Question about permanent death

[OakTree500]

I talked once with an atheist who believed that there was some sort of ethereal cloud of abilities and that you drew your talents from that cloud and that the goal was to improve on them and when you die release them back into this nebulous cloud for the next person. 

I know a guy that until he was a teenager, he believed in the "Birthday Crocodile" which was a Croc that would drop off your presents for your birthday. Much like Santa or the Easter Bunny. People will beleive crazy shit. 

[adey67]

Consider for a moment just how much magical thinking is required in order to sustain a belief in an afterlife.

Firstly you are required to believe there is actually a mystical life force / soul / spirit capable of sustaining an individuals personality and memories.
Secondly you are obliged to believe this life force is eternal and immortal in most cases.

Thirdly you need to become convinced that this life force / soul is magically activated on death otherwise how would an immortal indestructible force that carries your personality and memories be affected by brain tumours head injuries strokes and dementia ?
Fourthly you must believe that those affected by the conditions listed above have their mystical life force magically rewound to a time before the memory and personality were affected by said afflictions.

I'm pretty sure there are other necessary magical beliefs required that fit into this post but to me these are the main ones.
To me there is not one shred of evidence beyond the anecdotal that suggests it is possible for our personality to survive post mortem and quite a lot to suggest it doesn't. Think about it, if credible evidence of life after death existed it would be the most important news story in history, forget 9/11 or anything else.

[unfogged]

I talked once with an atheist who believed that there was some sort of ethereal cloud of abilities and that you drew your talents from that cloud and that the goal was to improve on them and when you die release them back into this nebulous cloud for the next person. 

I know a guy that until he was a teenager, he believed in the "Birthday Crocodile" which was a Croc that would drop off your presents for your birthday. Much like Santa or the Easter Bunny. People will beleive crazy shit. 

Don't you go bad-mouthing the birthday croc!

[Aegon]

The idea of an afterlife doesn't make much sense to me. Seems like wishful thinking.

[Brian37]

One of my favorite lines of the 1980s sitcom "Night Court" the gang got stuck in the basement of the courthouse because of a fire and Bull said, "Death is just nature's way of saying you are not alive anymore."

[HappySkeptic]

Are there atheists here who believe that there is some sort of afterlife? I personally still believe that there is something in afterlife, even if I dislike the idea.

I don't expect that my old Commodore PET computer is living on in an afterlife either, nor my old HP calculator.

But, according to some horror movies, there seems to be an afterlife for old creepy dolls.

Nope, life is a one-and-done.

[purplepurpose]

Death seems much more welcoming or peaceful than religions God. It's the reason hell was introduced to force feed religious crap in the first place.

[LastPoet]

Tarty was my miracle max in the TPB mafia game. He saved me from a lynch that made me mostly dead.

That was an epic game.

[EgoDeath]

While we don't have evidence to support the idea, I pretty much believe we are like a computer or a light switch or something. Once you're dead you're just "turned off" for good. As others have pointed out, you don't remember anything before you were born, right? Why would it be any different after you die?

I have found the idea of reincarnation to be really interesting to think about, but I obviously don't believe in any of that. It is sort of cool to think that "souls" are recycled and that some of us have actually been around for thousands or maybe millions of years. But maybe that's just my lust for immortality coming out.

Also, I don't believe in karma or any of that so that sort of shuts down the whole concept of reincarnation. Still cool to think about though.

In short, no, absolutely do not believe in an afterlife.

[Losty]

You’re right I did. I’m just fooling all these atheists. I really have the same beliefs as you, whatever those are...lol

Ok., now I feel so much better.  

By the way Losty would the idea of an eternity in a state of total bliss would make you happy or scare you?  

That could be fun