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Belief in the Afterlife

As Christopher Hitchens said before he died (paraphrasing), "the party's not over, it's still going on, you're just not invited."


Paul,

I have one of Hitchens books ( God Is Not Great ). It was a good read. Interesting how if it weren't for the context, your paraphrase above could be taken both ways.
 
Could you share them? They might help clear things up . . . or at least satisfy my hunger.

alphabet-soup.jpg
 
Paul,

I have one of Hitchens books ( God Is Not Great ). It was a good read. Interesting how if it weren't for the context, your paraphrase above could be taken both ways.

Wha? What both ways?
 
That puzzled me too, but asking about it would only lead us further down the rabbit hole.

I was going to write that I was scared of asking that question. But, hey! That's why we're here - to spelunk the rabbit holes and report back to civilization.
 
Let us get back on topic and ignore VR and cryogenic fantasies. Porterboy asked us for our opinions on a possible afterlife. I have never seen any evidence for the existence of an afterlife.
 
Wha? What both ways?

Yes ... if we don't presume Hitchins means the party is here and he's not the one invited ( because he's going to die ), It could also mean the party is in the afterlife and it's we who aren't invited.

As Christopher Hitchens said before he died (paraphrasing): "the party's not over, it's still going on, you're just not invited."

Great quote!
 
Wha? What both ways?


Yes ... if we don't presume Hitchins means the party is here and he's not the one invited ( because he's going to die ), It could also mean the party is in the afterlife and it's we who aren't invited.


Except that the likelihood of Hitchens (note the correct spelling) intending that meaning is so vanishlngly small that only one person would ever make such an absurd suggestion.

Congratulations.


As Christopher Hitchens said before he died (paraphrasing): "the party's not over, it's still going on, you're just not invited."

Great quote!


Except that it's not. It says right there where you copy/pasted it from Paul2's post that it's a paraphrase.

Fail-o-rama, ufology.
 
Just for fun, if we did live in a simulated universe, it would seem if we began to discover it, that it may seem a lot like the universe we live in. In that while we think and exist in this "middle world" where things are rational and make sense, once we look at the mass of a quark being 90 % empty space or a black hole, and everything begins to fall apart rationally and can only start to be described mathematically at the extremes of the smallest and the largest, it sort of reminds me of a short story where simulated beings discover the edges of their simulation.

And it would be fun to simulate a universe just to see if the universe can eventually evolve aspects of itself that not only are aware but can eventually discover they are being simulated.

One day we will leave the holodeck with the aid of backpacks we wear with holo emitters.

Then we will find out we were created to be the ultimate sex doll for higher dimensional beings who have a form of recreational intercourse that involves simulating realities just for the helluvit.

Like, cosmic dude.
 
Yes ... if we don't presume Hitchins means the party is here and he's not the one invited ( because he's going to die ), It could also mean the party is in the afterlife and it's we who aren't invited.

As Christopher Hitchens said before he died (paraphrasing): "the party's not over, it's still going on, you're just not invited."

Great quote!

Except that the likelihood of Hitchens (note the correct spelling) intending that meaning is so vanishlngly small that only one person would ever make such an absurd suggestion.

Congratulations.





Except that it's not. It says right there where you copy/pasted it from Paul2's post that it's a paraphrase.

Fail-o-rama, ufology.

A new term is in order, sort of like Rredefinition. Pparaphrase? No, something better.
 
Paul2 said:
As Christopher Hitchens said before he died (paraphrasing)

I didn't even know Christopher Hitchens died while paraphrasing, how did he even get a speedboat in his bedroom?
 
[qimg]http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg117/ThePsychoClown/alphabet-soup.jpg[/qimg]

Hmmm, neither clear nor satisfying. Maybe if I had a Snickers.

Let us get back on topic and ignore VR and cryogenic fantasies. Porterboy asked us for our opinions on a possible afterlife. I have never seen any evidence for the existence of an afterlife.

What would evidence of an afterlife look like? I mean, skeptics discount near-death experiences quite easily. There might be truth there, but it's almost completely unverifiable. I've yet to hear of a real psychic who wasn't doing some form of cold or hot reading, or just plain making it all up. It seems to me that if there is an afterlife, sadly there is no verifiable evidence of such. At least none that we could point to as even leaning in that direction.
 
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I would agree ( with a certain person on my ignore list ) if the suspended animation were such that the client didn't actually die ... perhaps just slowed down a lot. But what about in the case of what would be considered clinical death?
Apologies for dragging the thread back a couple of pages, but this shouldn't be left unchallenged.

If you knew enough about clinical death to be using the term, you'd know that (sadly) it's no guarantee of death. It's when doctors say they can't detect signs of life... and the pubs are open.

People who recover after being declared clinically dead (it does happen), are not in the 'afterlife'.
 
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Apologies for dragging the thread back a couple of pages, but this shouldn't be left unchallenged.

If you knew enough about clinical death to be using the term, you'd know that (sadly) it's no guarantee of death. It's when doctors say they can't detect signs of life... and the pubs are open.

People who recover after being declared clinically dead (it does happen), are not in the 'afterlife'.


Well on the surface it wouldn't seem that resurrection after clinical death qualifies as "life after death" ... but since there is no certainty that they weren't dead, and there were good medical reasons at the time to believe they were dead, and then resurrected back into this realm ... we can't really say with certainty that for those people, this existence isn't their afterlife. Agreed however, that it's not the same as typical religious models involving some alternative reality.
 

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