RE: Your personal views on the Afterlife
September 6, 2008 at 5:15 am
(This post was last modified: September 6, 2008 at 5:24 am by Lucifer Morningstar.)
(September 6, 2008 at 4:16 am)Darwinian Wrote: I often get the impression that atheists don't want there to be an afterlife as much as theists do.
Personally it is not a matter of 'don't want'. I just think the whole concept originated as an ancient marketing ploy / scare tactic which is still effective after thousands of years - do as <insert ridiculous belief system here> tells you in this life and everything will be OK after you die.
How is this different from modern advertising - choose <insert ridiculous product here> and your penis/breasts/muscles/bank balance/social standing/number of friends,etc will increase in size.
(September 6, 2008 at 4:16 am)Darwinian Wrote: Also I dislike the term 'After Life' as if somehow it's a bonus or an added extra. If such a phenomenon is true then it is more accurate to say that life simply continues.
From a theist's point of view 'After Life' is a very 'sexy' and hard hitting punch line for their particular belief's 'marketing campaign'.
(September 6, 2008 at 4:16 am)Darwinian Wrote: We are also hung up on the premise that the brain creates consciousness when in my view it is equally likely that it hosts and controls it.
This sounds rather like a computer cpu(brain) and operating system (consciousness).
(September 6, 2008 at 4:16 am)Darwinian Wrote: It is also possible that we never actually loose consciousness and this is itself an illusion simply created by gaps in our memory.
It could well be that when we are 'unconscious' it is simply that the brain is not creating any memories, how could we tell the difference?
How about the notion that we 'die' every time we go to sleep and we simply can't remember it when we wake up in the morning?
Again there are similarities between a computer and its operating system. If the brain (computer cpu) was in 'sleep' mode the consciousness (operating system) would still be present but not active.
What happens to the consciousness (operating system) when the brain (computer cpu) dies / is destroyed? In both cases the existence of a consciousness / operating system is dependent on a brain / computer cpu being there for it to 'run'.
"May God bless her, and all who sail in her" - Florence Ismay, at the launching of the Titanic