I’m an atheist but I don’t actually preclude the existence of an afterlife. “There is no heaven or hell, it just all goes black and that’s it,” is just as patently unfalsifiable as any claim made by any religion.
It’s just as likely to be something completely different and alien from anything conceivable in our limited world view. In an infinite space of probabilities, the likelihood of it being “literally nothing” actually seems pretty low.
That kind of uncertainty is exactly what scares most people, but not me. I’m looking forward to finding out one day.
I realize this is also unverifiable, but it’s just a return to non-existentence.
You already experienced that for most of human history, and then for a comparatively breif period, things were different, and then it’s back to non-existence.
The lack of memory of past existence isn’t evidence of anything. We have clear evidence that memories are physical things, stored as connections of neurons in the brain. They can be lost to disease or injury, and they’re destructively modified every time we access them.
Technus@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I’m an atheist but I don’t actually preclude the existence of an afterlife. “There is no heaven or hell, it just all goes black and that’s it,” is just as patently unfalsifiable as any claim made by any religion.
It’s just as likely to be something completely different and alien from anything conceivable in our limited world view. In an infinite space of probabilities, the likelihood of it being “literally nothing” actually seems pretty low.
That kind of uncertainty is exactly what scares most people, but not me. I’m looking forward to finding out one day.
SantasMagicalComfort@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
Life is brain activity and when that ceases it’s the fade-to-black.
Simple as.
Technus@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
My whole point is that I disagree with the certainty of that claim. It’s not grounded in empirical evidence, because we don’t have any.
SantasMagicalComfort@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
We have proof of brain activity and it ending at death.
Jax@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Ah, so you’re in the ‘teleporters are just cloning machines’ camp.
SantasMagicalComfort@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
What do you think they’re a 3D printer with a soul transfer function?
Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Teleporters are a plot device.
Tracaine@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sir this is a Wendy’s. We’re discussing drugs, not God. Arguably the same thing but still.
dangling_cat@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
What if I believe that after you die you get reincarnated as the type of person you hate the most?
Ahhh dirt I don’t want to be a transphob trillionaire.
Technus@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Yeah but on the second incarnation, wouldn’t that put you right back where you started?
Godort@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I realize this is also unverifiable, but it’s just a return to non-existentence.
You already experienced that for most of human history, and then for a comparatively breif period, things were different, and then it’s back to non-existence.
Technus@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
The lack of memory of past existence isn’t evidence of anything. We have clear evidence that memories are physical things, stored as connections of neurons in the brain. They can be lost to disease or injury, and they’re destructively modified every time we access them.
deltapi@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Similar, but I consider myself agnostic, and I’m in no rush to reach the point of ‘find out or cease existing’