Five Kinds of Afterlife

David Sklansky · #1 01-07-2006, 03:20 AM

1. The standard religious variety.

2. Reincarnation, perhaps on a different planet.

3. A realization, upon death, that your human brain was just a receiever for the real you that exists elsewhere all the time, perhaps in another dimension (See the last chapter of Poker Gaming and Life).

4. A personal perception of infinite existence even as those around you think you die. Some sort of Einsteinean slowing down of time, like in traveling at the speed of light or entering a black hole. The phenomenon of seeing "your life pass in front of your eyes" upon imminent death, might give credence to this theory (It actually happened in exquisite detail to poker player Lee Salem.)And it would also give you your own personal heaven or hell,depending on how you lived your life.

5. No afterlife period.

Simple multiple choice quiz.

TimM · #2 01-07-2006, 03:39 AM

[ QUOTE ]
2. Reincarnation, perhaps on a different planet.

[/ QUOTE ]

If that which makes my consciousness me is finite, and the universe is infinite (perhaps as in the bang-crunch forever idea, but there are other ways it could be infinite), I should be re-created an infinite number of times.

Stu Pidasso · #3 01-07-2006, 04:11 AM

[ QUOTE ]
If that which makes my consciousness me is finite, and the universe is infinite (perhaps as in the bang-crunch forever idea, but there are other ways it could be infinite), I should be re-created an infinite number of times.

[/ QUOTE ]

That plan gets hosed if there are particles which behave in a truely random manner.

Stu

Shandrax · #4 01-07-2006, 04:53 AM

My answer would be something between 2 and 5.

Apart from the obvious metaphysical claim, that you will live on in the memories of other people and only die once you are forgotten, there is something else, something more real. If you die and you get buried, worms will eat your corpse. Your genetic material will be transformed and parts of you end will up as parts of the worm. Birds will eat that worm and so on. Humans stand on the end of the food-chain and eventually you will be "re-born", at least partially. That is only "true" for those who believe that their soul and their body is a unit though. If you define yourself by your soul only, then you have to resort to the metaphysical theory above.

All other theories are just wishful thinking, because ultimate death would be simply way too embarrassing.

TimM · #5 01-07-2006, 05:04 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If that which makes my consciousness me is finite, and the universe is infinite (perhaps as in the bang-crunch forever idea, but there are other ways it could be infinite), I should be re-created an infinite number of times.

[/ QUOTE ]

That plan gets hosed if there are particles which behave in a truely random manner.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, randomness is good when you have an infinite number of trials. It assures that everything possible will eventually happen infinitely many times.

Stu Pidasso · #6 01-07-2006, 05:09 AM

[ QUOTE ]
No, randomness is good when you have an infinite number of trials. It assures that everything possible will eventually happen infinitely many times.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can it not also make the number of possibilities infinite?

Stu

BluffTHIS! · #7 01-07-2006, 05:17 AM

I hope that in 10, 20, 30 years or more when you actually find out for yourself, that you will be allowed to come back there and bump this thread from the dusty archives and let the rest of these folks know.

For myself of course, I know it is #1, while many of you hope it's not #1, and some of you had better PRAY it's not #1 (or change your life).

MidGe · #8 01-07-2006, 05:27 AM

Ah! for me, it is 5.

Could have been 2, not necessarily, but possibly, on another planet or plan or whatever.

Unfortunately, I have no reminiscences of anything prior to my conception (or birth for that matter [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ) and everything I observe that has a beginning has an end... I just assume that's the nature of things. No need of anything else as a crutch for my living meaningfully. If I am wrong, well, I hope whatever it is, is better than the way life is. If I am right, at least, I try to live my life with good intentions (however misguideed they may be), and have learned not to worry too much about results.

Really, if I help an old lady/man crossing a street, to ensure that they don't get run over, and that puts them in the path of a footpath skateboard rider that bumps them accidentally and kills them because of their fragility.. that's life [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

maurile · #9 01-07-2006, 05:39 AM

[ QUOTE ]
3. A realization, upon death, that your human brain was just a receiever for the real you that exists elsewhere all the time, perhaps in another dimension (See the last chapter of Poker Gaming and Life).

[/ QUOTE ]
If this were true, taking LSD would not alter our consciousness.

Prodigy54321 · #10 01-07-2006, 05:45 AM

1) .01%

2) between .1% and 99.9% depending on your definition of "you"

3) .1%

4) .1% as long as your, "And it would also give you your own personal heaven or hell,depending on how you lived your life." is excluded

5) between .1% and 95.99%

OTHER) 2%

--and that's right on the money sohn