Souls?

[vorlon13]

Genesis 2:7

All the christers are stuck with it. If they don't like it too much (since most of them think they know better than God these days) they need to get REAL honest, declare a revelation, and start their own schismatic denomination.

[AFTT47]

Animals have 'souls' by the information definition. Present computers, fetuses and simple animals do not because there is insufficient information to constitute consciousness. I'll admit there is a lot of assumption there, given that we don't know how much information is necessary for consciousness or even if there is a demarcation.

I take it as obvious that higher animals like other mammals are conscious. Roaches are probably not - at least I hope not because I squash the little fuckers whenever I have the chance. A human fetus is probably conscious at some point. I don't know if one at 6 months is or not so I am uncomfortable with abortion at that stage. I'm comfortable at 3 months. A human brain at that stage is still more complex than a roach but there is no higher brain, which we believe is where consciousness resides.

[Anatheist]

What the fuck is a soul anyway?

And why would I want one?

Or why is there a market for it?

And why can't my dog get one? What's with the dog prejudice, for real

I came across a fairly interesting talk by the philosopher Ian McGilchrist recently.  He basically said that 'soul' still has a function in our language to talk about human existence and experience insofar as it relates to the whole of life in all of its poetic, mysterious and undefinable depth.  While he went on a bit too long about what he didn't mean by the term 'soul', I think he at least presented a reasonable case for why 'soul'-language might still be useful (as part of our ordinary language).  The talk is on youtube Ian McGilchrist - Talk on the Soul.

[abaris]

And why can't my dog get one? What's with the dog prejudice, for real

Because humans are so special and so great. It's simply riding the high horse based on some bullshit that has been written 3000 years ago by some goat fucking desert dwellers, who took pride in raping and pillaging their way through Palestine.

[Pyrrho]

What the fuck is a soul anyway?

And why would I want one?

Or why is there a market for it?

And why can't my dog get one? What's with the dog prejudice, for real

"Soul" has been used in a variety of ways.  If we look at the ancient Greeks, they seemed to use it (or, rather, in translation in English) as a synonym for "mind."  Which they meant as the part of you that thinks and feels.  Whenever I have heard someone say that they mean something else (other than "mind") by "soul," they have never been able to give a coherent meaning to the term, nor have they been persuasive that one either has or should want such a useless thing.  It seems somewhat analogous to an appendix, except less real.

For my part, I generally use the term as a synonym for "mind," only more poetic.

[vorlon13]

The christers have to invoke a 'soul' to allow for eternal torments in hell too. Obviously, your dead body here is not writhing in agony as the demons poke it with red hot simulacrums of enormous barbed animal penises, but aha, the deceased's immortal soul is !!!

The rest of us here can't see it (or hear the screams of the damned) but the christers can have revelations and scriptures and visions of these very specific and very horrible eternal torments and use their beliefs to extract concessions (and mebbee fealty) from the gullible.

[ignoramus]

Everyone knows where the soul is.
It's deep down inside.

[Aoi Magi]

soul = spirit = wine
So having a soul means getting drunk.

Dogs don't get one because they are man's best friend and need to stay sober to drag us back home.

[Prince]

What the fuck is a soul anyway?

And why would I want one?

Or why is there a market for it?

And why can't my dog get one? What's with the dog prejudice, for real

I would be more than happy to answer your disturbed questions.

- Imagine that a soul is like magnet, or an operator controlling your body, the soul is attached to your brain (subconscious, consciousness and unconsciousness), it triggers memories, emotions, thoughts and believes. There are several cases of patients having a ''Near-death Experience'' (NDE), they claim that during a complex surgery, for example a heart procedure, when the heart's shuts down for 10 sec to 30 sec; the soul exit the body and roams freely around the hospital, after the surgery is over the soul returns back to the body. (YouTube this shit) 

- Theoretically speaking: When a person undergoes a surgery his brain activities remains active, 'unconscious' state of mind, patients claim when the NDE event occurred, their 'Souls' exit their bodies, gliding high reaching the ceiling, observing the surgery from above, witnessing the doctors operating on their bodies. Many patients recall hearing voices, conversations, dialogues coming from other rooms... The question here. What if NDE is a fact? does it mean the soul is eternal and it lives on without a body. 

- Why do we need a soul? Excellent question. The notion of soul is related to the concept of spirituality. If we imagine that there is a world populated by spiritual beings... when we die our souls exit our bodies, then transcend to the outer space (alternate reality) another dimension, a world consists of all kinds of spirits. (This is just a hypothesis). In that alternate reality, your soul will live on without a body, your past life (memories, emotions, thoughts and believes) remains connected with your soul (spirit)... therefore your soul is eternal and your memory of past experiences remains within you.

- Indeed there is a market for souls. I recently sold my soul to the devil, in exchange he gave me the secrets of the universe. 

Note: of course we need some external evidence to verify the facts, but here is what i have so far. I have raised an extremely important set of arguments.

[Alex K]

disturbed questions? wtf

---

What the fuck is a soul anyway?

And why would I want one?

Or why is there a market for it?

And why can't my dog get one? What's with the dog prejudice, for real

I would be more than happy to answer your disturbed questions.

- Imagine that a soul is like magnet, or an operator controlling your body, the soul is attached to your brain (subconscious, consciousness and unconsciousness), it triggers memories, emotions, thoughts and believes.

I can imagine many things, that doesn't make it true.

There are several cases of patients having a ''Near-death Experience'' (NDE), they claim that during a complex surgery, for example a heart procedure, when the heart's shuts down for 10 sec to 30 sec; the soul exit the body and roams freely around the hospital, after the surgery is over the soul returns back to the body. (YouTube this shit) 

Experiments have shown that people who experience floating above themselves while they are unconscious cannot actually see things in this state which are hidden from their view e.g. on the operating table. There's nothing to these things.

- Theoretically speaking: When a person undergoes a surgery his brain activities remains active, 'unconscious' state of mind, patients claim when the NDE event occurred, their 'Souls' exit their bodies, gliding high reaching the ceiling, observing the surgery from above, witnessing the doctors operating on their bodies. Many patients recall hearing voices, conversations, dialogues coming from other rooms... The question here. What if NDE is a fact? does it mean the soul is eternal and it lives on without a body. 

None of these claims of supernatural abilities during NDEs have evidence.

- Why do we need a soul? Excellent question. The notion of soul is related to the concept of spirituality.
If we imagine that there is a world populated by spiritual beings... when we die our souls exit our bodies, then transcend to the outer space (alternate reality) another dimension, a world consists of all kinds of spirits. (This is just a hypothesis). In that alternate reality, your soul will live on without a body, your past life (memories, emotions, thoughts and believes) remains connected with your soul (spirit)... therefore your soul is eternal and your memory of past experiences remains within you.

Except that when you get hit in the head, the memories are already gone even while you're still alive. Eternal souls preserving memories is bullshit.

- Indeed there is a market for souls. I recently sold my soul to the devil, in exchange he gave me the secrets of the universe. 

Note: of course we need some external evidence to verify the facts, but here is what i have so far. I have raised an extremely important set of arguments.

Well, I'm not so sure about that...