crocodile deathroll

I personnally look on the "soul" as a verb not a noun. The soul is what the brain does and not the brain itself and what that brain does in information processing

ps418

That's a good question! Can you tell me the answer? For instance, do you suppose that souls can form and retain memories? What sorts of things are supposed to be part of the soul, as opposed to the brain?

I agree. Nothing I have posted is proof of the nonexistence of an afterlife. Dispoof is not a word I would use, since we are not talking about mathematics or deductive logic. Inductive evidence for the causal dependence of human mind on matter would be a more appropriate description.


The last question I regard as solved (unless I am misunderstanding the question). Matter came first in time, and all minds that I know of are embodied minds which are causally dependent on some form of material structure, namely brains.

Also, I agree that mind and brain are distinct concepts, just as program and computer are distinct concepts. But I strongly suspect that you need a brain to run a mind, in the same way that you need a computer to run a program.


Myself, I'd like to live after death. I'd like to see my loved ones on 'the other side' (many of them anyway). I just dont think that I will.

Patrick

ps418

If the soul is what the brain does, then what happens to the soul after the death of the brain?

Patrick

crocodile deathroll

The soul may well be just a pattern of activity which can become emualated by another brain, which is why is was not so highly unusual or miraculous for you to be born at all in the first place.

seesaw

I would say nothing if the soul is the brain and if the brain dies then the soul is dead.

[ November 10, 2002: Message edited by: seesaw ]</p>

seesaw

damn double post.

[ November 10, 2002: Message edited by: seesaw ]</p>

crocodile deathroll

Would you say "eternal boredom?" If there is any boredom at all then you are aware of some movement through time - the seconds ticking by in your mind in a viod of eternal darkeness. For that you need to be conscious, and if you are conscious you have to be alive, because according to my logic all conscious beings are alive

[ November 10, 2002: Message edited by: crocodile deathroll ]</p>

Marduk

Picklepuss said:
"I am not saying that the 'soul' exists, and that it lives on after the death of the flesh, (or even just the 'brain'). I just don't see where descriptions of the material disprove hypotheses re the non-material. But I'm open to suggestion."

Me to, and all the endless "If your brain is broken it doesn't work right" or "if we zap this part of the brain then this happens" type stuff doesn't do much for me.
Like the computer in that hokey "Demon Seed" movie yelled at its designer "why am I stuck inside this black box!?"

I am still stuck with the feeling that there is something to reincarnation. We have all had at least one successful incarnation, why this couldn't happen again or happened in the past. The experience of finding yourself alive as a human being on Earth. So far we are all batting 1.000.

[ November 10, 2002: Message edited by: marduck ]</p>

Valmorian

</strong>

I think the point here is that, to presume memories persist beyond physical life, you have to make a pretty steep assumption that someone with this condition actually DOES have long term memory but for some reason can't use it. Furthermore, you have to assume that this long term memory is stored somewhere OTHER than the brain.

</strong>

Other than wishful thinking, there's really no reason to presume otherwise.

If you only wish to discuss the brain, please just ignore all this.[/QB][/QUOTE]

crocodile deathroll

Yes I feel there is strong evidence that your memories cannot possibly servive. You will even forget your name an who you were it will be exactly as though you had never been born the first place.
So if you reincarnated as another person and emerged with the same physical mechanisms you emerged in this one, then you is going to inform you that you have already live your "one" life when you have totally forgotten it?

[ November 11, 2002: Message edited by: crocodile deathroll ]</p>