Poll: Does human consciousness die with the body?

[Spongeguardian]

This is a question that has been troubling me for quite some time now. I'm having such a hard time imagining a "life after death" because I've never been around to experience life without.. well life. What are your opinions on the matter?

(I mean no offense to any religious people with this thread, and I'm not denying the presence of an afterlife or heaven.)

 

[Carbonic Penguin]

This could be seen as religious, and probably should be in the Religion and Politics category.
OT: I believe in reincarnation... so no.

 

[gRiM_rEaPeRsco]

There is no afterlife

 

[Amnestic]

Scientific consensus on the subject is that Yes, yes it does.

I have yet to find any sort of proof otherwise, so I'll stick with that.

 

[ShadowPen]

A double edged sword for either opinion.

If you say there is an afterlife, that human consciousness lives on after the body, you would need to prove your statement by dying, returning to life, and telling us.

If you say there is NO afterlife, and thus, human consciousness dies with the body, you would need to prove your statement by dying, returning to life, and telling us that there is nothing.

Seeing as how it is impossible to return to life (no, the whole 'you die when your heart stops' thing doesn't count, for obvious reasons), an actual answer can't be determined.

I just know how this is going to end. At some point, someone is going to use a statement akin to "This is the truth, and anyone who disagrees with me is an *insult*, resulting in lots of drama that is not needed.

But hey, this is the internet. A fight is going to break out anyway >_>

 

[Kortney]

Scientifically, yes, 100%. It does along with the rest of it.

Most people prefer to ignore that because then the fear of death doesn't seem so bad. We, as human beings, have a seriously hard time accepting that we wont exist one day. All throughout human history, people have believed there was an afterlife. Whether it be through Jesus or through the Sun gods.

 

[joshuaayt]

I know my good friend, science, seems to believe so, but...
I don't know. I just don't see how something as...indefinable as consciousness could just be some set chemical reactions. I'm not religious, so without any proof I'm not going to think that some omnipotent being supplied me with it, and is waiting in the wings to collect it afterwards. Still...maybe there is an answer in-between? It would be presumptuous of us to think that we are definitely right about something being someway, given how insignificant we are.

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

There's only one way to really find out for sure... You'd have to kill yourself, then try and report back to let the rest of us know. Doesn't sound like a good idea, does it? Hehe!
Anything's possible, until proven otherwise, but I'm not looking for a definate answer anytime soon, that's for sure!

 

[FROGGEman2]

Oh yes. This ends well.
But on topic. Everything we are is the result of chemicals in our brains. Although we think we have free will we really do have set reactions. So as such we can not possess "souls" and are just biological machines. So when we die that is it.

We... actually have no clue how thoughts work.

Several scientists... actual scientists... believe in a shared, greater consciousness.

OT: I do not think our minds die. I think that our conscious thought lives on, and we create other lives within our minds to entertain ourselves.

Moreover, I think that this is that.

We are all currently dead.

 

[Frybird]

A double edged sword for either opinion.

If you say there is an afterlife, that human consciousness lives on after the body, you would need to prove your statement by dying, returning to life, and telling us.

If you say there is NO afterlife, and thus, human consciousness dies with the body, you would need to prove your statement by dying, returning to life, and telling us that there is nothing.

Seeing as how it is impossible to return to life (no, the whole 'you die when your heart stops' thing doesn't count, for obvious reasons), an actual answer can't be determined.

And even IF it would be possible, either statements can be disproven

If ZombieMan says there is an afterlife, it will be "obviously because he hallucinated" for one reason or another.

If ZombieMan says there is nothing, it will be because "obviously he forgot all about afterlife/couldn't experience it" because it is "god's will"

 

[Amnestic]

A double edged sword for either opinion.

If you say there is an afterlife, that human consciousness lives on after the body, you would need to prove your statement by dying, returning to life, and telling us.

If you say there is NO afterlife, and thus, human consciousness dies with the body, you would need to prove your statement by dying, returning to life, and telling us that there is nothing.

Seeing as how it is impossible to return to life (no, the whole 'you die when your heart stops' thing doesn't count, for obvious reasons), an actual answer can't be determined.

I just know how this is going to end. At some point, someone is going to use a statement akin to "This is the truth, and anyone who disagrees with me is an *insult*, resulting in lots of drama that is not needed.

But hey, this is the internet. A fight is going to break out anyway >_>

We can prove that consciousness is linked to brain activity, we can also prove that brain activity has a tendency to cease when you die. Though you can never fully prove that there is no consciousness after death (just as you can never prove that when I drop this apple it will not fall up), you can still draw conclusions based upon the current extent of our scientific knowledge.

 

[Kud]

There is no afterlife

what he said.

 

[FROGGEman2]

A double edged sword for either opinion.

If you say there is an afterlife, that human consciousness lives on after the body, you would need to prove your statement by dying, returning to life, and telling us.

If you say there is NO afterlife, and thus, human consciousness dies with the body, you would need to prove your statement by dying, returning to life, and telling us that there is nothing.

Seeing as how it is impossible to return to life (no, the whole 'you die when your heart stops' thing doesn't count, for obvious reasons), an actual answer can't be determined.

I just know how this is going to end. At some point, someone is going to use a statement akin to "This is the truth, and anyone who disagrees with me is an *insult*, resulting in lots of drama that is not needed.

But hey, this is the internet. A fight is going to break out anyway >_>

We can prove that consciousness is linked to brain activity, we can also prove that brain activity has a tendency to cease when you die. Though you can never fully prove that there is no consciousness after death (just as you can never prove that when I drop this apple it will not fall up), you can still draw conclusions based upon the current extent of our scientific knowledge.

Is that your consciousness? We have no evidence that our consciousness is linked to our brain.

EDIT

Oh shit I misread your post.

Disregard my post.

 

[Axeli]

Yes. Can be proved both philosophically and biologically.

Sucks to not be at peace with your own mortality, doesn't it?

 

[ma55ter_fett]

I would like to believe so, but I'm not going to go "all in" on that hope.

Live the best damn life you can, so even if there is nothing at the end of this great journey... you won't have any regrets.

Eventually we will all find out what comes after, until then don?t think about it.

 

[Cpt. Red]

This is a question that has been troubling me for quite some time now. I'm having such a hard time imagining a "life after death" because I've never been around to experience life without.. well life.

Then how was it before you were born?

 

[Caligulove]

Kind of depressing when you think about it but... well, yea. Enjoy it now while you have it. And then hope those around afterward will know you enough to remember you or laugh about their time with you

I felt kind of ripped off when I first realized it- but I see it differently

 

[likalaruku]

I would say that it dies before the body completely stopped functioning.