Kinda morbidly curious (survey)

Because nothing says "Christmas season" like musing about death.

Basically, I just wondered what other people felt about these things, and thought, well, what the heck, why not ask?

If you feel you can spare the time, and you don't mind a moment of morbidity, please tell me how you feel about each of the following statements - not how accurate or likely to be true you think it is, but assuming that each statement is true, how does it make you feel emotionally? Does it depress you, scare you, comfort you? Are you apathetic towards it?

1. When you die, that's it; you're gone. You were alive, but now you're dead, you have no consciousness or awareness or anything.
2. Same as the first, but you never objectively existed; once nobody remembers you, you will never have existed.
3. When you die, you become one with the universe.
4. There are two afterlifes, Heaven and Hell. Good people go to Heaven and receive eternal happiness, while bad people go to Hell and receive eternal torment.
5. Everybody goes to Heaven when they die.
6. Everybody goes to Limbo when they die. It's... OK there. It's kinda meh.
7. Reincarnation is real, and is the result of a soul which desires to be reborn. Most people are reincarnated, and our karma determines what our next life will be. To escape from the cycle of life, death and rebirth, one must rid oneself of desire.
8. The soul is not truly immortal and can be permanently destroyed under some circumstances.
9. It is possible for a person to be completely erased from time, so that they never lived at all.
10. Immortality is attainable in this world; it is possible to live forever.

If you have a preferred afterlife or fate after death, I'd like to hear that, too. Thanks for your time.

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I'm agnostic, so I guess my view could be summed up by a shoulder shrug and a "we'll see what happens"

On the other hand, I do have a sort of theory, perhaps heaven/hell is in the eye of the beholder? I mean one persons heaven can be another persons hell?

Say, if Valhalla as an example, was my heaven. It's an eternal plane of war and merriment. All the greatest warriors of our species duke it out, destroy the shit out of eachother, and then are reborn to a gigantic feast hall to eat and drink our hearts out, until we're ready to do it all again.

But to someone else, a plane of eternal war might be hell for them, endlessly being slaughtered in constant, never ending warfare.

So, if you're deserving of heaven, you go to your personal ideal of heaven, while if you deserve hell, you face your worst nightmare of where you can possibly go.

3 is closest to my ideas.

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

Death scares me because the idea that I could lose my consciousness scares me. It also makes me happy and pleased to know that I will die. Life is great, but it is kind of sucky and filled with that suffering thing I dislike. Being unconscious doesn't involve anything but unconsciousness so I'd be free. FREE I SAY.

I don't really want there to be an afterlife. If there is one I'd like it to be of the "Become a pure part of the universe and/or God" sort of thing than an actual universe. Reincarnation sounds neat, but also depressing. I mean you keep going through that life thing...Wasn't one time enough...Reincarnation also sounds amazingly cool in a "I GET TO BE LOTS OF PEOPLE AND THINGS MAN!!!" sort of way.

As for what I believe will happen. No idea. I'll find out when I get there and won't trouble myself too much with worrying about it. Man I worry about enough shit already why add something as certain but uncertain as death to the list? I do personally lean towards "You just become unconscious, the end" though. Also sometimes "ONE WITH THE UNIVERSE".

edited 26th Dec '10 1:03:03 PM by Aondeug

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

ITT: Tropers, as usual, don't answer the actual question to save their lives.

1. I don't particularly enjoy this idea. It doesn't scare me, but I don't like it.

2. That scares the hell out of me. I'd rather live in eternal torment than be forgotten by the universe.

3. This is cool, and makes the second-most sense to me out of all of them. Not my ideal fate, but it'd still be pleasant.

4. This pisses me off, and is why I hate Christian dogma. As I said above, I'd rather live in torment forever than cease to exist, but I still don't like the idea of some judge deciding who gets ultimate reward and who gets ultimate punishment. Though, honestly, Heaven sounds scary to me. Being forced to worship a being I can't comprehend for eternity? Fuck. No. Hell, on the other hand, doesn't sound so bad. You get used to pain after a while, and then it's just kind of 'meh.'

5. This depends on the kind of Heaven. If it's the whole worshipping-an-Eldritch Abomination deal, I'd hate it. I'd preserve myself in cryogenics if I had to. However, if it's the 'good times, music, free grog' deal, rock the hell on.

6. That's alright, I suppose. I'm okay with it. I'd find my friends and hang out. It'd be boring, sure, but we can always invent ways to pass the time.

7. Fuck yeah! This is my belief, minus the 'rid yourself of desire' thing. I'd just stay desire...ey. And keep on living. The point of life is life itself, and I love it. This also makes the most sense to me, because our bodies return to the Earth and get re-used, so why wouldn't our souls?

8.FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK MAKE IT GO AWAY

9.

10. There's a way to become truly immortal? Must. Find. Immortality.

My name is Cu Chulainn. Beside the raging sea I am left to moan. Sorrow I am, for I brought down my only son.

1: Meh, I'll be dead, what do I care?

2: same as 1

3: What does that mean? It sounds the same as 1

4: Depressing. Eternal pain would suck.

5: More depressing then 4. I wouldn't want hitler to go heaven, for example.

6: so, like earth, kind of? that wouldn't be so bad I guess.

7: Sounds fun.

8: Scary, but ultimately falls back to my feelings on 1.

9: Same as 1.

10: Awesome. Assuming that entropy can be reversed or I can choose to die of course.

EDIT: Cleaned the post up a bit.

edited 26th Dec '10 3:00:53 PM by thatguythere47

Is using "Julian Assange is a Hillary butt plug" an acceptable signature quote?

Sure, I'll bite.

1. This idea terrifies me. I do not want to stop feeling, unless if life after death really sucks.

2. This scares me even more.

3. Becoming "one" with the universe is kinda hard to comprehend, but it sounds kinda pleasant. Infinite knowledge, perhaps? I'd take it, though it's not my favorite choice.

4. I'm not comfortable with the idea of a plane of endless suffering. Hell is worse than oblivion, but not by much. What is there to gain from a place like that?

5. This is probably my favorite. God or no, if I go to an afterlife, I want to be happy. Of course, there is the issue of real bastards going to a positive afterlife, as well. Dunno what to think about that. Hm...I'm opposed to terrible people being rewarded like this, but I'm against the idea of Hell...boy, am I a hypocrite or what? -_-

6. Sounds boring. I don't think I'd want to go there.

7. Reincarnation sounds good to me. Hell, I wouldn't even want to escape the cycle. Life is too damn interesting.

8. This is just about as bad as 1 and 2.

9. This is pretty similar to 2. I don't like it.

10. Feelings are mixed about this one. To live for thousands, maybe millions of years? That sounds cool, but what if I run out of ideas? That would be horrible. As long as I have an option to end my life if things come to that, I'm good with immortality.

edited 26th Dec '10 3:17:11 PM by Nimitz

Jagged Alliance 2 LP (Redux) (Closed!)

1: Awesome.

2: Meh.

3: Huh...I could live with that. Pun not originally intended, but noticed within seconds and left in because I quite liked it, even though it's incredibly lame.

4: Depressing as hell. (I originally typed 'God, that's depressing' thought I can't do another Incredibly Lame Pun then typed that to replace it, thought for a second, and gave up. It was genuinely accidental.}

5: Almost as depressing.

6: As depressing as 5, but not quite as depressing as 4.

7: Oh, crap. That may actually be worse than 4.

8: Grand.

9: I wouldn't want that to happen while I was in the middle of something, but I don't care if it happens after I die. In about two hundred years time, maximum, that will have effectively happened to me anyway.

10: It's not straightaway depressing, but given the following: a) I don't want it, so I hope it's optional, b) a lot of other people would probably want it, and c) the Earth's population is growing uncontrollably, to bad effect, my overall decision is that this would not be a good thing.

Scepticism and doubt lead to study and investigation, and investigation is the beginning of wisdom. - Clarence Darrow

1. Mildly depressing, but if true I wouldn't ultimately care.
2. Eh. Lots of people already forgotten have had massive effects on the world. And why would I care once dead, again?
3. What does this even mean?
4. Can't say I like the hell part. And I don't believe any humans can be called objectively "good".
5. Would be nice. Does it really matter if Hitler etc. get in?
6. Nothing to complain about.
7. If the reincarnated have no memories, what does survive of a person? How is it different from #1? And how is extinction different from #1?
8. This is disturbing.
9. Equally so. Actually, even a rewritable timeline is disturbing.
10. Accidents always can happen, so you're just eliminating the most reliable form of death. Then there's heat death. Seems things may eventually get monotonous; you can only do so much within this universe's laws of physics.

edited 26th Dec '10 3:26:04 PM by Tangent128

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

1. This is basically my view, and what I hope for.
2. I'm not certain why you're asking about a subjective take on reality. It's otherwise the same as the last.
3. Certainly hope not. I don't want to join with anything.
4. Always seemed like an unfair system.
5. Kind of defeats the point of most afterlife belief systems.
6. Kind of depends on whether there's a way to kill yourself for real, since I imagine that an eternity of 'meh' would make one wish for it.
7. One of the less objectionable views.
8. I don't believe in souls to begin with...
9. Probably not.
10. It's likely possible to live a very long time, but entropy will catch up eventually.

edited 26th Dec '10 3:39:59 PM by Hylarn

Oh I forgot to mention that immortality and any form of afterlife (Heaven, Hell, and Limbo) that isn't "Become one with the universe" sounds depressing and undesirable. Immortality much more so than the former though the idea of an afterlife seems undesirable as well. Why do I want to keep living? Just give me my one shot or however many I need to escape and leave me be.

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

Rated from 1-10, 1 being Okay... great and 10 being OH GOD THAT'S HORRIFYING OH NO

When you die, that's it; you're gone. You were alive, but now you're dead, you have no consciousness or awareness or anything. 5

Same as the first, but you never objectively existed; once nobody remembers you, you will never have existed. 8

When you die, you become one with the universe. 2

There are two afterlifes, Heaven and Hell. Good people go to Heaven and receive eternal happiness, while bad people go to Hell and receive eternal torment. 6

Everybody goes to Heaven when they die. 2

Everybody goes to Limbo when they die. It's... OK there. It's kinda meh. 6

Reincarnation is real, and is the result of a soul which desires to be reborn. Most people are reincarnated, and our karma determines what our next life will be. To escape from the cycle of life, death and rebirth, one must rid oneself of desire. 6

The soul is not truly immortal and can be permanently destroyed under some circumstances. 5

It is possible for a person to be completely erased from time, so that they never lived at all. 8

Immortality is attainable in this world; it is possible to live forever. 7

1. I've come to accept that this will happen, so I feel neutral towards it.

2. That seems pretty depressing from the alive-person point of view, but it seems like ultimately it wouldn't be much different from number 1. I have my memories, whether they're objectively true or not. Personally, I'm not the type of person that agonizes over whether this life we're leading is really real or not.

3. Ah...neutral, I guess. I don't see much difference with number 1, to be honest.

4. It makes me pretty angry. Who the hell is the judge of all this, and why is his opinion so perfect?

5. That'd be nice, I suppose, but somehow I'm still suspicious.

6. I have "meh" reaction for a "meh" place. I hope it's at least as interesting as Earth, though.

7. I get pretty angry; it's pretty cruel to tell human beings that their only hope is to give up desire, something fundamentally human.

8. Hmm, I don't much care if we have a soul or not so I don't much care whether it's immortal or not.

9. That's pretty depressing.

10. Exciting and scary at the same time.

"War doesn't prove who's right, only who's left." "Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future."

1. 1) Disagree, but most likely logically speaking.

2. 2) Disagree

3. 3) Disagree, and fear

4. 4) Heaven and Hell are places made up by man.

5. 5) Heaven is like Santa Claus it's ideal but it's really all in your head.

6. 6) Disagree

7. 7) Possible, I wouldn't rid myself of anything though I'd want to collect every experience imaginable.

8. 8) Disagree

9. 9) Existentialist , so disagree.

10. 10) Yes, haven't you seen they can reverse aging in mice...

<Serious mode on>

I believe it is man's great destiny to defeat death, make reason of the universe, and eventually be able to control space time itself.

[[User Banned]]_ My Pm box ix still open though, I think?

I'm Agnostic, so...I'm kind of unsure about the whole idea, like a few others posting. I got a few ideas, but my belief says I can't claim either way.

1. No, no thank you. Nothing Is Scarier, indeed.
2. Okay, that is ridiculously frightening.
3. I really like this idea. Nirvana sounds like a nice concept.
4. Eternity? I don't like that word. It sounds like Disproportionate Retribution to me.
5. That's fucking retarded.
6. I like this one. You go to purgatory, you work out your shit, and then you get Nirvana. I want to earn my happiness, even if I have to do it in the next life.
7. I'll take eternity in Hell. It sounds the same.
8. ...Warrior scared.
9. ...Warrior scared. A lot scared.
10. That is retarded.

I think, in all honesty, VI sounds the best. I don't think an Omniscient, Omnipotent, being really gives a shit about how people belief in him, or even if they don't. As long as we're good people, I don't think it really matters how we worship, or if we don't at all.

edited 26th Dec '10 10:31:02 PM by WarriorOfLight

Where Light and Darkness intertwine.

1. Unnerving, but matches most to my beliefs. I shouldn't care since I can't perceive nonexistence.

2. I'm all right with the idea because it's an interesting concept. Might be more true than 1, I'm not sure.

3. Very cool. I wish this could happen.

4. I don't like this. Seems unfair to objectively judge someone to salvation or eternal damnation.

5. I like the idea. Eternal life seems like it would bore me though.

6. So-so.

7. I've always liked reincarnation. I think it's possible to be "reborn" in the perspective of someone else, if that makes sense. There would be nothing spiritual about it though.

8. Scary.

9. Scary, but not much different than 2. In both cases you eventually don't exist.

10. Immortality is okay as long as there is the option to die.

edited 26th Dec '10 11:37:21 PM by snailbait

"Without a fairy, you're not even a real man!" ~ Mido from Ocarina of Time

Thanks to all who responded so far. Some very interesting answers.

It's a spiritual concept about the nature of the universe, and as such is deliberately vague. I suppose I could have subdivided it into various categories (purely materialist interpretation, pantheist Heaven, etc.), but I didn't want to overcomplicate things.

Yes, exactly. The question is how you feel about that.

While I am of course interested in personal beliefs on the matter, I'm not really asking whether or not you think these are true. I'm asking you to imagine that they are true, and state how you feel about that. Its your opinions that interest me the most, rather than your beliefs.

The statements were deliberately worded ambiguously, and will mean different things to different people. For instance, to me, 1 and 2 are quite distinct, but 1 is very similar to both 7 and 8, and 2 is similar to 9. For other people, for instance if you already regard reality as subjective, 1 and 2 are probably identical.

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Alright, let's try:

1. Kind of disappointing: it would feel like if I read the first chapter of a really awesome book, and then I discovered that the work has been left unfinished there. Oh well, at least that one chapter was good.

2. I am not entirely sure if I am processing the scenario correctly, but it seems to me that this would imply that I never really existed to begin with, except as a convenient abstraction. In that case, what do I care? I do not exist anyway...

3. Depending on the particulars, that could be acceptable. Not my ideal fate - I like the idea of retaining my identity - but I am not going to lose sleep about that.

4. This is the scenario that I consider the most likely. I can only hope that the criteria to get the "Good Ending" are generous enough - but I am reasonably confident about that, since mercy and forgiveness are key elements of the concept of Good.

5. Yay, party! People who have committed Hitler-level evil actions making it would not bother me at all: I do not wish their suffering, and I trust that, given enough time, they will be able to repent about their crimes and make amends.

6. I can work with that. It's not perfect, but eh - I guess that we will find suitably pleasant way to pass time.

7. Why should I want to escape the cycle of rebirth again? I'd rather try exploit the karma system to consistently get pleasant lives - if we are working within the Buddhist framework and I remember correctly, I theoretically could even become some sort of deity for a while...

8. What are these circumstances? Is it possible to euthanize souls which would otherwise be condemned to eternal torment by their actions? And to prevent everyone else's soul from being destroyed?

9. That sounds exceedingly dangerous. I certainly do not want that happening to me, and I do not think I would want it to happen to anyone else - even dictators and the like: who knows if the great-great-great-great-something of Pol Pot will not cure cancer or something?

10. There are two subcases of this scenario, and my reaction wold be rather different in them.

10.1. It is possible to have people live forever, but the nature of the universe is left unchanged:

Immortality is all well and good, but what I really want is eternity, and this world, as it is now, is just not fit for it. There are plenty of interesting things to see, but given enough time I will see all possible atomic configurations, and then what? And let's not even get started on the second principle of thermodynamics, or the fact that my very brain is made of atoms with a finite number of possible configurations...

Also, what about people who died before immortality has been achieved? Can be they be recovered somehow, or are they condemned to oblivion through no other fault of them than bad timing?

If I cannot get anything better I'll take it, as long as no everlasting torment is involved; but I would see it as nothing more than a variant of 6. - with the added advantage, perhaps, that I could end my own existence for good if for some reason I decided to do that after the first fifteen trillions of years of so.

10.2. It is possible to change the very nature of reality in such a way that eternal life is not only possible, but natural in the strong sense of the term, and avoids the issues described in the previous point.

It would depend on whether this sort of eternity is pleasant, acceptable or terrible, of course... but in any case, I would not see much difference between this sort of eternity and the "religious" afterlives discussed in the previous points  ^*

and I refer to them for my hypothetical reactions.

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

A buddy of mine told me this: "Everyone is going to die, some sooner then others. Don't waste the time you have. Do something with it."

Whatever happens, happens.

1. This is what I think is the case, and I don't really think anything of it, I'm apathetic towards dying.

2. It doesn't seem to make much sense to me, but as long as the things I've left behind continue to exist, I'm fine with it.

3. Sounds okay to me.

4. An awfully annoying idea.

5. Boring.

6. Even more boring. I'd rather this not be true.

7. Kinda romantic.

8. I don't believe in souls, but I'm generally apathetic towards simple cessation of existence.

9. Kinda sad.

10. Awesome! I'd LOVE to be immortal.

edited 27th Dec '10 9:41:15 AM by fanty

Oh a topic for me. Here i go.

• 1. This is what i expect. I must admit, the thought comforts me a lot. Not necessarily my first choice, if i had one, but way preferable to many other options i can think of.
• 2. I'm the kind of person that doesn't see a centimeter in front of their face and i don't really care if i'm remembered or not. On the other hand i'm in love, and if i go before her i'd very much want her to remember me.
• 3. This sounds nice. Depends on a lot of things, but it appeals to the romantic in me. Which is a pretty big part. It also appeals to my affinity for astronomy and the like and the idea of my essence becoming a star or a black hole sounds appealing. It would probably be nothing like the romanticized version i have of it though.
• 4. I hope not. I'm not a believer and this would be a kick in the nuts in more ways than one. And i'm not a good person so that really doesn't work.
• 5. Don't believe it. And it prompts a wave of questions - does everyone get their personal idea of heaven? Does еveryone get the same heaven that someone/something deemed a common denominator? What if someone's heaven is for someone else to suffer? Things like that.
• 6. Reminds me of Painkiller, my favorite game. If it's "meh" i guess it wouldn't be much a difference from the way i generally experience my life now. Wouldn't want it though.
• 7. Hm.. That's complicated. I wouldn't want to be reborn. But i like living with desires. And if karma determines my next life that means it will certainly suck. Don't want that either.
• 8. How do you define "soul"? This one sounds to me like #1, and as i said my essence dissolving into the void is preferable to things like #7 for example. Immortality generally sounds like torture to me anyway.
• 9. I'm not sure how i'd feel about that. As i said, i'd want my loved one to remember me, but on the other hand if she never met me that nullifies every hurtful thing i ever did (though the loving ones as well). I really don't know. I guess that's the only one i'd "wait and see" for. And i'd probably bitch about it afterwards if it happens to be true.
• 10. Do. Not. Want. No-one should be immortal. Not to say i even believe it's possible. Every single thing in the universe depends on the "death", so to say, of other things before it, the universe really doesn't like the concept of infinity. I don't either. And i dread the thought of what humanity might become if it existed forever. Or if i did for that matter.

My personal preference of an afterlife.. Let's see if i can describe it the way i feel it.. I kinda imagine it as if consciousnesses roam the universe as streams of free energy. Personally, i'd like the stream i become to intertwine with the stream of Her, locked forever in a co-existance that can be broken not by celestial events, not by the heat death of the universe, not by anything. Kind of like Milky Way chocolate, if you've ever seen it. I want to sink in the emotion i feel when i hold her, when i look into her eyes and she smiles, i wanna freeze and exist in that feeling until the end of time (whatever that end may be). With her.  ^*

edited 27th Dec '10 10:24:30 AM by maledicted

• 1.Its no less than I expect to happen. A damn shame though.
• 2.What do the dead care? Though its a blow to the vanity of those still alive to know it.
• 3.So I'll be assimilated and lose consciousness that way. Cold comfort.
• 4.Now all I need to do is start the resistance movement. Tormenting people forever is not ok!
• 5.If only...
• 6.Lifes kind of "meh" as well. Better than the oblivion I'm expecting.
• 7.So if you're restrained in this life you get a better one next life... its like a very long term investment plan!
• 8.Just avoid making a Deal with the Devil and you'll be fine. Oh, not pissing off the Powers That Be would be good too.
• 9.Well that would suck. Lucky its impossible. On the other hand, certain individuals could deserve it...
• 10.Hands up if you want to be a Space Marine!

edited 27th Dec '10 10:30:22 AM by GameChainsaw

The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.

This is what I believe, and I have no idea why this would be horrible or frightening. The point about the end of you is that there will be no "you" to perceive the end and the ensuing nothing, so there's no harm whatsoever (aside from the fact that you as a person are lost, but that comes with most views of death).

Meh, pretty much (but not quite) what really happens, except that you may or may not exist as a name in a book or on a gravestone. If no-one remembers you, there's no difference between not existing now and never having existed except that the things you did will also disappear - and that would mean that we would not know how to make fire (as we don't know who came up with the idea of using fire as a tool). So I guess the notion of humanity losing everything that was done by a person when that person is forgotten actually is really scary, but for the person who died, it matters not (as they'll not know whether or not they disappeared).

Kinda cool, but since you'd become one with the universe, it'd mean that you no longer exist as an individual entity, and thus you won't have a consciousness - at least as far as I can see - and thus it's the same as 1, only kinda softer in a way.

There has never existed even one person who deserved eternal Heaven or Hell. If this was what happened, I suppose I'd go to Heaven (since I'm a good person, God would have to forgive me for not believing). But if God threw even one person to Hell, I'd request that I be thrown in there, too, because there's no joy in a Heaven ruled by a God like that. If Heaven and Hell exist without God, there's probably no way to leave either place, so I guess I'd just take what comes.

As I said, no one deserves an eternity of anything, but if this were what happens, it'd be the best one out of all the possibilities offered. No one who has ever lived deserves Hell more than Heaven if the sentence really is for eternity, so I wouldn't mind hanging out with Hitler or Mao while in Heaven. They'd probably have seen reason by now, since they've had decades with all the cool philosophers, and since this is Heaven, they'll have to listen, and thus they'll eventually become good people.

As Socrates pointed out, if Limbo is where we go, everything's gonna be cool: you get to spend eternity with every philosopher, writer, artist, scientist, comedian, lover, friend, etc. who has died before you, and the rest will be right along. Nothing whatsoever wrong with that. If you have to be alone, though, it'd suck.

Kinda cool, since life is for the most part awesome (says someone who was saved from a very severe case of depression, so there). You get to see different eras of human history from different perspectives, and while you might not be aware of your multi-personality during each life, you'll probably get to experience the different personalities between incarnations; kinda depends on the mechanics of the thing. As for Nirvana, I really see no reason to want to escape life, since I really don't think life is all about misery, and it's gonna get better (on average) with each generation your adventure progresses through.

Nothing will ever justify the destruction of a soul, unless the soul (not the incarnation, but the soul) desires to be annihilated. A misuse of this power is worse than any crime that is possible in a universe where souls are non-existant or indestructible.

I don't believe that there are people who could be reasonably expected to be able to responsibly decide how a power like this could be used for the good of mankind. You could try to justify erasing Kim Il-Sung or something, but it's really complicated. So I'm not sure. Of course, to the person who disappears, there's no harm in this whatsoever - in fact, if there was an Alice who only lived for 2 years, every single day in pain (for example in a concentration camp) and was then tortured to death, making them disappear from the space-time continuum might actually be a good thing, since they never got the chance to enjoy even one moment of life. Nothing except suffering is lost in a case like that.

Someone already did this for me: a Cracked article.

edited 27th Dec '10 10:30:31 AM by BestOf

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

Repeating the questions so you don't have to scroll up!

This seems very likely to be true to me. I'm neutral to it, as a result. I'll try to compare the others to this one, perhaps that would be interesting. I'm not sure what to make of this. I suspect there will eventually be a point where the universe is indistinguishable from a mostly similar one in which me and other humans never existed. I'm not sure if I can imagine going further and saying they thus never existed. I don't think I can imagine this sufficiently well to give a reaction to it, sorry. I'm not sure what this would mean, ... this is pretty poorly thought out, but perhaps one idea that would fit this is that after I die, I am added to some sort of conscious thing which combines the experiences of everyone who ever lived and perceives everything at once. This does not sound too unpleasant. I don't think that is qutie what people mean when they say 'one with the universe'. Perhaps it should be taken to mean that 'I' continue to exist but no longer categorise things or consider myself to be separate from things. Perhaps it best describes something indistinguishable from case 1. Unfortunately, if case 3 can describe something well-defined, I don't seem to be able to understand it well enough to give a concrete reaction. This time, I can offer a concrete emotional reaction. I would not be happy with this state of affairs at all. I don't think we can effectively sort people into 'good' and 'bad', but more importantly I cannot see any good purpose to applying infinite torment to anyone. I would also be angered that there is no clear way to determine the rules which get people sorted into Heaven or Hell. (Unless there was, in which case, fair enough.) Fortunately, we do not have any good reason to suppose that this case is true, so I need not worry about that! This would certainly be nice. I am assuming that 'Heaven would be boring' would not apply (it does not seem to count as a proper 'Heaven' if it fails to make its occupants happy). I'm also assuming that there is no requirement to worship some sort of deity while in Heaven. Unfortunately, as far as I know we have no more reason to think this is true than case 4. Depends how Limbo is. I'm assuming "It's OK there." means kind of like how Earth is, and not floating in empty space or something similar, since that would be terrible, not 'kinda meh'. Hopefully, humans in Limbo could work together to make something good out of it! I also do not think we have a reason to think this is true. Considering that we have no memory of past lives, I'm not sure this is too easy to distinguish from case 1, unless there is some time between reincarnations during which we can remember more than one past life. If that were the case, it would be pretty great. If we are imagining a world in which we actually can remember previous reincarnations, even better! In that world, I would probably not try to rid myself of desire until I'd had a go at being all the different lifeforms I could find. It would be a great way to travel the universe quickly, too! How fast would a reincarnated soul travel? Can it travel faster than light, thus achieving time travel? What qualifies as a lifeform? Could I be reincarnated as a bacterium, or even a computer, or a car? I would be annoyed, again, if the rules determining the different reincanations possible to attain were not determined empirically. Well, just like case 1, except somewhat better! I could experience two (or possibly more) lives instead of just one! Seems a shame that the soul is not immortal, but still better than the way the real world seems to be. Initially thinking about it, this seems to lead to paradoxes. If you carry out whatever process it takes to erase a person from time, you would therefore have had no reason to carry out the erasing process, so you wouldn't, so presumably that person thus exist again? I guess lots of solutions are offered by our time travel tropes, but still, I'm not sure I can make sense of this one. That would be pretty excellent! Hopefully you would eventually be able to end it, just in case you got stuck down a deep hole with no way out or something like that.

The short version is 'mostly good, but generally probably not true as far as I can tell, and I would not be happy about a universe with eternal torment'.

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No I feel "one-ness" (not a good word but meh) towars #21 and #24.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.