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Post by turbonium on Jan 17, 2006 0:37:37 GMT -4
The "God" thread spurred me to start up this poll. I'm curious as to what the members think about one of the greatest "unknowns".
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Post by snakeriverrufus on Jan 17, 2006 18:17:28 GMT -4
Then why did you not give the option ,,'Unknown'?
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Post by LunarOrbit on Jan 17, 2006 19:19:55 GMT -4
I voted "Other" because I don't know for sure... I suspect there is nothing after life but since I'm agnostic I can't be 100% sure.
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jan 17, 2006 21:38:35 GMT -4
I had to go with "Other" to because my belief is of more than being a spirit, but being resurected as Christ was.
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Post by turbonium on Jan 18, 2006 3:48:18 GMT -4
Then why did you not give the option ,,'Unknown'?
That was the reason I added "Other". LunarOrbit got the point. But if you want to get picky about it, I guess it could have been speciifically added to the list.
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Post by AstroSmurf on Jan 18, 2006 9:40:29 GMT -4
Again, does it matter?
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Post by iamspartacus on Jan 18, 2006 12:42:18 GMT -4
I voted "End of story". I just cannot understand why we all contain the most complex structure in the Universe yet discovered (ie. the brain) if our consciousness can exist without it. Why bother with all the gray gooey stuff if we can do without it?
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Post by snakeriverrufus on Jan 18, 2006 23:49:19 GMT -4
well I was thinking that 'other' means that you do have a belief or idea and 'unkown' means that you just don't know. I voted worm food
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Post by turbonium on Jan 19, 2006 4:57:40 GMT -4
well I was thinking that 'other' means that you do have a belief or idea and 'unkown' means that you just don't knowThe options are all beliefs or ideas, no? Technically, if "unknown" was an option, we would all have to choose it. Unless someone has evidence I've never heard about to prove they actually "know" what happens!
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Post by gwiz on Jan 19, 2006 5:35:29 GMT -4
Technically, if "unknown" was an option, we would all have to choose it. Unless someone has evidence I've never heard about to prove they actually "know" what happens! Not necessarily, you can base your belief on reasoning from indirect evidence. As iamspartacus says, there seems evidence that consciousness is an effect of having a complex brain, so if the brain stops working, consciousness stops too.
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Post by turbonium on Jan 21, 2006 0:11:10 GMT -4
Not necessarily, you can base your belief on reasoning from indirect evidence. As iamspartacus says, there seems evidence that consciousness is an effect of having a complex brain, so if the brain stops working, consciousness stops too.
But that's the point - it is still only a "belief". Even if that belief is based on "indirect evidence", it still does not prove that is what actually happens after we die.
Consciousness is only one state of the mind. There is also the unconscious (including the dream) state, the subconscious (psyche below the level of awareness), and possibly the superconscious state ( the combination of spirit, soul, memory, and uniqueness). It's believed by some that we continue to exist after death in a superconscious state.
Certainly to this point there is no indisputable evidence for what occurs after death. The closest may be the many documented cases of near-death experiences (NDE's). The events I find most most interesting are the ones where a patient in an OR was clinically dead for several minutes, then "returned" to life - that is, they regained a heartbeat and other vital life signs. The patients claimed later to have "floated" over their bodies, and observed the hospital staff in their efforts to revive them.
The interesting part of these stories is that during the NDE's, the patients were able to point out precise details of what was happening during the time they were clinically dead. In one example. a patient saw himself be declared legally dead by one doctor in the OR, then be sent off to the morgue. He then saw another doctor arrive and resuscitate him by pounding his chest and using adrenaline injections. The details were verified by the hospital staff that was present at the time.
There are many other similar cases that were later corroborated by those present at the time of death, or NDE's. Of course, there are a wide range of experiences reported by the many people who have "died" and later "come back to life". Some have reported experiencing nothing at all, others believe they were headed towards a "blinding white light", and so on.
I should point out, however, that I don't think that NDE's such as "floating" above one's body prove we "exist" after death, even if what they claimed to have seen was verified by others present at the time. These events may actually be some type of yet-unknown phenomenon, that does not relate in any way to an "afterlife". Who can really say for sure?
At any rate, I find that it makes for a fascinating subject.
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Post by ouloncollouphid on Jan 21, 2006 5:56:59 GMT -4
Worm food. It's teh only hypothesis that fits all available evidence.
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Post by iamspartacus on Jan 21, 2006 7:44:41 GMT -4
I have to agree with ouloncollouphid. There is evidence that consciousness is associated with the brain. Any other suggestion is pure guesswork. Some people believe in the afterlife and some in reincarnation. Those two ideas would seem to contradict each other. There's no scientific evidence for either.
I have yet to see one genuine, verifiable picture of a ghost. Think of the billions of pictures taken each year and the trillions since photography was invented. The human eye works on a similar principle to a camera (lens, iris/aperture, retina/film). If we can see them why can't we take pictures of them? My guess is that ghosts are generated in the brain and not external to it.
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jan 21, 2006 7:58:10 GMT -4
Actually I'd note that most Ghost chaser would tell you that you can photograph them, but not always see them.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Post by Al Johnston on Jan 21, 2006 12:43:42 GMT -4
Probably because eyes don't come with a double exposure switch... ;D
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