RE: A physical argument for an afterlife
March 14, 2015 at 6:50 pm
(This post was last modified: March 14, 2015 at 7:17 pm by Smaug.)
JuliaL
IIt seems that I've edited my answer before you posted yours. Anyway, as I've said, strictly speaking I leave the answer as 'Undefined'.
Also it can be said that the problem is somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand, the self-preservation instinct (I'd include a will to preserve the identity as a higher manifestation of said instinct though it may not be generally correct) pushes us to do something about the question. On the other hand, death is definitely an important thing for the evolution as a away to prevent stagnation and actually adopt and move on. This may be extended to stagnation of thought and ideas, too.
By the way, another similar question is why there is life. In a more scientific formulation it may sound as: does self-conscious matter (life) have some advantages over non-conscious matter (in terms of physical existence)? Since the laws of Nature have lead to the appearance of life this may mean that there may or may not be some advantages of such a way of organization of matter. On the other hand, the principle of casuality may not even apply here and the whole question may be invalid.
IIt seems that I've edited my answer before you posted yours. Anyway, as I've said, strictly speaking I leave the answer as 'Undefined'.
Quote:I'm not sure if you are insisting on conscious observers or not.I don't. But the whole thing here is very vague. In fact, I don't think that there has to be any observers at all. Though conscience may be some sort of a qualitatively different way of organization of matter (relative to the unconscious matter) and as long as conscious observers appear there are some laws that appear to apply to them only (although logically said laws have to derive from some more basic laws that describe all the matter).
Also it can be said that the problem is somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand, the self-preservation instinct (I'd include a will to preserve the identity as a higher manifestation of said instinct though it may not be generally correct) pushes us to do something about the question. On the other hand, death is definitely an important thing for the evolution as a away to prevent stagnation and actually adopt and move on. This may be extended to stagnation of thought and ideas, too.
By the way, another similar question is why there is life. In a more scientific formulation it may sound as: does self-conscious matter (life) have some advantages over non-conscious matter (in terms of physical existence)? Since the laws of Nature have lead to the appearance of life this may mean that there may or may not be some advantages of such a way of organization of matter. On the other hand, the principle of casuality may not even apply here and the whole question may be invalid.
