Poll: Does human consciousness die with the body?

[Kevvers]

I think its pretty clear that your consciousness is linked to the health of your brain. How else do you explain the effects of Alzheimer's, brain damage or other brain diseases? So its logical to believe that brain death or destruction is also the death of your consciousness.

Note: the death of consciousness doesn't preclude the possibility of an afterlife, as I think Christians believe in a bodily resurrection -- that is they were completely dead, but are reborn with perfect bodies via divine intervention or miracle, same as Jesus. Its probably similar in other religions too. This probably does put the kybosh on people coming back as ghosts and other silliness though.

 

[AnneSQF]

I got a weird theory that the consciousness/"soul" stays in the body and lies there until..?
It sounds completly weird and boring and I dont believe in it myself. But it would be alittle sad and lonely.

 

[Cmwissy]

I can really see this turning into an Atheist vs Creationist thread.


But yes - as the brain dies; so does ones awareness and consciousness.

 

[Signa]

Everyone as pretty much said all there is to say on the matter, but I just wanted to add my personal opinion. I just refuse to believe that any self-conscious being completely ceases to exist when they die. To have it so would make all of life pointless IMO, because even if you do good in your life, then all you did was affect others who are doomed to not exist in the near future. In the greater scheme of things, each individual's death is meaningless, therefore whatever you do in life is also meaningless.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we all live to eventually die, and then be gone completely, then there is no point to life at all. We may as well as just nuke the planet so that no one ever has to suffer any more. Anything we could ever do on our tiny, insignificant planet won't affect the universe, or probably even another solar system, so why put the effort and suffering of trillions of lifeforms through life's problems. That's why I do believe in something after death. If there is something to exist for, then maybe we can make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

So basically you base your opinion on the principle that the alternative is unpleasant to think about? "Aw, this truth sucks... wait, I know! I'll wish it away!"

Why the hell not? If it improves my outlook on life then why is it any skin off your nose? I'm not telling you to believe anything.

 

[Alex_P]

There's general consensus among cognitive scientists and philosophers of mind that we are embodied beings. Our bodies determine how we sense the world and act on it. Our every thought and emotion is intimately connected to our physical state.

The idea of the soul as disembodied consciousness is based on an Enlightenment version of mind-body dualism. If you look at the history of afterlife beliefs before that, you'll see that this sort of dualism is pretty common in philosophical and mystical traditions, but for a long time the mainstream popular version of life after death was very much focused on bodily resurrection -- the idea that God gives you a new body was central to how medieval and Renaissance Christians understood what it meant to be "alive" again.

(Of course, we modern folk have all these complex ideas about the continuity of consciousness that get in the way of just embracing the same kind of afterlife that medieval Christians might've believed in.)

If you're interested in a modern religious treatment of Christian afterlife beliefs that incorporates embodied consciousness, try C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. While popular imagery focused on airy, weightless shades, Lewis imagines souls moving closer to God becoming more solid, more aware, more alive, feeling everything more deeply.

-- Alex

 

[persopolis]

There's only one way to find out... (takes gun)

 

[Pyotr Romanov]

I do hope so, I wouldn't want to be conscious all those ages I'll spend underground...

 

[LostintheWick]

This is depressing. There go all my memories... just gone.

 

[Spacelord]

Everyone as pretty much said all there is to say on the matter, but I just wanted to add my personal opinion. I just refuse to believe that any self-conscious being completely ceases to exist when they die. To have it so would make all of life pointless IMO, because even if you do good in your life, then all you did was affect others who are doomed to not exist in the near future. In the greater scheme of things, each individual's death is meaningless, therefore whatever you do in life is also meaningless.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we all live to eventually die, and then be gone completely, then there is no point to life at all. We may as well as just nuke the planet so that no one ever has to suffer any more. Anything we could ever do on our tiny, insignificant planet won't affect the universe, or probably even another solar system, so why put the effort and suffering of trillions of lifeforms through life's problems. That's why I do believe in something after death. If there is something to exist for, then maybe we can make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

So basically you base your opinion on the principle that the alternative is unpleasant to think about? "Aw, this truth sucks... wait, I know! I'll wish it away!"

Why the hell not? If it improves my outlook on life then why is it any skin off your nose? I'm not telling you to believe anything.

It's not! And I completely understand, I do.

But the rational alternative is no less comforting... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vioZf4TjoUI]

 

[rokkolpo]

well consciousness being something the brain makes us think we have.

after the brain is removed no consciousness will be provided.

so yeah i don't wanna die. if i'm right...it would suck.

 

[Jaranja]

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.

That works the other way as well though.

 

[Nickolai77]

To my knowledge, scientists are not quite sure how the consciousness emerges from the brain, or what it is exactly. It's a rather unknown area in neuropsychology. None the less, most scientists probably make the wise assumption of thinking that the consciousness is some sort of "emergant property" of the brain. However, some Near Death Experiences (and perhaps out of body experiences) do challenge this assumption.

However, Near Death Experiences alone do not show the consciousness lives on after death. I would be plesantly surprised if i find my own consciousness living on after death, if not, i wont be complaining.

 

[Icecoldcynic]

I believe it does. If it living on was true, then every single living thing's consciousness would also have to live on after its body had died, and I don't believe that's possible. As much as humans like to believe they're special, we really aren't.

 

[Lemon Of Life]

To be perfectly honest guys, I don't know. Sorry.

 

[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.

That works the other way as well though.

There is more solid scientific evidence that our consciousness is linked with our brain activity than there is evidence that it is not linked to brain activity. Thus the logical conclusion is that when the brain dies, the consciousness dies.

Of course we don't know, but that's currently the best scientific theory we have on hand at the moment. As always, future discoveries may prove that to be incorrect and we have to reassess and perhaps change our minds. That's how Science works.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Yes it does. I haven't seen any proper evidence that it doesn't. I find it rather comforting that there is just nothing.

 

[Signa]

Everyone as pretty much said all there is to say on the matter, but I just wanted to add my personal opinion. I just refuse to believe that any self-conscious being completely ceases to exist when they die. To have it so would make all of life pointless IMO, because even if you do good in your life, then all you did was affect others who are doomed to not exist in the near future. In the greater scheme of things, each individual's death is meaningless, therefore whatever you do in life is also meaningless.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if we all live to eventually die, and then be gone completely, then there is no point to life at all. We may as well as just nuke the planet so that no one ever has to suffer any more. Anything we could ever do on our tiny, insignificant planet won't affect the universe, or probably even another solar system, so why put the effort and suffering of trillions of lifeforms through life's problems. That's why I do believe in something after death. If there is something to exist for, then maybe we can make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

So basically you base your opinion on the principle that the alternative is unpleasant to think about? "Aw, this truth sucks... wait, I know! I'll wish it away!"

Why the hell not? If it improves my outlook on life then why is it any skin off your nose? I'm not telling you to believe anything.

It's not! And I completely understand, I do.

But the rational alternative is no less comforting... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vioZf4TjoUI]

Ok, good. I took the wrong tone from your first post (damn text). I thought you were on the verge of mocking me for deluding myself just so I could be happier.

Anyway, thanks for the video.

 

[Caliostro]

Does human consciousness die with the body?

No, it gets stored in a bubble of magic, sugar, spice and everything nice...


... Off course it does... What a ridiculous question. We're a biological machine of sorts, once we stop working, we stop working.

Magic isn't real kids.