Would you try dying?

I would love to try it, but the difficulty is to find someone who will unstrap me after the experience was over

I would love to try it if some doctors told me that I wouldn't be permanently scarred and/or therapy would fix it. Even if there was a chance of damage...it's very tempting.

I'll let someone try it first, to prove it has no side effects.

I don't want to try it. Even if it's completely painless, I really do not want to go through death twice.

Besides, if I didn't like the way the afterlife is, it would probably destroy my love of life. For example, if everyone is tortured till the end of time, then I would probably be depressed for the rest of my life, knowing what fate awaits me.

That's an interesting perspective. I can understand the fear of death, but a fear of dying, when removed from its permanent effects, seems odd to me. What about it would be different from falling into a dreamless sleep or going under general anesthesia?

edited 19th Feb '11 11:40:55 PM by Clarste

I suppose it depends on the death. For example, what if the person who died got his stomach slashed wide open, and is desperately trying to hold all his organs back in? That is far different from a dreamless sleep or general anesthesia.

Of course, I'm really just unnerved by the fact that I'm watching someone die from their perspective. It would leave a sour taste in my mouth.

Not really, I'd like to leave that experience a surprise.

Sure why not. I'll only live once, but I'd get to die twice.

Though I have a feeling it be lack luster and a waste of money, I'd probably get to the best part and they'd wake me up.

edited 20th Feb '11 12:50:18 AM by Vyctornian

There are three possibilites to this:

1. I find out there's a something-or-other after death and my curiosity is enhanced to find out more. 2. The screen blanks out. Assuming there there isn't anything more my feelings of anxiety towards death increases significantly. 3. I don't take the chance and decide to simply have the experience when it comes with no serious affect on my mental health.

Taking option 3. But my curiosity would definitely ravage me for the rest of my life.

@Deathonabun: I think in this case the person died in their sleep, though. Or naturally, in any case. It shouldn't be that scary. But again, I need a doctor's seal of approval - and an engineer's, for that matter. Don't want it to physically hurt me any more than it does mentally.

It still freaks the hell out of me, just to know that this person is currently dying. Call it an irrational fear if you must.

Hmm, if it's an irrational fear, I have it too. It's just that my curiosity overpowers the fear.

edited 20th Feb '11 8:41:01 AM by OnTheOtherHandle

I did say he dies from natural causes.

By that I mean he dies quietly, without any serious injuries, perhaps after some final last words.

I don't think I'd do it. Not only would the act of apparently dying be rather horrible, I don't want to know for sure whether there's an afterlife or not. Or at least not firsthand. I don't think I'd turn to nihilism or anything if there wasn't one nor become suicidally depressed over missing out on paradise but... I think it would change me in ways I wouldn't like.

This post was thumped by the Merciless Hammer of Doom

I would try it even if it didn't conclusively record the afterlife. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if this could be possible in the future, if we get enough of an understanding of how the brain shuts down to re-create that in some sort of neural virtual reality.

If it did record the afterlife, I'd definitely try it.

What happens when you die, the answer is one of life's two greatest mysteries and probably the question that troubles me the most.

I would hesistate definately, but I wouldn't have to think about for very long. I'm of the mindset that you need to shape your views around knowledge, no the other way around. I would say yes.

It's the most intresting question though, even though my personality and thoughts may be a construct of the elaborate machinery of the mind, it still exists. So the essence of what make me me (my soul if you will), what happens to it after death? I find the idea of an afterlife unlikely, but I think that feeling nothing is even more absurd, because my soul shouldn't have the capability to feel at all, it should stop existing. But the paradox is, if you don't exist, what happens to you?

/end philosophical pondering rant

So yeah, I wanna know.

Also, I think the perfect afterlife would be like sandbox free play mode of real life where you can do whatever you want or live out any moment you wanted.

edited 20th Feb '11 6:14:35 PM by Sark

Also, I think the perfect afterlife would be like sandbox free play mode of real life where you can do whatever you want or live out any moment you wanted.

That sounds more like Hell to me. I daresay that would be worse than a cessation of existence. I recommend reading this before deciding that would be best.

There are at least three big reasons that I wouldn't want to live in that existence for eternity.

edited 20th Feb '11 8:29:33 PM by TheMightyAnonym

@TMA: It's an experiment box with no physical or psychological repurcussions to what you do, and without the pesky human limitations of not having wings or not being microscopic. It's not stagnant, or limited in any way, but if you really wanted you can make it just you and your wife in a little cottage for the rest of eternity. If you get bored, you imagine something else. Why is that Hell?

I think I would try it, if merely out of pure curiousity, even though I'd be scared. But admittedly, I'm not sure I'd believe the results even if it worked. How do we know it's not a hallucination, or that this person's fate was at all representative. But still, to have a glimse...

It might actually be cathartic. Make me worry less about Real Life.

@OP: Sure, I'll try anything once.

@TMA: It's an experiment box with no physical or psychological repurcussions to what you do, and without the pesky human limitations of not having wings or not being microscopic. It's not stagnant, or limited in any way, but if you really wanted you can make it just you and your wife in a little cottage for the rest of eternity. If you get bored, you imagine something else. Why is that Hell?

• If it's your experiment box, then it isn't somebody else's, and could not coexist with someone else's box. Hence, you are alone in an absolute sense.
• The mind is limited. Eventually, you will run out of possibilities and be trapped in an absolutely stagnant world.
• Challenge would not truly exist. "Are we likely to run out of new challenges, and be reduced to playing the same video game over and over? How large is Fun Space? This depends on how fast you learn; the faster you generalize, the more challenges you see as similar to each other. Learning is fun, but uses up fun; you can't have the same stroke of genius twice. "
• The world could not be continually improved. People strive for a better life; crush that, and you crush a person's spirit.
• Amputation of destiny: We would be completely useless for any purpose.
• There would be no emotional involvement. You would be nothing more than a child poking a frog or playing with lines of ants. The only "emotion" you might have is humor.
• There would be no real threats. Sure, you could manifest a tornado, but would that tornado really be able to hurt you? No. You could easily nullify its effects. And besides, nothing in this world could threaten your God-status.
• There would be no surprises. You wouldn't be able to come home and find someone baked you a cake, unless you made it happen. The cake wouldn't be a lie, but it wouldn't be a surprise, either.
• No higher purpose. What's the difference between one who commits suicide, and one who does not? The one who does not commit suicide still believes at their core that they have something to do. And since we are in our box, you can't commit suicide.

I'd rather live in a crapsack world than this box of yours. Sounds more like a hellish prison of madness to me.

edited 20th Feb '11 9:44:40 PM by TheMightyAnonym

"•If it's your experiment box, then it isn't somebody else's, and could not coexist with someone else's box. Hence, you are alone in an absolute sense."

Why not? Collaborate with a bunch of different people, have them design some of your experiences, let you design some of theirs, mutually try to come up with fun challenges, or cede responsibility to a higher intelligence that would design your world for you, and provide you with everything you mentioned. Anything you can imagine will be real, including a being that would provide you with surprise, challenge, etc.

Perhaps you can make up for things by having it as a community; however, it would still fail in a large number of ways as an acceptable afterlife.

That sounds more like Hell to me. I daresay that would be worse than a cessation of existence. I recommend reading this before deciding that would be best.

There are at least three big reasons that I wouldn't want to live in that existence for eternity.

This is such an intresting post and brings so many valuable questions to light I had to give a day's thought about it before responding. I'm not even entirely sure how to begin but I'll start by explaing why I picked that afterlife.

I really have always wanted to tinker with the world, I've always wanted to know what would happen if certain things were set up in certain way. Aside from that I also feel that I don't get enough time to do anything and that infinite time would allow me to do everything. It seems petty and materialistic when I describe it, but I still feel that time could spent worse.

I've actually thought about fun theory a great deal, although not with specific regards to the afterlife. It is something that intrests me a great deal. I think people sometimes think of eternity too harshly, I've always been of the belief that if you spend an infinite time alone in a room, you should eventually reach enlightenment.

/end series of loosely connected statements regarding eternity

I have thought so much about these issues in the last day or so my response has completely changed a number of times but I'll try to sum up the important points.

1A. I described a situation where a person is given pseudo deity level powers. Can one eventually become bored of those?

1B. If a person can become bored of demi-godhood, can you become bored of ultimate omnipotence?

1C. Is there any eternal life that one could not be become bored by? Is eternity itself a negative attribute?

2. Without being influenced by personal religion, what is your personal best afterlife? Assume when you die you are asked to pick how you wish to spend your afterlife. If you feel the need, I suppose you can select from the catalog.

3. What are the three big reasons that make you reject the idea of a sandbox style afterlife?

• heavy sigh* I feel very different right now, it's been a while since I sat back and really questioned the way I've thought about something.

I suppose I'm getting off topic but whatever.

edited 21st Feb '11 3:29:29 PM by Sark