# the brain



## hurricane12 (May 22, 2008)

ok if the brain is what gives us perception of the world and when we die we dont have a brain how can there be a after life. wouldnt we just not exist like the way it was before we were born. like if something like dp/dr change the way the world looks imagine if you didnt have a brain. and like what if we have to pass on are genetics for us to be born again like in order for us to come back in this world we have to reproduce sicne were passing down traits of ourselves. like were reborn as our great grandchildren. i dunno its thoughts like these that keep me up at night.

i would like to believe theres a after life cause this cant be all to life and i would like to think peoples actions affect what happens when they die but im not so sure. but then again who is :|


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## Rein (Apr 29, 2008)

wow you give me so much thoughts that i can`t think of an answer, well there is no answer.


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## Eric (Jan 28, 2009)

that thought crosses my mind everyday, but i read somewhere that 95% of all elderly believe there is an afterlife, so if you are unsure now, give it time, maybe its true, maybe with age comes more wisdom, and somehow elderly people know whether or not there is an after life. We can all only hope there is an afterlife, i certainly hope there is


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## diagnosedindigo (Feb 10, 2009)

the brain tells us what we need to hear. plain and simple.
no one wants to know their life wont amount to anything. that they will only die after all their good deeds, and humility.
and bad people have the same fate as the rest of em.
that is, if.


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## Matt210 (Aug 15, 2004)

It was study of the brain more than anything that made me stop believing in an afterlife. It is very clear that every single one of our thoughts, our personality, our memories, etc. are chemical and very physical. We can witness brain damaged patients completely change their personality, we can see illness take away a lifetime of memories from a person.

We are nothing but chemicals.

It scares me as well. But I have chosen to be agnostic for the most part. I don't think I believe in a God or an afterlife, but I am not going to waste my time going around and denying it - nor am I going to be part of any religion. I am going to live the best life I can, make meaning for myself, be the best person I can be, and i'll deal with death when it comes.

At the very least - afterlife or not, I'd like there to be an explanation of what the hell life was all about. It's so frickin weird to be alive, and no matter how much science can tell us about our origins it can not solve the mystery of something coming from nothing. Even if I don't get to live eternally - i'd take a 10 minute interview with whoever is responsible for the insanity that is life haha.


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## egodeath (Oct 27, 2008)

Matt210 said:


> It was study of the brain more than anything that made me stop believing in an afterlife. It is very clear that every single one of our thoughts, our personality, our memories, etc. are chemical and very physical. We can witness brain damaged patients completely change their personality, we can see illness take away a lifetime of memories from a person.
> 
> We are nothing but chemicals.
> 
> ...


We always assume that something came from nothing, but why, in the beginning, did there have to be nothing?
Big Bang theory states that there was a definite beginning to this universe, but does that mean that there aren't others?
Or conceptions of something and nothing are too black and white and too limited by the human experience.

And physicalism does not exclude the possibility of an afterlife. Just because all of our thoughts and perceptions in this universe are channelled through the brain does not mean that there is no "immortal soul," some essence that is indefinably you, that continues on after death, either here, in some way we cannot fathom, or elsewhere. Personally, I don't believe in a soul, but human reason reaches only so far and we cannot expect it to solve any of the questions that really matter.

So what is life all about? There is no singular meaning of life; it varies from person to person, time to time. The absurdists, particularly Camus in _The Myth of Sisyphus_, do an excellent job of explaining the realization of the absurdity of life and the accompanying anxiety surrounding lack of inherent meaning (or our ability to see it) and the ways in which we can make life bearable.

What does all of this mean? For every negative argument there is a positive one and, although life may seem meaningless, you're not alone, so what you do matters.


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## Matt210 (Aug 15, 2004)

egodeath said:


> We always assume that something came from nothing, but why, in the beginning, did there have to be nothing?
> Big Bang theory states that there was a definite beginning to this universe, but does that mean that there aren't others?
> Or conceptions of something and nothing are too black and white and too limited by the human experience.
> 
> And physicalism does not exclude the possibility of an afterlife. Just because all of our thoughts and perceptions in this universe are channelled through the brain does not mean that there is no "immortal soul," some essence that is indefinably you, that continues on after death, either here, in some way we cannot fathom, or elsewhere. Personally, I don't believe in a soul, but human reason reaches only so far and we cannot expect it to solve any of the questions that really matter.


Perhaps it is just human bias to believe that everything has a beginning - the idea of the infinite existence of a universe is really beyond comprehension.

But I really think physicalism does exlude the possibility of an afterlife - of course i can prove nothing. There is no part of a person that can not be altered through brain damage, drugs, etc. - what is a person beyond personality and memories? It is the same reason why I think belief in reincarnation to be bizarre - or at least not comforting. My desire to keep living is to be ME forever - to have MY family, MY friends, MY life, or at the very least MY memories of these things. The point of starting over again and having no memory of these things seems pointless to me - you are still essentially dead. So a person with brain damage who loses all their memory, regains them in an afterlife? This would suggest there is some sort of out-of-this-world memory store that is unaffected by physical damage. What about a person that has brain damage at a young age and their personality completely changes - they become more aggressive and live a life in that way. What is the person in the afterlife? The kind/caring self they had before the accident - or the aggressive angry person they were after the brain damage?

It is certainly possible - there are no answers to these questions. But to me it is one of about a gazillion possibilities. What seems most logical to me right now is that we just die. Then its over. Nothing more. There is no evidence to the contrary.


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## egodeath (Oct 27, 2008)

How do you feel about the idea that as death approaches, subjective time stretches to infinity.
After the body dies, it is presumed that the mind enters a sort of dream-state (assuming death is not instantaneous), 
so your last living thoughts could seem eternal. Though not a true "afterlife", this would explain near-death experiences
and is a possible explanation for what happens after (really eternally approaching) death.

From Richard Linklater's _Waking Life_:

"I keep thinking about something you said.
- Something I said? 
- Yeah. About how you often feel like you're observing your life...
-from the perspective of an old woman about to die.
-You remember that? 
- Yeah. I still feel that way sometimes. Like I'm looking back on my life.Like my waking life is her memories.
Exactly. I heard that Tim Leary said as he was dying...that he was looking forward to the moment...when his body was dead, but his brain was still alive.
They say that there's still three to eight minutes of brain activity after everything is shut down.
And a second of dream consciousness, right,
well, that's infinitely longer than a waking second.
- You know what I'm saying? - Oh, yeah, definitely.
For example, I wake up and it's 7:13 
and then I go back to sleep and I have those long, intricate,
beautiful dreams that seem to last for hours,
and then I wake up and it's 7:15.
Exactly. So then two minutes of brain activity,
I mean, that could be your whole life.
I mean, you are that woman looking back over everything.
 Okay, so what if I am? Then what would you be in all that?
Whatever I am right now.
I mean, yeah, maybe I only exist in your mind.
I'm still just as real as anything else."

Source: http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/w/waking-life-script-transcript-linklater.html


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## Matt210 (Aug 15, 2004)

I find that really interesting. Philosophical stuff like that has always interested me. I try not to get involved in too much of it when i'm feeling like this because it ends up making me anxious for whatever reason.

But it is kind of a pleasant thought. Would be contingent on the brain actually having some activity after death - i've never heard this actually. Any idea on any factual evidence for it? It would also mean that anyone with brain damage at the point of death - particularly to the hippocampus would be deprived of their afterlife.

But its interesting. There is no greater idea of heaven to me than getting to live some of life's greatest moments over and over again as if they were the first time. Feelings that have long since faded being brought back new.


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## hurricane12 (May 22, 2008)

how could the universe be here forever
nothing makes sense my head hurts just thinking about it


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## egodeath (Oct 27, 2008)

hurricane12 said:


> how could the universe be here forever
> nothing makes sense my head hurts just thinking about it


Strictly speaking, time only applies to this universe. There was no time "before" the Big Bang, or whatever you believe, and time will run in reverse during the Big Crunch.


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