I have a feeling that the afterlife doesn't exist

[Mock Turtle]

Besides not being convinced by any evidence thrown about, afterlives and/or reincarnation don't make much sense to me and seem more like carrots to gain supporters for any particular belief system that espouses such notions. If such was true, I just can't wait to meet all those human ancestors from hundreds of thousands of years ago or even millions of years ago. The conversations will be interesting. Unless of course there actually is some point in time as to when the afterlife/reincarnation started.

 

[Twilight Hue]

How do you know it was "you"?
If we assume that there are paranormal phenomena like rebirth, we can as well assume something like mind reading and thoughts travelling in circles until they hit a perceptive brain. Maybe you "remember" the thoughts and feelings of someone else?
Do you remember anything between your deaths and your births? Many claim to remember previous lives, but nobody seems to remember something "in between". For me, that seems to make my scenario more plausible.

Rebirth isn't a paranormal phenomenon unless you think a person's birth is somehow paranormal.

 

[ChristineM]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

I'm atheist and i know what happens

The first law of thermodynamics tell us that in a closed system mass/energy cannot be created or destroyed. Meaning in this case that the atoms that build your body are reused, (the universe is the ultimate in recycling). Worm food, fertiliser for the soil, plants, trees etc... eventually some of those atoms will find their way into other life forms including human beings. That way we are all made of dead people.

Our consciousness ends with our death and our atoms are reused,

So reincarnation in a sense but I don't believe in an afterlife.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife...

Not all of them. In general, Buddhists and Hindus don't believe in an afterlife; most believe in rebirth or reincarnation.

...anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

Life, to me, is a state of embodiment in a living organism. Before that organism was born and after that organism expires, there is no "life," only existence as the eternal conscious-bliss.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Still I don't understand why the people who don't believe in an afterlife, make children.

We've already covered this. It's too difficult for them to give birth to adults.

What does having children have to do with afterlife? My children, as I see it, are of the same true nature as I.

 

[1213]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

Luckily it is not necessary to know.

 

[Estro Felino]

We've already covered this. It's too difficult for them to give birth to adults.

What does having children have to do with afterlife? My children, as I see it, are of the same true nature as I.

Honestly, Christians tend to be more nihilists than most atheists, I guess.
That's just my impression.

What I meant is that if I were an atheist, I would focus on the meaning of the existence.
I am a Christian, so I have already given it a meaning (which can be wrong, I mean, I cannot prove God exists).


PS I don't use the word procreate...I think it sounds too biblical.
In my language I never use that word.
Or breeding?...please. I'll pass.
So I'll stick with making children.

 

[SalixIncendium]

PS I don't use the word procreate...I think it sounds too biblical.
In my language I never use that word.
Or breeding?...please. I'll pass.
So I'll stick with making children.

Reproduce?

 

[Nakosis]

How do you know it was "you"?

I don't see it as being me. I am this person that I am now with all of these experiences from this life. That was someone else's life that I simply have apparent memories of. The feeling of being there was the same but it was a different person's life.

If we assume that there are paranormal phenomena like rebirth, we can as well assume something like mind reading and thoughts travelling in circles until they hit a perceptive brain. Maybe you "remember" the thoughts and feelings of someone else?

One can assume anything we want. Validating what we assume is another matter. Unfortunately these fragments I "remember" don't provide enough information to allow validation.

Do you remember anything between your deaths and your births? Many claim to remember previous lives, but nobody seems to remember something "in between". For me, that seems to make my scenario more plausible.

Yes, but only briefly immediately after death. I remember being separated from my body and being joyful at my death because it meant I was going to act as an emissary between God and my tribe. I felt myself being pulled towards something and that's it.

 

[wellwisher]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

The 2nd law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of the universe has to increase. This is well established consensus science. Explaining the nature of entropy can get esoteric, but in the lab, entropy can be measured with accuracy. It is real.

An entropy increase will need to absorb energy. Going from lower to higher entropy adsorbs energy. We can reverse entropy; lower entropy, to get the energy back. However, since the 2nd law says that the entropy of the universe has to increase, this means the universe is net bleeding energy into increasing entropy.

In other words, energy is disappearing from the material universe, tied up into increasing entropy; red shift. Red shifting energy is losing energy, forever. The energy is going sort of going to another dimension, in a loose sense. If we apply energy conservation, where energy cannot be created or destroyed, this energy loss due to the second law is conserved, but in a way that is net off limits to the material universe, due to its ever increasing sense. This lost, but conserved energy is a good place for the so-called spiritual realms.

In engineering, entropy is a state variable, meaning any given state of matter, has a fixed value of entropy. In that sense, entropy is like the finger print or identity of any state matter. The entropy of water at room temperature is 188.8 Joules/(mole K) no matter who measures it. The energy equivalent is conserved in the other dimension like a state blueprint. Life and the brain continuously generate entropy increase, which means our personal history; biology and consciousness sort of has a conserved energy data storage due to the 2nd law; all our states.

Science, via the extrapolated logic of the 2nd law of entropy and energy conservation does provide for the idea of structured quanta of energy conservation, that is detached from the material universe, albeit, it came from the material universe. Whether this is the spiritual realm is not yet subject of any direct science proof, since this new concept, although logical, is still part of future science.

Often when soft science people investigate ghosts, a common observation is a cold feeling in a room when ghosts appear. An increase in entropy will absorb energy and will make the area colder. Since entropy is reversible, on a small scale, but still the overall entropy has to net increase again, any connection to the other realm, where entropic energy has collected and conserved, theoretically should feel warm then colder to reflect coming to the material side and back. This does not require any new energy, but simply changes at the quantum level.

 

[Nakosis]

I know what happened after my death.

I was born to live here for a bit.

Well I certainly can't criticize you for this.

I have memories of my current life and I'm pretty certain they happened but I couldn't verify any of them from like when I was 4yo. How can I be expected to verify something from before I was born.

Normally we know the difference between something we imagined and something that actually happened. This feels like the latter but.

 

[Heyo]

Rebirth isn't a paranormal phenomenon unless you think a person's birth is somehow paranormal.

There is scientific evidence of people being born - there is no scientific evidence of people being reborn.

 

[LuisDantas]

I know religious people are absolutely convinced of some sort of afterlife but for me I am not convinced at all for me personally I feel like nothing will happen when I die now of course I don't know what happens but I just feel like nothing will happen anyway what are your thoughts on an afterlife ?

I have never thought of afterlives as anything but make-believe. I would even say that it is explicitly make-believe.

However, I must also point out (as others did in this thread) that afterlife beliefs are not a requirement to religion. They are IMO not even helpful; quite on the contrary.

 

[Estro Felino]

Reproduce?

Making more human beings? How about that?

I fail to empathize with those who don't believe in an afterlife.

Because all my life revolves, as a Christian, around the afterlife. I think of it 24/7.
I am not exaggerating.

So I struggle to understand what the world looks like and sounds like to the OP.
It's obvious that there are at least three worlds.

1) The real world made up of physics laws and chemical elements.
2) The world believers perceive
3) The world non-believers perceive.

 

[Heyo]

It's obvious that there are at least three worlds.

1) The real world made up of physics laws and chemical elements.
2) The world believers perceive
3) The world non-believers perceive.

Nope. Two, because #1 and #3 are identical.

 

[Tomef]

Your living the afterlife right now.

You were dead before this life last I checked.

Wouldn’t that be an ‘afterdeath’?

 

[Tomef]

Interesting.
Still I don't understand why the people who don't believe in an afterlife, make children.
What is the point of creating a ephemeral, finite existence?

For one thing, it’s the only option. Our lives are finite. Other than that, people don’t necessarily make life choices on the basis of such questions. People have kids because they want to. I should think that people who sit down and think about how ephemeral life is and so decide to not have children are a very small minority. I think gene expression and hormones, and the general desire to enjoy life and have people to love, play a much bigger part.

 

[Estro Felino]

Nope. Two, because #1 and #3 are identical.

It's impossible because it's scientifically proven that the human eye can only see the 3% of the total matter.
Even with the most sophisticated instruments.

 

[Estro Felino]

For one thing, it’s the only option. Our lives are finite. Other than that, people don’t necessarily make life choices on the basis of such questions. People have kids because they want to. I should think that people who sit down and think about how ephemeral life is and so decide to not have children are a very small minority. I think gene expression and hormones, and the general desire to enjoy life and have people to love, play a much bigger part.

I understand.
It's an act of love. But I was not criticizing their choice. I was just wondering how they view the creation of new lives, which are not eternal.

 

[Tomef]

I understand.
It's an act of love. But I was not criticizing their choice. I was just wondering how they view the creation of new lives, which are not eternal.

Well, I think one thing Elon Musk was right about is that death is necessary. Without an ending, not much that people do makes much sense. If we were all eternally young, or knew we would exist in some form forever, I mean if we really, viscerally, experientially knew that were true then human life as we know it might be quite different. What would be the rush to get qualified, get a good job and so on so you can support a family be motivated by? Would people just do the same things but at a more leisurely pace? Maybe it would change the way people think and live in ways we can’t imagine. I don’t think the abstract notion that we can live forever in some sort of vaguely defined spiritual castle really has the same sort of impact on how people see their lives.