point in time (with your maximum possible life expectancy being the limit for this kind of life "extension")?