Afterlife fantasy and speculation

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:15:42 GMT

The problem with the Christian afterlife is, why even bother with having a regular life? If heaven is so much better, and God is loving, why not just send everyone to heaven to begin with?

What is seems to come down to is that regular life is a test.

House said something about that on his show a week or two ago: That he would prefer for there not to be an afterlife, so this life is more than just a test.

BUT if you're what I'm calling a hyper-rational...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:39:34 GMT

Flying Omelette wrote:

That's like saying that you can't be moral if you don't believe in God.

I heard some people talk about this the other day.

You might ask, What even is the point of religion anymore? It's not really for "explaining" things (the creation of the world, why the sun goes across the sky, etc.), because science has that all taken care of. It's hard...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (BOGUS666) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:43:04 GMT

The human brain is so complex and can be affected by so many different factors and experiences that I don't think there's any real guarantee that a clone will be exactly like the person it was cloned from. I read something on pet cloning one time (an article was against the idea) that suggested the same thing - that you shouldn't clone your pet because there's no guarantee it will be just like your pet anyway.

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:54:14 GMT

Ebert touched on this in his latest blog entry.

Your body could be cloned and implanted with you, and you would be Benjamin Button now living toward the future.
But...but...what of the rights of that clone to grow up on its own, and form its own memory and personality? Wouldn't this process be akin to abortion? And what would happen if you lingered on after your memory had been copied, and encountered yourself in an infant body? Would you inflict goo-goo sounds...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (greybob) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:54:00 GMT

How do you know that the technology ISN'T here already, and the government just doesn't want us to know? Huh, huh? You COULD BE A CLONE!

This has been a message contributed by a crazy person. The same people who also brought you Scientology, Time Cube, and Pee-wee's Playhouse. Thank you.

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:41:07 GMT

But how would you know*, right now, that you weren't a clone, and replaced the original one night when you both slept?

See, if you actually saw the clone, you'd think, "Well, we don't share the same self-consciousness, telepathically." On the other hand ... since we're speculating anyway ... what if you DID? Maybe not telepathically, but say you had electrodes connecting your heads. And you could choose to see out of either set of eyes, move either set...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (bjstrykes) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:28:05 GMT

So, what's the problem? Discontinuity of experiences?

Because I'm still not going to feel what the copy feels, unless we're like those twins on G.I. Joe or something. A copy is still a copy, even if it's a copy of a person.

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:09:00 GMT

So, what's the problem? Discontinuity of experiences?

See, when I was younger, I thought my personality was one whole continuous thing. I like certain things, I can count, I remember reading a particular book ... but all that is just part of me.

Psychologists have been poking holes in that. This part of your brain handles this task, this other part handles this other task. It's discrete and mechanical. Sometimes I...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (bjstrykes) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:40:50 GMT

That's what Belthasar did in Chrono Trigger with the Nu. Same thing with cloning. If someone made a clone of me after I died, is it really me? My answer is no, since it could be cloned before I was dead, and then it wouldn't be me because I am me.

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:44:02 GMT

Maybe I should mention this example before I forget it.

It probably has been in other books, but when I was younger I read Annals of the Heechee, and the main character was a personality (of a dead human) stored on a computer.

So, that's another non-metaphysical possible afterlife. Although the question of, 'Just because something has all of my...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Flying Omelette) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:59:59 GMT

BTW, I wrote The Last Dream after I came to the decision that the afterlife isn't like being asleep.

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (MaskedSheik) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:37:23 GMT

To draw from the morality topic, it would be rational to act out of empathy for posterity, though, because knowing that you're doing good for future generations makes you feel good yourself. Especially if you're eighty years old like James.

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:10:17 GMT

Oh, yeah, I forgot that one reason I made a reply was to post this video.

James Randi apparently believes in no afterlife, but says it's still worth doing stuff for whoever is alive to reap...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:05:39 GMT

Flying Omelette wrote:
I used to believe that death would be like dreaming, since when you're asleep, it's the closest you are to death while you're still alive.

I used to think that, too, and started a thread on it.

As FacilityPro pointed out, when you're asleep, your brain is actually...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Strawberry Eggs) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:17:25 GMT

Personally, while I want to say that it is impossible for there to be an afterlife, a part of me both knows that I can't prove this and also wants some form of afterlife to exist. I can't prove that the afterlife exists, but a lack of evidence does not mean something does not exist. Also as mentioned before, I don't want to think that I lived for nothing because after I die, I simply wouldn't [be] anymore and that I will not continue in some form after this life. Though...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:33:13 GMT

Nedroid also has a job as the colorist for Dr. McNinja. The previous colorist now works on Venture Bros., on Cartoon Network. I guess that's a more popular comic (it must be, to hire help), but I don't read it. Not because I necessarily hate it; I just ... don't read it.

The reason we have a survival instinct is due to non-metaphysical evolutionary reasons. Species that don't have a survival instinct don't survive. Maybe that's your point; how can...

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Flying Omelette) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:31:05 GMT

http://nedroid.com/

Another thing I could add to this conversation is that we are all born with a strong instinct to fear death and survive. If the afterlife was really better than living, then why do we have such a strong survival instinct?

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (greybob) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:14:05 GMT

Where is the website for that comic? It's going on my (very short) list of "Webcomics That Don't Suck."

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:04:58 GMT

Re: Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Flying Omelette) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:09:03 GMT

I used to believe that death would be like dreaming, since when you're asleep, it's the closest you are to death while you're still alive. But now, I'm just too old to speculate on things I know nothing about, except that my better senses keep telling me that there just isn't an afterlife. If you burn up a tissue, it's gone. It doesn't go anywhere. It's the same with everything else.

Afterlife fantasy and speculation

feeds@yuku.com (Crawl and 1OOO) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:49:08 GMT

Ebert talks about the afterlife

Bloglink

He starts with the assumption that most people would like to meet their family and friends in heaven. But those family and friends would like to meet their family and friends. And family crosses generations. And eventually you'd have trillions of people all trying to meet each other at the same time.

...