crocodile deathroll

I think many people do not like question 2 because it confronts their ego. At least there is a dead corpse left of them that they can call and extension their ego so they build some elaborate memorial over in their memory. That in a morbid kind view of way gives them some comfort. But in reality they will have no more affinity to that corpse than a dead snake in the highway.
They can no longer remember the life's memories of what that corpse had then they can remember the life's memories of what the dead snake ha

So they may just as well build a great memorial over the buried remains of the dead snake in their memory.

crocodile deathroll

The brain hasn't "forgotten" the information, you are kidding!. You are not inferring that you will be aware of the fact that you are dead.

excreationist

Who said I was entralled? These discussions are kind of a habit for me. You're the one who is fascinated.

Well this is the philosophy forum so obviously most of us would ponder the big questions such as the afterlife.

What are you talking about? I don't donate 10% of my money to the church, etc, based mostly on my views on the afterlife. My beliefs on the afterlife don't affect my life much. So what do you base your entire belief system on? Nothing?

What if you then cease to exist... then you won't be capable of knowing anything. (Such as there being no afterlife) So you will only know if there is an afterlife - if there is an afterlife. You'd never know if you are experiencing the end of your existence since you wouldn't be capable of being aware of anything.

People can still have opinions.

Well a lot of the world devotes a lot of their money and time to things (like churches, suicide cults, etc) mostly because of their beliefs about the afterlife. I'm telling the world that I am one of the many people who disagree with their beliefs and I'm saying why I do. And think can have real-world consequences... they might be less intolerant and make the world nicer or something. I was just talking about dead brains anyway.... what's so bad about that? I think it is no worse than having an interest in collecting baseball cards or discussing sports or rock formations or whatever.

excreationist

Who is "they"? The corpse is not a person. It is the lifeless remains of what was once a person.

That sounds like a good idea. I'm serious.

I'm saying that when our body and brain is dead, it has no awareness. It can't access memories whether those memories are intact or not. It is like a computer during a black-out. Information might still be on the harddrive but assuming that it never gets up and running again the information is inaccessible to the computer. In fact, the computer can't access any kind of information at all - like a dead brain can't access any information such as the idea that it is dead.

excreationist

I think the Jehovah Witnesses are fairly consistent about their belief that the unsaved will ultimately cease to exist. Though of course there seems to be contradictory Bible verses.

crocodile deathroll

Not in our part of the world they are.

BTW I did try to edit "you may tick one or more of the following" but I left my run just a fraction too late.
So is was an interesting experiment in psychology of how people tick the box on the question they are most familiar with since question two is exactly the same question phrased in a completely different way.
Also the order on the list does make a difference like on the donkey vote effect.

Acinom

Hey no need to take it so personally. Just because you and Crocodile are having a fight doesn't mean your punches have to land on my face too.

When in my entire post did I call out your name personally? I merely posted what I saw was the situation. You could've discussd it with me rationally and asked me more indepth about what my beliefs are, something which you should be in the habit of doing.

doesn't mean it can't still be a waste of time, IMO.

Of course, since I don't agree with you. I must base my entire belief system on nothing.

You missed my point. Death to me is a big So WHAT? Any way you approach it, I don't see how conceptions of whether or not there's an afterlife affects us at all during life.

I never said they can't.

And I'm telling the world why I don't really care for any of those beliefs -- whether it be heaven, reincarnation, or dead brain matter. Why are you arguing with me then?

Again, I wasn't attacking your post per se, so stop taking things so personally. I can see why you would approach it from a social standpoint.

Buddrow_Wilson

The reason most of us are choosing choice one is because it is logically the most likely conclusion. There is absolutely no proof of outrageous claims to the otherwise, no matter how much fun it is to contemplate them.

huh? There is no implications of supernatural origins in the choice.

crocodile deathroll

At least I am glad to see at least that cloning never got a look in. In light of the recent news about the Raelian's "we have cloned a baby" claim.
They claim cloning is the key to eternal life. Hah!

excreationist

Sorry for exploding... at the time your post seemed like an attack on anyone who has specific opinions about the afterlife - and that included me.

I thought you were saying that you thought people in this thread were enthralled with the topic and I was disagreeing. But in your original post it seems you were talking about the general population.

You have already said that you are apathetic and agnostic on whether there is an afterlife. And you seemed to want others to be that way too. There didn't seem to be much more to it than that. Your beliefs about other topics (God, etc) are fairly irrelevant - this is "the afterlife poll" thread.

It's something that people might like doing. Who says that hobbies need to be very productive? Philosophers would still be getting some benefits though - such as improving their general reasoning skills which would have real-world applications.

Are you being serious? If so, then isn't what you've just said a foundational belief for your belief system?

What if you had a young kid that asked you where her recently "departed" grandfather had gone? What would you say? Would you say "I'd don't know... maybe to Heaven, maybe to Hell, maybe nowhere... who knows..."? Or would you just say "I don't know and I don't care". What if they said "but when is he coming back?!?" Would you say "I don't know and I don't care"? Or would you say "I doubt he's ever coming back"? What if they asked "what will happen to me when I die"? Would you say "I don't know and it doesn't matter, now go to sleep"?

You were saying things like what I am doing or thinking about would be a waste of time. If it is, I thought proclaiming your agnosticism everywhere would also be a waste of time. (Sounds kind of harsh... sorry)

You were talking about a category of people that I thought included me.