The Afterlife? Real or Not

[Stephen Curry]

Since my last thread got pretty nice response im posting this hopefully i can get some replies in b4 the thread is just going crazy

Do you guys think theres a afterlife weather it be hevan hell or your just walking around dead ghost i guess whats your take?

 

[crowTrobot]

findings of neuroscience + the implication of evolution is fairly convincing evidence our consciousness is just something that emerges from physical processes in our brains, and turns off when those processes stop.

also all claims of ghost sightings etc invariably end up having better alternate explanations than continuation of life after death.

 

[Denny Crane]

It would be awesome of there were an afterlife, but it sure seems like our consciousness is a matter of genetics, chemistry, and experience.

When you die, it's game over. Lights out. Nevermore.

 

[Further]

There will life after my death, by the living, who can remember me. That's the extent of it. I don't know there isn't anything else, but it's by far the most likely option. And considering this is at the crux of why people believe in religion, you could have just asked if people believed in any gods.

 

[crowTrobot]

And considering this is at the crux of why people believe in religion, you could have just asked if people believed in any gods.

Not entirely. I know a few "spiritual" atheists who believe in some sort of afterlife. I've also read a few prominent ones who don't rule it out, including Sam Harris.

Also a good number of atheist Buddhists believe the "self" continues after death, although not in the normal Christian sense of an afterlife.

 

[blue32]

I sure hope. I would hate to just go blank, lights out style. That would suck and its depressing...

 

[tlongII]

I sure hope. I would hate to just go blank, lights out style. That would suck and its depressing...

That is why religion exists. People don't like that scenario.

 

[crowTrobot]

I sure hope. I would hate to just go blank, lights out style. That would suck and its depressing...

it's not depressing at all if you think of life as one big freeroll. you should celebrate the fact that you won the lottery and were born at all!

 

[PapaG]

It's real. I live in it.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

What if you were reincarnated as a L*ker fan?

 

[Stevenson]

There is an incredible amount of evidence of an afterlife. Read a few books about reincarnation, or life after death, or out of body experiences, or near death experiences. See what the great prophets/seers have to say - Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed. Read Edgar Cayce. Look at nature. Personally, my dear sweet mom visited me six months after she died. Maybe my favorite piece of proof though is Steve Jobs' dying words: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!" I wonder what he saw. Not blackness, that's for sure.

 

[magnifier661]

There is an incredible amount of evidence of an afterlife. Read a few books about reincarnation, or life after death, or out of body experiences, or near death experiences. See what the great prophets/seers have to say - Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed. Read Edgar Cayce. Look at nature. Personally, my dear sweet mom visited me six months after she died. Maybe my favorite piece of proof though is Steve Jobs' dying words: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!" I wonder what he saw. Not blackness, that's for sure.

If anything, just watching nature repeatedly recycle should give a bit of hint.

 

[crowTrobot]

If anything, just watching nature repeatedly recycle should give a bit of hint.

that's a very Buddhisty thing to say, Mags

 

[magnifier661]

that's a very Buddhisty thing to say, Mags

Yeah man! I'm feeling a bit Buddha today!

 

[crowTrobot]

There is an incredible amount of evidence of an afterlife. Read a few books about reincarnation, or life after death, or out of body experiences, or near death experiences. See what the great prophets/seers have to say - Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed. Read Edgar Cayce. Look at nature. Personally, my dear sweet mom visited me six months after she died. Maybe my favorite piece of proof though is Steve Jobs' dying words: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!" I wonder what he saw. Not blackness, that's for sure.

it's one thing if you believe your mother visited you, but otherwise I'll take working neurobiologists over superstitious ancient prophets and Edgar Cayce.

 

[tlongII]

Actually there is absolutely zero verifiable evidence of an afterlife. Sorry.

 

[Sinobas]

findings of neuroscience + the implication of evolution is fairly convincing evidence our consciousness is just something that emerges from physical processes in our brains, and turns off when those processes stop.

That's the mainstream academic/scientific view. But it's really a view based on ignorance. These fields can't even begin to explain how consciousness 'emerges' from physical processes in the brain. I think that without that understanding, they can't claim to have any leverage in knowing if it survives the death of the brain.

 

[barfo]

It's every bit as real as the tooth fairy and Santa Claus. You just gotta believe!

barfo

 

[VanillaGorilla]

There is an incredible amount of evidence of an afterlife. Read a few books about reincarnation, or life after death, or out of body experiences, or near death experiences. See what the great prophets/seers have to say - Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed. Read Edgar Cayce. Look at nature. Personally, my dear sweet mom visited me six months after she died. Maybe my favorite piece of proof though is Steve Jobs' dying words: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!" I wonder what he saw. Not blackness, that's for sure.

Not any actual evidence. "Personal Experiences" don't count. That's your mind playing tricks on you. There's real evidence for that.

 

[crowTrobot]

That's the mainstream academic/scientific view. But it's really a view based on ignorance. These fields can't even begin to explain how consciousness 'emerges' from physical processes in the brain. I think that without that understanding, they can't claim to have any leverage in knowing if it survives the death of the brain.

the facts of evolution alone are enough to support a default assumption that consciousness is just something that emerges from physical processes. the implication that it's some kind of 50/50 proposition is just wishful thinking.

also, neuroscience does not need to fully explain consciousness to have significant leverage if it can show that all aspects of what makes us who we are can be turned on and off by fiddling with different areas of the brain, which is the case.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Maybe my favorite piece of proof though is Steve Jobs' dying words: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!" I wonder what he saw. Not blackness, that's for sure.

Are you sure someone wasn't jerking him off?

 

[HailBlazers]

Not any actual evidence. "Personal Experiences" don't count. That's your mind playing tricks on you. There's real evidence for that.

Believe it or not, there is actual evidence that Edgar Cayce, a simpleton tobacco farmer could go into trances and give medical diagnosis' and prescriptions that cured people beyond what experts could offer during the time period. There are many documented cases. And when Cayce would wake up, he knew nothing about what he said or the medical knowledge he tapped into.

Read up:

http://www.world-mysteries.com/pex_9.htm

 

[Stevenson]

Find and watch the movie Unmistaken Child

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/unmistaken-child/film.html

It is a incredible true documentary of a monk tasked with finding the reincarnated child who used to be his master who had passed away of old age. I won't give away the ending, but the proof at the end is as compelling, and as scientific, as it gets.

But for the record, anecdotal evidence is just fine too to prove a fact. It is used in life, science, and courts every day.

And good point HailBlazers about Edgar Cayce.

 

[Stevenson]

I met a fairy today that said she would grant me one wish.

“I want to live forever.” I said.

“Sorry,” said the fairy, “I’m not allowed to grant wishes like that!”

“Fine,” I said, “then I want to die after Congress gets their heads out of their asses!”

“You crafty bastard.” said the fairy.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Believe it or not, there is actual evidence that Edgar Cayce, a simpleton tobacco farmer could go into trances and give medical diagnosis' and prescriptions that cured people beyond what experts could offer during the time period. There are many documented cases. And when Cayce would wake up, he knew nothing about what he said or the medical knowledge he tapped into.

Read up:

http://www.world-mysteries.com/pex_9.htm

That's not evidence in my opinion.

And no, I'm not watching some crackpot "documentary".

 

[crowTrobot]

But for the record, anecdotal evidence is just fine too to prove a fact. It is used in life, science, and courts every day.

anecdotal evidence can be useful in tandem with other hard evidence to support trivial facts.

anecdotal evidence is NEVER used as support for extraordinary claims. not in the lab. not in the courtroom. not by sane people in their every day lives.

in the history of inquiry there has never been a shred of valid evidence documenting a paranormal claim of any kind. no voices from beyond. no ghosts. nobody coming back from the dead with evidence of an afterlife. every single claim of this type ever made invariably ends up having a much better purely physical alternate explanation. claims of evidence supporting an afterlife are about as extraordinary as it gets.

thus there is zero reason to give any weight at all to anyone's anecdotal claims of this type.

 

[Denny Crane]

Watch the documentary film, "Ghostbusters."

You can believe your eyes right?

 

[Stevenson]

anecdotal evidence can be useful in tandem with other hard evidence to support trivial facts.

anecdotal evidence is NEVER used as support for extraordinary claims. not in the lab. not in the courtroom. not by sane people in their every day lives.

in the history of inquiry there has never been a shred of valid evidence documenting a paranormal claim of any kind. no voices from beyond. no ghosts. nobody coming back from the dead with evidence of an afterlife. every single claim of this type ever made invariably ends up having a much better purely physical alternate explanation. claims of evidence supporting an afterlife are about as extraordinary as it gets.

thus there is zero reason to give any weight at all to anyone's anecdotal claims of this type.

You actually do not know what you are talking about. That is a factually inaccurate statement. If you took the time to look, there is a lot of proof.

And for the record, anecdotal evidence is the basis of most legal cases. That is what witness testimony is. The law gives great weight to anecdotal evidence, actually more than scientific evidence because science is so often inconclusive and at odds with itself. You can hire an expert scientist to say anything you want in court just about.

And you cannot call a documentary "crackpot" if you know nothing about it and have never seen it. How very unscientific of you! Praying at the gates of science is no different than praying at the gates of religion, yet those of you here who are arguing for science show no proof, and make nothing but generalized bombastic sentences. At least we have listed evidence to defend our perspective.

Here is more proof: Read "Proof of Heaven" by Neurosurgeon Eban Alexander and tell me there us no afterlife. He is one of you guys too.

Or he was!

 

[GriLtCheeZ]

No.

 

[crowTrobot]

That is what witness testimony is. The law gives great weight to anecdotal evidence, actually more than scientific evidence because science is so often inconclusive and at odds with itself. You can hire an expert scientist to say anything you want in court just about.

as noted anecdotal evidence is accepted for ordinary claims for which a base of evidence has already been established supporting at least some potential probability of truth.

life after death is not an ordinary claim. there is no established base of evidence supporting even the potential truth of paranormal claims, and a very strongly established pattern of such claims when objectively investigated invariably lacking substance, and of humans in general being prone false belief in this type of thing.

in a court of law 100 people claiming to have seen a ghost would be trumped by 1 scientists with an alternate plausible physical explanation.

And you cannot call a documentary "crackpot" if you know nothing about it and have never seen it.

wasn't me that said that, although I've researched Cayce and find no reason to take claims about him seriously.

Here is more proof: Read "Proof of Heaven" by Neurosurgeon Eban Alexander and tell me there us no afterlife. He is one of you guys too.

it has been established that this person was never fully brain-dead -

http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/07/proof-heaven-author-debunked/66772/