Religion aside; Logically, what happens after death?

[Rakehellion]

After death the brain will cease to function within seconds.

Actually, it takes several minutes. Also, you can be alive with no brain activity.

Thus, we will not be able to think and our consciousness will
no longer exist. It will literally be like we do no exist and never had existed.
We won't feel, think, or even know we are dead because that's impossible.
This may seem bad, but in reality, you will and never could possibly know.

It can be argued that we never actually existed and consciousness is an illusion created by our survival instincts. Also, you have billions of brain cells that fire on and off independently, so it isn't all black and white.

 

[BoomerD]

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle in your snout,
They eat your eyes, they eat your nose,
They eat the jelly between your toes.
A big green worm with rolling eyes
Crawls in your stomach and out your eyes.
Your stomach turns a slimy green,
And pus pours out like whipping cream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3qIBHStUc0

 

[pmv]

Your conciousness hits the buffers at the terminus of your brain's physical functioning, bounces off them and then you experience your entire life again - backwards.
Probably.

 

[MongGrel]

I will be disappearing into thin air and immediately becoming part of the Force. Not sure what you guys have worked out for yourselves.

Actually I've read some interesting things from a well respected anesthesiologist working in conjunction with several brain surgeons and quantum physicists that might perhaps hint that's true to some degree.

Not that anything is proven of course.

Wish I remembered where that article was.

So many things still undefined in the physical universe, ya know.

Dark Matter for one thing is relatively new.

 

[Mixolydian]

I dunno, but it's scary as fuck to think there's nothing else.

I'm hoping there's some form of reincarnation.

 

[tommo123]

You go back and do it again. It's an endless loop.

if there is such a thing as reincarnation then knowing my luck i'll come back as me :twisted:

 

[Pardus]

No one really knows what happens when you die, some say you move onto another realm, etc. etc. The bible and religious nut jobs have there own story, all of it is b.s. Most of us will live to about 70-80 and then get buried in a hole, decompose and become compost.

 

[her209]

We will be able to download our loved ones memories, thought patterns, idiosyncrasies, etc. and upload them into an electronic brain one day. We will be able to keep them around long after their biological bodies die.

 

[Jeff7]

Your brain is a computer that stores and processes information using electrochemical signaling and cellular connections.

If the signaling stops, you don't process anything. Consciousness stops.
If the connections degrade, the stored information is lost.

When the fragile little neurons die, those things happen. That's all there is to it.

There's no ritual that goes on when a computer is turned off or disassembled or thrown away. (Though I suppose that may not be the case for everyone. :sneaky Nor do we wonder where that information or processing "soul" went. It's electrical charges and magnetic fields used to process and store information.
Cut off the electricity, and processing stops.
Allow the magnetic fields or electrical charges (flash memory) to degrade, and the stored information is lost. That's all there is to it.



You're the product of a rather interesting and complex cosmic accident. "We apologize for the inconvenience" of this particular state of existence, should it not be up to your standards.





.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Rigor mortis then decomposition.

KT

But not before the necrophiliacs have their turn with your nuts.

 

[MongGrel]

I do not believe this was the one I was referring too but...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/end-of-life-brain-activit_b_684176.html

 

[Jeff7]

I do not believe this was the one I was referring too but...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/end-of-life-brain-activit_b_684176.html

A "new-age" and "alternative medicine" guy. Dandy.

Despite detailed understanding of neuronal firings and synaptic transmissions mediating non-conscious cognitive functions, there is no accounting for conscious awareness, free will or 'qualia'- the essence of experienced perceptions, like the redness, texture and fragrance of a rose.

Your brain continually processes new information, and has access to existing information stored in it. That's consciousness. When you aren't processing normally such as sleep, that's not full or proper consciousness. When you're dead, you're not processing, you're not conscious, and your memories are literally rotting away.

A perception of something is your brain comparing the thing you're seeing against existing encoded information.

Unable to explain consciousness in the brain, it is easy to see why conventional science ignores out-of-body, or after-death consciousness, rejecting even the possibility of their occurrence.

If you're nearly dead and your brain is running low on oxygen or is even damaged, you're prone to hallucinate.
Many people are prone to hallucinate things every single night, and it's considered to be normal! So there are some very obvious reasons as to why science doesn't attribute much significance to a malfunctioning brain's imaginings. Back to a computer: I'll run a Tesla Coil next to my PC. Should I assign some kind of incredible significance to its BSODs, caused by data that shouldn't exist?

So maybe we don't have the nitty-gritty technical details of why the brain does the specific things it does.
As we've seen in the recent big bang thread, we've got some reasonable ideas of what the Universe was doing in its first tiny fraction of a picosecond of existence. Out of 13.8 billion years of existing, I think that covers most of it. Compressing the Universe down to a point where our ideas of physics are entirely broken does present some challenges, but that doesn't automatically invalidate the whole lot of our ideas about how the Universe works.



It all feels like making a bigger deal out of something than it really is.
Sorry, but there'll come a day when your bio computer isn't going to compute anymore. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience, and welcome to the Universe.

 

[homebrew2ny]

I obviously agree that you can not attribute logic to the unknown, such as what happens after death, nor can you really have this discussion without the possibility of something spiritual in essence. Even if you try and forcefully remove it because that too is part of the unknown.

If you are simply looking for what happens physically then this is somewhat easy. Decay & dust...

 

[alkemyst]

about three days later I pop out of the ground and fuck your moms.

rinse and repeat.

shit happens.

 

[MongGrel]

A "new-age" and "alternative medicine" guy. Dandy.



Your brain continually processes new information, and has access to existing information stored in it. That's consciousness. When you aren't processing normally such as sleep, that's not full or proper consciousness. When you're dead, you're not processing, you're not conscious, and your memories are literally rotting away.

A perception of something is your brain comparing the thing you're seeing against existing encoded information.



If you're nearly dead and your brain is running low on oxygen or is even damaged, you're prone to hallucinate.
Many people are prone to hallucinate things every single night, and it's considered to be normal! So there are some very obvious reasons as to why science doesn't attribute much significance to a malfunctioning brain's imaginings. Back to a computer: I'll run a Tesla Coil next to my PC. Should I assign some kind of incredible significance to its BSODs, caused by data that shouldn't exist?

So maybe we don't have the nitty-gritty technical details of why the brain does the specific things it does.
As we've seen in the recent big bang thread, we've got some reasonable ideas of what the Universe was doing in its first tiny fraction of a picosecond of existence. Out of 13.8 billion years of existing, I think that covers most of it. Compressing the Universe down to a point where our ideas of physics are entirely broken does present some challenges, but that doesn't automatically invalidate the whole lot of our ideas about how the Universe works.

It all feels like making a bigger deal out of something than it really is.
Sorry, but there'll come a day when your bio computer isn't going to compute anymore. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience, and welcome to the Universe.

Sorry you just sound overly Cynical, a TLDR type of guy, and a little misinformed to me.

Do not look at the material provided and go ballistic with opinions, I guess.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I obviously agree that you can not attribute logic to the unknown, such as what happens after death, nor can you really have this discussion without the possibility of something spiritual in essence. Even if you try and forcefully remove it because that too is part of the unknown.

If you are simply looking for what happens physically then this is somewhat easy. Decay & dust...

You are incorrect and here is why.

There is no reason to suspect or believe anything metaphysical.

Therefore, one should look at the facts, and calculate/choose the most probable/likely outcome.

We know consciousness is a function of the brain. All of our senses and thoughts all travel through neurons. This is known fact.
The brain "dies"

The consciousness therefore stops.

This seems very very obvious and unless new science can show evidence to the contrary, it is unreasonable and illogical to believe anything else.

People are of course unreasonable and illogical. It's amazing how many of our old survival mechanisms come back to bite us in the ass.

 

[KeithTalent]

But not before the necrophiliacs have their turn with your nuts.

Hey, whatever floats your boat. I'm dead, go ahead and fuck my corpse all you want.

KT

 

[Jeff7]

Sorry you just sound overly Cynical, a TLDR type of guy, and a little misinformed to me.

Do not look at the material provided and go ballistic with opinions, I guess.

The "material provided," or specifically its source, doesn't look like it's worth a whole lot of anything.

He's talking about "souls" as if they're a real or legitimate thing, and he attempts to assign quantum behaviors of subatomic particles to much larger objects, among other things. Not exactly what I'd consider to be a reliable source of information.

From his Wiki page:

Chopra has equated spontaneous remission in cancer to a change in quantum state, corresponding to a jump to "a new level of consciousness that prohibits the existence of cancer".

Okay then.
Drop him on his head a few more times, maybe it'll help.

You are incorrect and here is why.

There is no reason to suspect or believe anything metaphysical.

Therefore, one should look at the facts, and calculate/choose the most probable/likely outcome.

We know consciousness is a function of the brain. All of our senses and thoughts all travel through neurons. This is known fact.
The brain "dies"

The consciousness therefore stops.

This seems very very obvious and unless new science can show evidence to the contrary, it is unreasonable and illogical to believe anything else.

Carl Sagan: "We accepted the products of science; we rejected its methods."

Over and over again.

People are of course unreasonable and illogical. It's amazing how many of our old survival mechanisms come back to bite us in the ass.

Made increasingly worse in a society that continues to move farther into the world of information, taking us away from that primitive past. But woven into those ancient behaviors is their own need to survive, no matter the cost.

 

[sandorski]

I dunno, but it's scary as fuck to think there's nothing else.

I'm hoping there's some form of reincarnation.

I thought this for 10 minutes once. Then I realized that I have no recollection of Past Lives. So, even if that were true, it wouldn't matter if I existed again or not, because there was no continuous awareness to build upon.

 

[KeithTalent]

I dunno, but it's scary as fuck to think there's nothing else.

I'm hoping there's some form of reincarnation.

Why is it scary? Sincerely asking; this fear is something I have never understood, yet it seems to be quite common.

KT

 

[SlitheryDee]

Why is it scary? Sincerely asking; this fear is something I have never understood, yet it seems to be quite common.

KT

I don't know how to not exist. I know I like existing. I want to keep existing. I don't care if it's like falling asleep and never waking up. I love life and I don't want it to end. What I don't understand is why anyone else is ok with it ending. Is the fact that you won't feel or know anything the only reason you're not afraid? That makes no sense to me. I'm afraid of not feeling or knowing anything.

 

[sandorski]

I don't know how to not exist. I know I like existing. I want to keep existing. I don't care if it's like falling asleep and never waking up. I love life and I don't want it to end. What I don't understand is why anyone else is ok with it ending. Is the fact that you won't feel or know anything the only reason you're not afraid? That makes no sense to me. I'm afraid of not feeling or knowing anything.

I don't want to not exist, but I don't have a choice in the matter. It's a waste of time to fret over things you can not change.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I don't want to not exist, but I don't have a choice in the matter. It's a waste of time to fret over things you can not change.

Can't help it. I find this state of affairs to be completely unacceptable. I will never be ok with it. I don't think about it every minute of every day, but when I do reflect on it I think it is with an amount of horror that is entirely appropriate.

 

[KeithTalent]

I don't know how to not exist. I know I like existing. I want to keep existing. I don't care if it's like falling asleep and never waking up. I love life and I don't want it to end. What I don't understand is why anyone else is ok with it ending. Is the fact that you won't feel or know anything the only reason you're not afraid? That makes no sense to me. I'm afraid of not feeling or knowing anything.

I have zero control over such things, so they do not concern me in the slightest. I like life enough, but when it's over, it's over as far I'm concerned and there is no use in me getting worked up about it. No worries if you do, I just don't really understand why you would.

KT

 

[sandorski]

Can't help it. I find this state of affairs to be completely unacceptable. I will never be ok with it. I don't think about it every minute of every day, but when I do reflect on it I think it is with an amount of horror that is entirely appropriate.

Fair enough.