(June 6, 2010 at 1:58 pm)rax Wrote: Well, I guess I'm speaking more of something that you could call a soul, essence, spirit, mind, or maybe something else that is there but is undefined by man or maybe is defined, basically 'me', with disregard to my physical body.
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There is no evidence of an afterlife... but to my knowledge, there's no evidence of a "blinking into nothingness" either...
The problem is, that many people are scared of death, and want some sense of immortality. They want some belief that when they die, they will continue in some form.
I have achieved this. I have two children, they carry my genes. The biggest tragedy for me would not be my death, but the death of my children before they have a chance to have children and bring up children of their own.
When you seek for something to believe in then you should take into consideration probabilities. For example, I believe there is intelligent life on other planets.... why? Because even though per planet the chances are infinitesimally small, the number of planets in the universe is.... very big (to put it mildly). So, its something that I have a belief in, but a belief based on good probabilities.
In relation to souls, there is no evidence or anything at all that suggests such things exist. There is no need for souls in the order of the universe as we see it (this of course does not mean that we see everything that exists). So, it is natural to conclude, on the balance of things, that souls do not exist. We don't close the door entirely on the possibility... we have no idea what is really going on with some of the things at the quantum level but we are finding out slowly but surely.
Therefore when we say "nothing" in response to the question about what happens when we die, its because it is easier than writing a full page essay explaining in some detail like I have just done.
A finite number of monkeys with a finite number of typewriters and a finite amount of time could eventually reproduce 4chan.
