(February 13, 2015 at 11:10 am)FlyingSpaghettiMonster Wrote: W(February 13, 2015 at 10:28 am)Pyrrho Wrote: Look for discussions about uploading brains into computers and other such attempts at immortality if you wish to find examples. Never mind the fact that a copy of a person put into a computer is a copy and not the person, so that it could not possibly give one immortality even if one could make such a copy; reality is not relevant to the thinking of those who desperately wish to live forever.
As one of those people why do you judge me? I preferably would be alive then dead, I'll try to get as long as I can get. I don't absolutely need eternal life but it would be nice to see the universe and all it has to offer, 100 years is too short, if you'd enjoy then by all means, but don't judge others for wanting more then just a meager sum.
If anything your entire argument sounds absolutely bitter, it may be hope but we aren't crazy.
The problem occurs when people's hope for something clouds their judgement and gets them to believe what they want to believe, rather than believe what the evidence suggests. This is called "wishful thinking," and is exactly the same "reasoning" that many Christians engage in when they believe in god and heaven because the idea appeals to them. Consequently, both are equally worthy of ridicule. In the case of copying one's brain and sticking it in a computer, it should be perfectly obvious that a copy of a thing is not the original thing. And when people fail to believe what is perfectly obvious due to their hopes and fears, then they are taking a ridiculous position based on wishful thinking. When one takes a ridiculous position, one invites ridicule.
In this example, there is zero chance that the computer will make your life any longer. It may be theoretically possible to copy you, but a copy of you isn't you.
Calling my argument "bitter" is just an argumentum ad hominem. It does not help your position. Indeed, it suggests that your emotions are clouding your judgement. Otherwise, why resort to such a disreputable form of argument?
Being an atheist means one has avoided one silly superstitious belief. It does not mean that one has not fallen into countless other superstitions, nor does it mean that one does not have severely faulty thinking. And it obviously does not prevent one from having a vain hope of immortality.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
