Would you prefer there to be nothing after death?

[qayak]

So, what do we have? Dueling authorities with no logic to come to a conclusion.

I don't know where you get this. Can you explain?

 

[Wowbagger]

Waaaaaait a minute. If you lived forever, how can you be here now?

You misunderstand. I am still livING forever. That is what immortal means: You live forever. Get it?

If there is an afterlife after all....well great, can't wait.
If I'm going to hell, I don't care I'll very likely find many people I know.

Ya, I think I'd rather go to Hell than go to Heaven.
If I went to Heaven, I would probably eventually get really bored.
But, if I went to Hell, then sure, I might get tortured for a while, but I think I would eventually get used to it. And, perhaps I might even be able to take over the place, after a while.
That is assuming, of course, that I would die, which I won't. And, it assumes there is such an afterlife, which I doubt.

 

[RandFan]

I don't know where you get this. Can you explain?

Dawkins calculates the odds of each of us existing after the fact. Dawkins doesn't find it a "ridiculous thing".

I can only find blog entries to his statement so I'm currently listening to his videos trying to find where he states that.

 

[qayak]

Dawkins calculates the odds of each of us existing after the fact. Dawkins doesn't find it a "ridiculous thing".

I can only find blog entries to his statement so I'm currently listening to his videos trying to find where he states that.

I understand him to be saying that because, out of all the potential living people, we are the few who get a life, we are the lucky ones.

The point is, someone had to be the end result. We are here to discuss it so obviously we are it. Viewed backwards there is no other outcome available.

It reminds me of a joke my father told me when I was a kid. He said that he had a co-worker named Ernie and the two of them liked to bet on hockey games. There was a big game being played in Russia, which we would see at 4:00 am but it was being rebroadcast at 1:00 pm.

My father watched the game at 4:00 and Canada lost the game when in the final seconds the Canadian goaltender shot the puck into his own net.

When he got to work at 8:00, he asked Ernie if he wanted to bet on the game before it came on at 1:00 pm. Ernie agreed and my father said "I will bet you $20.00 that the Russians win." Ernie, being a great fan of team Canada, took the bet.

They watched the game at 1:00 and of course the Canadian goaltender shot the puck into his own net and Canada lost. Ernie was very upset but he took out his wallet and handed my father $20.00.

My father said, "I have to be honest with you. I can't take the money. I watched the game at 4:00 am and I knew Canada lost!"

The guy looks at my father and said "Keep it. I watched the game too. I just didn't think that idiot would shoot the puck into his own net twice!"

 

[RandFan]

Ok, the text is from the opening words of Unweaving The Rainbow. Go here and click on the right arrow next to the image of the book twice. Also, you can here Dawkins read these words himself here. The text begins at 22:22.

We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia.

BTW, this is to be read at Dawkins funeral.

 

[RandFan]

I understand him to be saying that because, out of all the potential living people, we are the few who get a life, we are the lucky ones.

That's the point, we couldn't be lucky. A statistical probability of 1 can't be said to be lucky.

I think qyaq that it is simply a matter of perception.

 

[qayak]

Ok, the text is from the opening words of Unweaving The Rainbow. Go here and click on the right arrow next to the image of the book twice. Also, you can here Dawkins read these words himself here. The text begins at 22:22.



BTW, this is to be read at Dawkins funeral.

I don't see any of this as being contradictory to what Feynman said or to what I have said. In fact, it is almost word for word what I have said.

Dawkins speaks of "potential people" which is obviously from a perspective of before the event.

 

[qayak]

That's the point, we couldn't be lucky. A statistical probability of 1 can't be said to be lucky.

I think qyaq that it is simply a matter of perception.

I think you are right. I wasn't arguing aboiut whether we were lucky or not, I think any creature that gets to live a life in this universe is very lucky. I was simply pointing out the fallacy of calculating probability after the fact.

 

[RandFan]

I think you are right. I wasn't arguing aboiut whether we were lucky or not, I think any creature that gets to live a life in this universe is very lucky. I was simply pointing out the fallacy of calculating probability after the fact.

Cool. Hey, that one ended ok.

 

[The Atheist]

I'm not sure I really regard myself an Atheist, I don't really believe in God, but one thing I completly do not believe in is an afterlife.

The afterlife?

My question is, to fellow Atheists (If you would classify me as such), would you prefer that there was nothing after death (Not even a roaring nothing, just a nothing), or would you be pleasantly suprised at signing your name in at the pearly gates?

I, myself, am somewhat terrified of death. It is a big issue for me. I cannot comprehend simply not existing, and it scares the **** out of me. I'm sure some of you have had those 'moments'. But, please furnish me with your details.

Well, I question the honesty of some people - those who are quite happy to go into the darkness. My life is enjoyable enough that I'd like it keep going indefinitely at this stage.

Rage, rage, against the dying of the light...

This is god and religion's biggest selling point - the afterlife. In all seriousness, other than people who suffer from depression, I can't imagine that people wouldn't like another century or two, if it were feasible.

I would love there to be an afterlife. I know there isn't, but I'd be happy to wake up from death, alive somewhere else.

The reason I hate the idea of pegging it in the next 60-90 years or so is because of the wonders Humanity may achieve in space.

Well, if you think you've got 60 years to go, you've little to worry about yet. If I were offered a certain 30 years from now, I'd take it without hesitation. I'd give me probably 20.

Why should I fear death? I'm going to live forever.

Living forever is much scarier than dying. Again, are you sure you're using the standard definition of forever?

~~ Paul

I agree with the forever - I'm sure that even the most base pleasures would have lost their attractions after a few millennia.

I've done that. It's not as nice as you think.

Ah, but if you hadn't insisted on alphabetical order, you might have been [wioll haven been?] more satisfied with your lot.

the only thing that annoys me about Death (being 17 years old), is that I won't get to see humanity in 100 years.
I guess my never ending curiosity is what makes me sigh when I think of death.

If I'm going to hell, I don't care I'll very likely find many people I know.

Pssh, if you're only 17, you could well have another century left in you. Live healthy.

Your vision of hell sounds a lot the one I use with catholics - if they're all in heaven, I'd be happier in hell with my mates...

 

[Marquis de Carabas]

Honestly, I'd like a bit more time than a human lifespan, but not an eternity. I could not deal with the idea that there would always be another tomorrow. Eventually, you'll run out of interesting stuff to do, and then what?

But even desiring more time, I would not wish for an afterlife. I just would want death to be more distant. Once it gets here, though, roll the credits.

 

[Lonewulf]

Honestly, I'd like a bit more time than a human lifespan, but not an eternity. I could not deal with the idea that there would always be another tomorrow. Eventually, you'll run out of interesting stuff to do, and then what?

Everyone says this, I just don't get it.

Maybe some people are more easily bored than I am...

Nonetheless, living an eternity doesn't seem even remotely feasable. If the universe can't do it, it's hubris to assume that humans can.

The thing is, 10,000 years from now, who knows what tech humans might have? Then again, who knows if civilization would even exist? (The SHADOW knows...)

I just can't say for certain. I do find it unlikely that I will find any inexpensive way for longetivity within my short time frame of living; I might as well hope for flying cars, or cities on clouds.

But even desiring more time, I would not wish for an afterlife. I just would want death to be more distant. Once it gets here, though, roll the credits.

It's not the death I fear, it's my corpse looking goofy and emptying it's bowels.

 

[Marquis de Carabas]

Everyone says this, I just don't get it.

Many people say they're frightened of spiders; I don't get that. [shrug]

I don't bore very easily, but I've only been around for thirty years, and am only looking forward to another fifty, give or take. Part of what makes my experiences fun in the first place is that I know they are finite. Over an infinite timeframe, even the oddest of events in my life is bound to be recreated at some point*; what is left to be special?

I will admit that as hard as I find it to believe that I could be entertained for all eternity, it is equally hard to imagine a particular point in time when I will want to die. Death at some unspecified future date is comforting to me. Actively desiring it is a very foreign concept.

*Trivially, of course, it can be shown that I'd never really run out of something to do. There are an infinite number of speakable sentences in English. I'd always have one more to say. At some point, though, it just becomes a tedious exercise in recursion. Or I could just start counting. Yippee.

 

[Antiquehunter]

My only fear of death is that it will be painful or drawn out. I couldn't bear the thought of becoming a vegetable, and I also wouldn't want my death to be excruciating. As such, I have a 'living will' - which should help to mitigate some of these fears (short of euthanasia which is still illegal in Canada - although I would like to see these laws changed...)

Re: afterlife - well, no evidence for it, so I choose to live my life that I won't have one. Would I want an afterlife? Depends on the definition of afterlife.

 

[Lonewulf]

Many people say they're frightened of spiders; I don't get that. [shrug]

So you'd have, what? Instead of arachnaphobia, eterniphobia?

 

[Marquis de Carabas]

So you'd have, what? Instead of arachnaphobia, eterniphobia?

Something like that.

When I was seven or eight, I actually became nearly inconsolably terrified thinking about eternal life. I was seriously freaking out about it. The only thing that calmed me down was my older brother's on-the-spot creation of his own mythology. He told me that when we die, we spend 100 years doing whatever it is we like best (I pictured reading comics and playing video games) and then, nothing. Cheered me right up.

 

[Lonewulf]

Something like that.

When I was seven or eight, I actually became nearly inconsolably terrified thinking about eternal life. I was seriously freaking out about it. The only thing that calmed me down was my older brother's on-the-spot creation of his own mythology. He told me that when we die, we spend 100 years doing whatever it is we like best (I pictured reading comics and playing video games) and then, nothing. Cheered me right up.

Weirdo.

Nice story, but weirdo.

 

[Senex]

Let's look at the best life after death scenario... the martyr with his 70+ virgins. Come on, why can't just 20 or 30 of them have a little experience? Teaching 70+ women about sex isn't easy. Can't just a few know what they are doing and dig right in? I can fantasize a better paradise than that.

 

[Piscivore]

My first preference would be to be god.

Second preference, have my brain implanted in something like a Mi-Go brain cylinder which will sustain me indefintely and can then inhabit and operate a multitude of robot "puppet" bodies according to my whim.

Third, reincarnation as a wharf cat in San Fransisco.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

Honestly, I'd like a bit more time than a human lifespan, but not an eternity. I could not deal with the idea that there would always be another tomorrow. Eventually, you'll run out of interesting stuff to do, and then what?

You would have to better yourself, and have the woman of your dreams fall in love with you, a bit like Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray in that Bill Murray film.

Seriously though, why not live forever. The simply idea of not existing.. well, why not live forever? You may as well span it out until the death of the universe. Also, you wouldn't die from the lack of air in space, seeing how you cannot die, so you can do all sorts. And think of the publicity you would get, "Man who cannot die". Women would go crazy for you.