Supernatural and Atheism

[Jehanne]

Many years ago I was designing exhibits for a new science museum, and we got in a bunch of brand new Apple IIe computers.

I asked the computer guy if computers get a little bit heavier when you load software into them. Understandably, he laughed at me.

Asking what particles a soul is made of is pretty much the same.

As energy is equivalent to mass, loading software into a computer will slightly increase its total energy, and, hence, its total mass.

[Belacqua]

Many years ago I was designing exhibits for a new science museum, and we got in a bunch of brand new Apple IIe computers.

I asked the computer guy if computers get a little bit heavier when you load software into them. Understandably, he laughed at me.

Asking what particles a soul is made of is pretty much the same.

As energy is equivalent to mass, loading software into a computer will slightly increase its total energy, and, hence, its total mass.

In that case a body with a soul (in the Aristotelian definition) would have slightly more mass, because it is the soul which regulates all the body's activities, including all kinds of energy use. Without the soul energy use ceases (i.e. the body dies). 

So the soul is still immaterial, and has no mass of its own, but is the cause of increased mass in the body.

[Deesse23]

Oh, wow, Software is yet another topic Bel has absolutely no clue about.
How surprising.

[Jehanne]

As energy is equivalent to mass, loading software into a computer will slightly increase its total energy, and, hence, its total mass.

In that case a body with a soul (in the Aristotelian definition) would have slightly more mass, because it is the soul which regulates all the body's activities, including all kinds of energy use. Without the soul energy use ceases (i.e. the body dies). 

So the soul is still immaterial, and has no mass of its own, but is the cause of increased mass in the body.

The experiment of weighing the soul was performed a century ago -- 21 grams was the result. The experiment has, however, failed upon replication.

[Belacqua]

In that case a body with a soul (in the Aristotelian definition) would have slightly more mass, because it is the soul which regulates all the body's activities, including all kinds of energy use. Without the soul energy use ceases (i.e. the body dies). 

So the soul is still immaterial, and has no mass of its own, but is the cause of increased mass in the body.

The experiment of weighing the soul was performed a century ago -- 21 grams was the result.  The experiment has, however, failed upon replication.

Right. Because the soul, as I said, has no weight. The concept behind the test was flawed.

[Jehanne]

The experiment of weighing the soul was performed a century ago -- 21 grams was the result.  The experiment has, however, failed upon replication.

Right. Because the soul, as I said, has no weight. The concept behind the test was flawed.

Maybe a more parsimonious explanation is that immaterial souls do not exist to the same extent that the Jedi Force does not also exist.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

As energy is equivalent to mass, loading software into a computer will slightly increase its total energy, and, hence, its total mass.

In that case a body with a soul (in the Aristotelian definition) would have slightly more mass, because it is the soul which regulates all the body's activities, including all kinds of energy use. Without the soul energy use ceases (i.e. the body dies). 

So the soul is still immaterial, and has no mass of its own, but is the cause of increased mass in the body.

Have you considered the possibility that Aristotle was wrong?

Boru

[Belacqua]

Right. Because the soul, as I said, has no weight. The concept behind the test was flawed.

Maybe a more parsimonious explanation is that immaterial souls do not exist to the same extent that the Jedi Force does not also exist.

Every material object has both form and matter. The soul is the form of the body.

[Simon Moon]

The experiment of weighing the soul was performed a century ago -- 21 grams was the result.  The experiment has, however, failed upon replication.

Right. Because the soul, as I said, has no weight. The concept behind the test was flawed.

The soul has no existence. The concept of the test was flawed.

Please point to one, demonstrable, testable, verifiable and falsifiable thing that is explained by an 'immaterial soul', that can't be explained by natural processes.

[Jehanne]

Maybe a more parsimonious explanation is that immaterial souls do not exist to the same extent that the Jedi Force does not also exist.

Every material object has both form and matter. The soul is the form of the body.

I think that a better explanation for consciousness is the existence of brains, and so, monism is to be preferred -- No brain, no mind.