The Afterlife
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 01:24
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quote:Hey! I'd be offended if your spelling and grammar weren't so ridiculous. :P -------------------- Encyclopaedia Ermariana • Forum Archives • Forum Statistics • RSS [Topic / Forum] My Blog • Polaris • I eat novels for breakfast. Polaris is dead, long live Polaris. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 1092
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 01:30
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I'll second that, his spelling and grammar does get pretty irritating. -------------------- When you think you can't get any lower in life and hit rock bottom, God hands you a shovel. Why should I say somthin intelligent when idiots like you make me look intelligent in the first place. Posts: 615 | Registered: Friday, May 3 2002 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 6581
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 03:07
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quote:Is my main idea. But think: it won't be "boring" live forever? -------------------- Download Geneforge 4: Rebellion You have 6 posts. Nobody cares what you think. - Thuryl Wikipedia may be your friend, but UBB is not. - Dikiyoba Posts: 1310 | Registered: Tuesday, December 20 2005 08:00 |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 04:09
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MagmaDragoon -- I suggest you read the "Last Answer" by Isaac Asimov. It's a fairly short story with an interesting view on the afterlife and living forever. Fortunately, someone transcribed the story in its entirity: The Last Answer [ Wednesday, April 26, 2006 04:11: Message edited by: *i ] -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 6581
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 07:03
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quote:Uhm... That will take some time, for the translation and because I'm pretty busy now. But I swear, I will read it. -------------------- Download Geneforge 4: Rebellion You have 6 posts. Nobody cares what you think. - Thuryl Wikipedia may be your friend, but UBB is not. - Dikiyoba Posts: 1310 | Registered: Tuesday, December 20 2005 08:00 |
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? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 07:16
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The afterlife consists of repeatedly writing on a chalkboard the following phrase. "I shouldn't have wasted time wondering about the afterlife." Really. -------------------- quote: Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 08:36
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Maybe the afterlife is like Lost Souls! Or maybe it's like being a magnetic monopole with a rotation period of square root of negative e. —Alorael, who figures that individuality has no reason to exist post-mortem. If there is one and only one God, your entire existence is already part of him anyway. If there are more gods, well, maybe you get divvied up among divinities. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 2064
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 09:18
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Well, my dream death has always been to die as a martyr. Then, I would prefer myself to stay dead, no afterlife, just...death. -------------------- I am an idiot. Posts: 775 | Registered: Friday, October 11 2002 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 73
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:18
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Umm... I was going to babble endlessly about my ideas about the afterlife involving minotaurs, gingerbread men, Santa Claus, Hitler, and war, but now, having read that Isaac Asimov story, I am feeling highly unsettled. If there is an afterlife we could imagine, it would either have to end eventually, or be torturous. For certainly, there is no Last Answer, because, given an infinite amount of time, any last answer that could be arrived at would have been arrived at an infinite amount of time ago. Therefore, there are three possibilities: 1. Isaac Asimov's eternal hell 2. oblivion (I take it that this is the one TM and many other atheists have taken to) 3. something that we could not possibly think of, like Stareye said. *shudders* -------------------- My Myspace, with some of my audial and visual art The Lyceum - The Headquarters of the Blades designing community The Louvre - The Blades of Avernum graphics database Alexandria - The Blades of Exile Scenario database BoE Webring - Self explanatory Polaris - Free porn here Odd Todd - Fun for the unemployed (and everyone else too) They Might Be Giants - Four websites for one of the greatest bands in existance -------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Posts: 2957 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 6652
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:26
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Reincarnation would be a handy way out of that eternal, forever-existence. As long as we do not regain our memories, it is as though we just came into being. Oblivion freaks me out, personally, but I think that it's what happens. -------------------- But I don't want to ride the elevator. Posts: 420 | Registered: Sunday, January 8 2006 08:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 73
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:30
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But would reincarnation with no memory of past lives really be any different than oblivion? Both effectively destroy the mind. Also, I recommend that, unless you are already a staunch atheist who has already come to terms with oblivion, you do not read the story, lest you be robbed of a good source of comfort. [ Wednesday, April 26, 2006 11:32: Message edited by: The Almighty Do-er of Stuff ] -------------------- My Myspace, with some of my audial and visual art The Lyceum - The Headquarters of the Blades designing community The Louvre - The Blades of Avernum graphics database Alexandria - The Blades of Exile Scenario database BoE Webring - Self explanatory Polaris - Free porn here Odd Todd - Fun for the unemployed (and everyone else too) They Might Be Giants - Four websites for one of the greatest bands in existance -------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Posts: 2957 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:34
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Really? Oblivion isn't scary. The wonderful thing is you're not around to worry about it. —Alorael, who is more worried about discovering that some obscure religion with a really unpleasant afterlife and no sense of humor got the afterlife right. That would be most unfortunate. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 6652
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:36
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Oblivion (as I understand it) is like eternal sleep, with no possibility of waking up. Reincarnation would effectively destroy personality, I suppose, but at least I still am. Someone can suffer massive amnesia and forget everything that ever happened to them, but they still continue to exist and experience life. Therefore I shall pronounce an official edit to my "do anything" version of the afterlife on the first page of this topic. After I get bored (few hundred years or so) I snap my fingers again and I'm reincarnated with no memories. Repeat forever. EDIT: Too late, ADoS. I rest in the knowledge that after a few hundred years of that I would go insane anyway, and that if God exists and is that sadistic we're all doomed anyway. [ Wednesday, April 26, 2006 11:39: Message edited by: I Would Have Been Your Daddy ] -------------------- But I don't want to ride the elevator. Posts: 420 | Registered: Sunday, January 8 2006 08:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 73
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:46
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Essentially, though, it would be like somebody else living, not you. So you specifically will have been cast into oblivion. -------------------- My Myspace, with some of my audial and visual art The Lyceum - The Headquarters of the Blades designing community The Louvre - The Blades of Avernum graphics database Alexandria - The Blades of Exile Scenario database BoE Webring - Self explanatory Polaris - Free porn here Odd Todd - Fun for the unemployed (and everyone else too) They Might Be Giants - Four websites for one of the greatest bands in existance -------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Posts: 2957 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:54
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For that, I think I'd take a Homer the Reluctant Soul approach. When you're alive, you've got only that life in your mind. After you die, you get all the memories you've ever had back. It's probably awkward when your staunchly conservative soul goes through a life as a hippy. —Alorael, who can't get worked up about not existing. There are really much more unpleasant things that happen daily. In fact, nonexistence is the least unpleasant state imaginable. It's also the least pleasant, but think positive! Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 6700
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 12:06
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My idea of an afterlife? If I'm going to heaven, then let's call this heaven: It would probably be a lot like the life that I'm living, with a few differences. I would never be separated from the people I love (or at least, I would always be within walking distance). Work would always be enjoyable. (yes, work. I don't want to get bored) For some reason, I see a lot of storytelling and creative thought. No lines for gas. Heck, let's get rid of fuels entirely. Everything runs off of divine will. An endless supply of chewing gum, in varying flavors. I would be able to know everything humanly possible and yet still be able to learn more. I wouldn't necessarily want to know everything, but just knowing that I could... -------------------- The Silent Assassin, when asked about his ideas of the afterlife, gave an answer while I wasn't paying attention. If I understood him correctly, the afterlife has something to do with tuna fish and graphite composites. -------------------- -Lenar Labs What's Your Destiny? Ushmushmeifa: Lenar's power is almighty and ineffable. All hail lord Noric, god of... well, something important, I'm sure. Posts: 735 | Registered: Monday, January 16 2006 08:00 |
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Lifecrafter
Member # 59
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 12:25
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I thought about this recently, making a comparison with sleep. We don't remember dreamless sleep - how do you experience being unconscious? My thought was that if you cannot experience the (presumed) nonexistence after death, your subjective experience might get stuck in the moment of death, i.e., you experience yourself dying extremely slowly, ever more slowly...forever. Eternal death, or eternal dying, actually. Sounds pleasant, doesn't it? Posts: 950 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 3441
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 14:20
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I've thought about that, sort of like approaching a black hole. Time slows down, such that from your point of reference, you never reach it. It's a strange idea of immortality, but an interesting one. -------------------- "As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." --Albert Einstein -------------------- Posts: 536 | Registered: Sunday, September 7 2003 07:00 |
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Master
Member # 4614
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 16:53
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quote:The best thing you can think of. Times 10. Times 10. -------------------- -ben4808 Posts: 3360 | Registered: Friday, June 25 2004 07:00 |
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Shake Before Using
Member # 75
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 17:01
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WKS> That's actually a myth. Someone watching you approach a black hole would see you get infinitely close but never actually enter it. You, however, actually would enter it, without feeling any weird time dilation effects yourself. Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 17:09
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You are probably right, Imban, but our understanding of physics tends to break down near singularities. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 6912
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 17:10
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quote:Sorry, I didn’t learn English in a very traditional way and it shows. Posts: 89 | Registered: Wednesday, March 15 2006 08:00 |
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Shake Before Using
Member # 75
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 20:17
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Well, okay. No one's ever actually tried to fling themself into a black hole (and certainly no one's reported on what it feels like to do so), and our understanding of physics isn't always very capable of predicting things about them. Still, my understanding of it was that the effect that causes observers to see you get infinitely close but never arrive at the event horizon did not extend to you, because it was based on the black hole's slowing down the light you emit as you fall into it. You would still fall into it at the appropriate rate. Posts: 3234 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 3441
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 22:31
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It is true that in a standard black hole you will reach singularity, infact it happens mere seconds after crossing the event horizon. In the case of certain rotating black holes, you never reach singularity. -------------------- "As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." --Albert Einstein -------------------- Posts: 536 | Registered: Sunday, September 7 2003 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 6401
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 23:36
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I think my ideal afterlife would just be ceasing to exist on death, which fortunately is what I believe anyway. It's interesting that many people here seem to believe in the eternal soul, or something similar. Also, has anyone else read Sartre's Huis Clos ('No Exit', but that's not a good translation of the title)? He has an interesting view of what hell is like. -------------------- I think this is really wonderful. Posts: 147 | Registered: Tuesday, October 18 2005 07:00 |