Death

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ActRaiser
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Re: Death

Postby ActRaiser » April 9th, 2021, 7:42 am

C64_Critic wrote:I think it's ok to wade into 'religious implications' for this thread, and in fact I'm not sure how it's avoidable given the topic. I'm very interested in this statement though, what do you mean by an afterlife being a 'necessity' under the governing laws of the universe? I'll be the first to admit I'm no physicist or astronomer, etc., but I'm unaware of any natural laws that have been discovered or are know that indicate anything about us survives our physical death.


Personally, having the hope of an afterlive to see your past loved ones gets you through the day. I'm looking forward to seeing my father again.

On the natural laws that have been discovered I listened to a Sci-Fi Audible book in the Bobiverse series called Heavens River. There's an interesting idea presented. When you back up copies of someone's mind and then bring that person's mind back online, the first copy that comes back up is a "true" copy (assuming the actual person is dead). Any subsequent recoveries of the "copy" have a form of deviation or drift from the original. The theory is that there's a quantum entanglement to the "one" or in this case a soul. It was an interesting idea.

The whole series is about a guy named Bob that was backed up and loaded onto a computer spaceship for interplanetary research. The whole series goes crazy with different things but it's a fun listen to while commuting or mowing the grass.

As to the actual validity of a quantum entanglement, I don't even know what it is but figured I'd drop that nugget out there in case you asked me for more evidence. :) I can't back it up but there's some research here or at least sci-fi gobbledygook for it. Or you could just go with faith. :)

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Death

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 9th, 2021, 2:12 pm

Dave in afterlife: "Hey wow - they actually DO have video games in heaven! This is great. I feel right at home."
"Wait a minute - how come all of these games are ONLINE?"
"Uh-oh. This IS heaven, ISN'T IT??!?"

Alucard1191
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Joined: November 16th, 2016, 12:55 pm

Re: Death

Postby Alucard1191 » April 9th, 2021, 3:17 pm

Wow, quite the thread.

37 here. And so far I'm fortunate to be aging well. I do unfortunately have a pretty stressful lifestyle, some mental health issues, problems handling stress, and I've had a few suicide attempts that have fortunately only gone to the 'mildly hurting myself and chickening out' level. So nothing permanent as far as that damage goes.

While I'm better than that now, I'm still not where I want to be. I look at life as a state of trying to improve yourself constantly. I hope to reach a level I'm actually happy with before moving on, as it were.

Honestly death itself doesn't exactly scare me. The implications and the journey itself scares me.

My wife for example is COMPLETELY reliant on me. She isn't nearly as independent as she likes to say she is, and should something happen to me I seriously worry about her. That would be the sudden end route, which no one can predict. The other fear is one that has been touched on by many here, losing myself to something like Alzhiemer's or Dementia. That scares me even more so than something painful like cancer.

I mean, the ideal would be to go peacefully in my sleep at an old age after providing a good life for my family, I really hope I'm that lucky.

As far as the spiritual or burial stuff goes? If anything like that makes the most 'logic' to me, it's reincarnation. Like the planet itself has so much 'soul energy' and it gets recycled and moves between forms just like all matter and life on earth. Life dies, breaks down and feeds the earth. The land of the planet get subducted and changed into different magmas which come out and form new land. Everything is cyclical, and soul or spirit energy doing that makes sense to me. With that in mind, put me in the ground in a bio degradable container, (like a wicker coffin or something) and plant a tree on me. Let my body return to the earth and the natural cycle. Don't put any preservatives in me like is so common now. I don't want to mummify, let me break down back to the planet. Gaia (The Earth) is responsible for all of us anyway.

ThePixelatedGenocide
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Joined: April 29th, 2015, 9:06 pm

Re: Death

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » April 9th, 2021, 3:49 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:Dave in afterlife: "Hey wow - they actually DO have video games in heaven! This is great. I feel right at home."
"Wait a minute - how come all of these games are ONLINE?"
"Uh-oh. This IS heaven, ISN'T IT??!?"


:lol:

This explains so much about The Exorcist.

Gleebergloben123
Posts: 474
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:06 am

Re: Death

Postby Gleebergloben123 » April 9th, 2021, 7:29 pm

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best
And

Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the light side of life

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C64_Critic
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Joined: April 11th, 2015, 11:51 am

Re: Death

Postby C64_Critic » April 10th, 2021, 8:31 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:Dave in afterlife: "Hey wow - they actually DO have video games in heaven! This is great. I feel right at home."
"Wait a minute - how come all of these games are ONLINE?"
"Uh-oh. This IS heaven, ISN'T IT??!?"

"Oh, and all those arcade cabinets? If you wish to play them that's fine, you'll just need to exchange your bills in that machine over there for... TOKENS!!" :twisted:

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C64_Critic
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Re: Death

Postby C64_Critic » April 11th, 2021, 9:01 am

ActRaiser wrote:Personally, having the hope of an afterlive to see your past loved ones gets you through the day. I'm looking forward to seeing my father again.

On the natural laws that have been discovered I listened to a Sci-Fi Audible book in the Bobiverse series called Heavens River. There's an interesting idea presented. When you back up copies of someone's mind and then bring that person's mind back online, the first copy that comes back up is a "true" copy (assuming the actual person is dead). Any subsequent recoveries of the "copy" have a form of deviation or drift from the original. The theory is that there's a quantum entanglement to the "one" or in this case a soul. It was an interesting idea.

The whole series is about a guy named Bob that was backed up and loaded onto a computer spaceship for interplanetary research. The whole series goes crazy with different things but it's a fun listen to while commuting or mowing the grass.

As to the actual validity of a quantum entanglement, I don't even know what it is but figured I'd drop that nugget out there in case you asked me for more evidence. :) I can't back it up but there's some research here or at least sci-fi gobbledygook for it. Or you could just go with faith. :)

Reminds me of one of my favorite shows from the late 80's/early 90's, "Red Dwarf". It's a British comedy show set in the future where one of the dead members of a crew on a space-bound mining ship (the Red Dwarf) is projected as a hologram simulation so that the last living crew member has someone to talk and interact with so he doesn't go crazy. Reading that description, it's hard to believe it's a comedy but it really is quite funny if you enjoy British humor. It almost sounds like it was probably at a minimum the inspiration for the Bobiverse stories you reference above... there was even an episode where a 'copy' of the hologram character was introduced and had to be dealt with!

Of course to me this is an entirely different situation than what people think of when they refer generally to an 'afterlife', and obviously humans inventing a digital copy of someone's personality and thoughts is completely separate from any kind of "natural law" that require an afterlife (the original argument). The ability to keep someone's general personality around after their death by means of some kind of digital backup/copy is an intriguing concept, but it still seems that the person who died has ceased to exist and is no longer experiencing anything. Thus, I wouldn't consider a copy of myself continuing to exist to be an afterlife for *me* in any sense.

In video game parlance, I'd love to know that if I got splatted crossing the road like so many Froggers that I'd have "an extra guy" I could immediately continue playing with, but I don't believe that's the case. I think it's truly Game Over. Whether or not I've done enough to put my initials on the high score screen remains to be seen? :lol:

thunderjohn
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Joined: June 15th, 2017, 11:59 pm

Re: Death

Postby thunderjohn » April 11th, 2021, 12:42 pm

All our times have come
Here but now they're gone
Seasons don't fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain, we can be like they are...

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: Death

Postby BlasteroidAli » April 12th, 2021, 8:29 pm

thunderjohn wrote:All our times have come
Here but now they're gone
Seasons don't fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain, we can be like they are...

I love them so much. First time I saw them was 1988 the imaginos tour. I had to wait a whole 10 years to see them but it was worth it.

TheEagleXIII
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Joined: December 22nd, 2019, 9:33 am

Re: Death

Postby TheEagleXIII » May 10th, 2021, 10:33 am

What a nice cheery topic to return to! But very maturely handled all round, and interesting.

You’ve all made me feel like the baby of the forum at only 33!! :lol:

So I feel kinda odd being slightly more obsessed about my death. I always kinda have been since I was 15/16. I think it stems more from a fear of not being where I expect/want to be in my life at various points. It’s more a fear of going too soon.

When I was 21 my dad died suddenly of a heart attack. He was 53. So the thought that I could be 20 years away from that and already lived over half my life is... scary. His father died when my dad was 6, but he never spoke about it. So I don’t really know the exact age or cause. I can’t help but feel I’m next in line to repeat.

I have a 2 year old son and another due to drop literally any day now. Various decisions and circumstances in my life have led me to not be where I want to career-wise or socially. I’m trying to make changes, but I kinda feel like I’ve always made the wrong turn and that it’ll get harder and harder to change things compared to being in my 20s. I guess it just makes me feel like I’ve got another ticking clock over my head and that increases the fear of dying too soon.

I don’t wanna leave my sons and wife, or have them without me around. I’ve got such an amazing bond with them, which always makes me fear losing the one good aspect about my life I cherish. So, if I can work towards being in a place where I’m happy - or at least content in my life outside my amazing family - I think these fears will dissipate somewhat again cos I’ll be too busy focusing on what I have rather than what I have to lose.

For what’s its worth I’m kinda agnostic rather than atheist. Part of me hopes there’s maybe something after so I can see the loved ones I’ve lost again. But I expect it to be like the ending of the Sopranos. Just black nothingness and no consciousness to realise it’s there. In some ways I find that slightly more comforting, oddly.

Voor wrote:Any thoughts on cremation vs burial?


Cremation all the way. My first experience with cremation was when my dad died. His ashes are in a crematorium garden. It was weird initially not having a grave or headstone to visit but in many ways it was better. The gardens are beautiful and peaceful and I found it much more comforting place to visit, reflect and grieve/heal.

My wife’s grandfather was also cremated and he wanted his ashes scattered in the ocean near a beach they all used to holiday at as a family. So it’s tradition every year the whole family goes down there for the day. It’s a nice way to remember someone. :)


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