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Nothing to fear about nothingness.

dubfordessert wrote:consciousness IS physically embodied though. when you die the ongoing processes which produce your experience of being (you) cease. so you also cease.

That's what I think. It's crucial to get clear on the phrase "physically embodied" 'cause dualists often miss this one. Was discussing this with a mate recently, and I was trying to get him to see that it's not just a matter of the "mind" being embodied, but that what we call mind is the body. It's a long one, but look at any of the knock-down arguments against dualism for a brief idea (i.e. anyone who believes the "mind" and body are in some way separate has to explain how an immaterial thing interacts with a material thing, then they have to explain his this fits with the principle of causal closure, why it is that damage to certain parts of the brain damages the "mind" which is supposed to be immaterial, etc.)

There are more sophisticated arguments regarding embodiment, however, which you'll find in Merleau-Ponty and Samuel Todes (if anyone was interested).

edit: there's a great book called Descartes' Error by neurologist Antonio Damasio which should interest anyone thinking about this. Important stuff!

IIRC my brother technically 'died' in hospital on the operating table before they managed to resuscitate him, he was gone for a couple of minutes at least, he now seems adament that there is absolutely nothing after death

There is nothing after death.

Thats what I am so scared.

I'd rather have an eternity of nothingness than heaven or hell.

you get stuck in the internet when you die?

that would be heaven

Dub_freak wrote:I'd rather have an eternity of nothingness than heaven or hell.

Does heaven have wheel chair access and round the clock medical care for those who required it in life and are them carers in their version of heaven or hell, having to spend eternity caring for others. What if your idea of hell is being in heaven with all the passed loved ones that have been looking down on you, watching you masturbating non-stop for the entirety of you adult life. Just throwing some ideas out there.

well the Christian idea of heaven and hell is completely illogical, they both sound like the exact same thing.

nat a lat

the existence of the afterlife isnt an issue for me, ill be dead whether it exists or not so there isnt a great point to getting scared about it

Cheeky wrote:the existence of the afterlife isnt an issue for me, ill be dead whether it exists or not so there isnt a great point to getting scared about it

sorry mate, this to me sounds contradictory... Think about it...

why are you all scared of the nothingness

you won't even know it's nothingness

you won't even be able to know...you won't even be. it's like when you sleep. you don't know how much time has passed, you have no concept of anything even like that. you're just...not

^^^are you speaking from experience?

We were part of the nothingness before we were born, we were all dead for 13.7 billion years.

Ba-zinga wrote:why are you all scared of the nothingness

you won't even know it's nothingness

you won't even be able to know...you won't even be. it's like when you sleep. you don't know how much time has passed, you have no concept of anything even like that. you're just...not

I've thought about this before and I think it might provide an answer, but I'm not sure. The one thing I've got a bit of an issue with is that when I worry about my death it's that I'm worried about the future prospect of my life (my pursuit of possibilities) ending. But it's not like a worry about an end state (like I might worry about an experience of pain) it's more a worry grounded in the now because I largely enjoy life and the immediate prospect of its ending is pretty unpleasant. I dunno though, maybe you're right! What do you think?

What happens to a pigeon when it dies?

It's exactly the same for us.

AxeD wrote:What happens to a pigeon when it dies?

It's exactly the same for us.

Why do you never see baby pigeons?

We turn to compost and feed worms.

cosmic surgeon wrote:

Ba-zinga wrote:why are you all scared of the nothingness

you won't even know it's nothingness

you won't even be able to know...you won't even be. it's like when you sleep. you don't know how much time has passed, you have no concept of anything even like that. you're just...not

I've thought about this before and I think it might provide an answer, but I'm not sure. The one thing I've got a bit of an issue with is that when I worry about my death it's that I'm worried about the future prospect of my life (my pursuit of possibilities) ending. But it's not like a worry about an end state (like I might worry about an experience of pain) it's more a worry grounded in the now because I largely enjoy life and the immediate prospect of its ending is pretty unpleasant. I dunno though, maybe you're right! What do you think?

I agree with this. I'm not scared of the pain of dying, just not being able to interact with anyone or anything. It's a very unpleasant thought to me.

Pedro Sánchez wrote:

AxeD wrote:What happens to a pigeon when it dies?

It's exactly the same for us.

Why do you never see baby pigeons?

Because they know they look like this