Is there life after death or maybe life on other planets?

Sunny Disposition

Please leave your views.

These are the big questions, much more important than anything else. I'd love to do some reading on the subject of whether there is a God or not, if anyone has suggestions. Not religious books, stuff showing evidence or otherwise.

I'd imagine there is life on some other planets, the universe if fecking huge, it'd be strange if earth was the only place with life.

dxhound2005

Why is it so important to you?

StevenToast

No and 100% Yes.

Close thread.

positron

Try this excellent book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Delusion-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0618918248?gclid=Cj0KCQiAnfmsBhDfARIsAM7MKi1c-tkdzxMTME0r8PejoSMVnnwXVeYbIU7yHPd3kL-Fxi1AfcdTbUoaAohhEALw_wcB

KaneToad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597037#Comment_121597037

I second this

Norrie Rugger Head

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058330656/is-there-life-after-death-or-maybe-life-on-other-planets

We don't know but no evidence, so no

We don't know but evidence says maybe (on a near infinite potential planet number), so yes

dxhound2005

When it has been worked out in the future, time travellers will come back to tell whoever is alive. But not enough of the future has happened yet for time travel backwards to be possible. And of course that rules out time travel forwards.

growleaves

Yes (life after death) and maybe (life on other planets).

As for evidence of existence of a God, be aware that your metaphysical assumptions will help to decide in advance what 'counts' - i.e. what you will accept - as constituting evidence. Because what is and isn't 'real evidence' can differ from person to person.

For instance if you are materialist and declare you will only accept materialist evidence for God.

Materialism is a kind of atheism since it begins by first assuming that only the material is real, effectively excluding the spiritual from reality by prior assumption.

If you bring philosophical self-awareness to what you are assuming and accepting then you have a much greater chance of opening your mind to other ways of thinking.

Hope this helps.

Norrie Rugger Head

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597147#Comment_121597147

OK, any time is more than welcome to post 2 minutes before this post...

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597170#Comment_121597170

So no evidence then

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597147#Comment_121597147

Why do you assume you are at the forefront of time and not living something which has already been lived before?

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597037#Comment_121597037

I third this, but would admit we may never prove either.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597208#Comment_121597208

Depends on what you "count" as evidence.

If you "count" nonsense as evidence then yes there is evidence. Even better if it is self aware philosophical nonsense.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597228#Comment_121597228

I know. But that was way back before the Big Bang.

randd1

No god or gods. They're a human invention to explain things we didn't know about, and we've created tens of thousands of them throughout various cultures over the last 250,000 years. So no, there's no god/gods.

Life on other planets? Given the scale of the universe and the fact that we're here, you'd have to think so, but whether it's intelligent is another question. Unless we learn to fly thousands of times the speed of light or if aliens visit us, we'll likely never know.

I reckon too bio-chemistry wise, we're not that special, and given the diversity of life on Earth in inhospitable parts, I would not be surprised in the next 200 years if we discovered definitive evidence of life in other parts of our solar system. And if that were the case, I would imagine that the galaxy and wider universe would be teeming.

Though I suspect our civilisation will be more mechanical than biological when we do encounter alien life.

dxhound2005

Communications across the universe must not have developed beyond the speed of radio signals, which is the same as the speed of light. The life forms which were out there millions of years ago but are now extinct could have sent messages. But they won't arrive for millions of years more.

o1s1n

One thing folks always forget about when wondering if there is life out there is the problem of time.

It would be almost impossible for there not to have been something else out there at some point given the expanse of the universe - but that doesn't mean we'll all exist within the same timeframe to actually meet or witness evidence of each other's existence.

We could all miss each other by billions of years.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597208#Comment_121597208

Metaphysics is concerned with the ultimate nature of reality - the ancient Greeks invented the subject and were open to all possibilities.

You are entitled to use circular definitions of evidence which only accept strictly-defined material proof of the existence of the non-material, if that's what you want to do.

However just be aware that this is what you're doing, and you will have taken a step towards detachment - seeing your own beliefs from the outside of the assumptions which inform them.

Tefral

Theres no evidence to suggest that there is Life after death or Life on other Planets.

However, on the balance of probabilities consider this:

There is estimated to be 100 billion (yes billion) stars in our own Galaxy the milkyway. These stars have their own solar system. (other stars and rocks and planets and moons) say that only 1% of these stars have a planet capable of containing life thats 10million in our galaxy. Say then that only 1% of these 10million had some form of life, thats only 1% of 1% of the planets is 1 hundred thousand.

Now, there is estimated to be 2 Trillion Galaxys in the Universe. If you said that 100,000 x 2 trillion planets could house some form of life thats 2 x 17 zeros worth of planets with life on them.

The life after death thing, well, that doesnt have anywhere near the level of probability associated with it as the above. I think you return to the planet in the form of ashes and dust and thats it.

Pauliedragon

Surely us dumbass humans can't be seen as the top of the ladder when it comes to life. As for an afterlife I'm very sceptical.

paddyisreal

1. Who knows

2. Who knows

As for reading Richard Dawkins, he's an extreme atheist with a certain viewpoint. Atheists love him, he's their God.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597344#Comment_121597344

I have seen no evidence of the intellect necessary to produce your line of reasoning coming from anywhere else.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597323#Comment_121597323

You cannot realistically come to a shared understanding of reality in a meaningful way without some sort of material proof.

Greek philosophical ideas are great to debate and gain deeper understanding of the mind, but ultimately if you want to come to actual conclusions that cross boarders / nationality / peoples, they need to be based in physical reality.

Everything else is just personal belief which is massively subjective.

Cluedo Monopoly

After Death = No

Life on Planets = Perhaps

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597370#Comment_121597370

'You cannot realistically come to a shared understanding of reality in a meaningful way without some sort of material proof.'

I don't think you're digging deep enough here.

You assume materialism is the fundamental bottom line of reality (which it is for you and other Irish atheists), but must know that most societies past and even present have had a spiritual basis/shared understanding. Therefore how is it unrealistic to have a non-material basis for a society? It isn't.

To take it a level deeper, in evolutionary biology - Darwin and after - the strongest objective material evidence that a society has gone fundamentally wrong is below replacement fertility: a society that is literally dying out. (Over the cycle of a few generations, not observably before our eyes.)

Now this dysfunction might be genetic or it might be due to the society's belief system or some combination but consider that in the Western world - Mormons, Muslims and a few other devout religious groups are the only exceptions to this below-replacement fertility.

Now if you understand biology you will understand that that is, like I said, objective material evidence of a society's self-destruction. How do you account for this?

UI_Paddy

I'm considering picking up The Works of His Hands by Sy Garte, he's a retired biochemist and came from three generations of militant atheists but talks about his conversion to faith. I've listened to lots of interviews with him, and he seems quite humble and non-preachy, so not like some other born again Christians.

The Language of God by Francis Collins is also good, from what I've heard. Again it's written by a scientist, so it's not like it's from someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. Although from the talks I've heard by him he doesn't talk much about an afterlife, moreso the improbability of our existence assuming there was no supernatural force behind it all.

Jeffrey Long also wrote a book called Evidence of the Afterlife, which is fascinating if your interested in the subject of NDEs. He is a radiation oncologist and has studied thousands of cases of people who have briefly been to the other side and has been convinced there is an afterlife.

I'm not sure about books on the possibility of life on other planets but I'd have to assume there is someone here who has looked into it. I think there may be life elsewhere in the universe, but as of now there's probably no way of knowing for sure.

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597356#Comment_121597356

Ha! Yeah, I'd like to read stuff on the subject from people who aren't ideologically motivated, if you know wor I mean.

Kiith

Life after death? No, and that's absolutely fine.

Life on other planets? Yes, though we (as a species) will never meet them.

893bet

sometning mildly interesting I thought was when someone asked my great grandparents names. Not a clue of even 1.

it’s only takes 3 generations to be fully forgotten as such. Put in perspective how important you are.

dxhound2005

Also mildly interesting. You could speak to someone today who spoke to someone who was alive during the famine. Born 1930 and 1840, died 1935.

Life on earth probably arrived from other planets. If some new ones arrived now, humans would probably treat them like the No Irish were treated. And in the future we will colonise other worlds, where we will be the Aliens.

Baba Yaga

life after death? no...though id like to think so..

life in the rest of the universe? oh siht yeah,stands to reason out of all the other planets out there...have they visited us and abducted people?nope...

Rubberchikken

Is there a God? ..I'd like to think there might be.

Life after death. ..doubtful .

Life on other planets? . Brain says no. Heart says hope there is. Cos if humans are the smartest then we're doomed

positron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597356#Comment_121597356

Are you saying atheist believe that Richard Dawkins doesn't exist?

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058330656/is-there-life-after-death-or-maybe-life-on-other-planets

I can’t recommend a single book to start with to be honest. I get where you’re coming from wanting to avoid religious or spirituality related stuff, but I’d imagine it’s impossible to avoid references to it or being able to place those references in context in order to get any real insight into anything if you’re determined to avoid them.

It’s really not strange at all if there were no life, or life as we know it, on other planets. The fact that we’re here at all is due to a cosmic sequence of events, and the way things are going, there’s no reason to assume we’ll still be here millions of years from now. But just for shìts n giggles, the Fermi paradox is a good place to start which might give you a jumping off point to start from -

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

Then hit up Amazon and check the book reviews.

Buddy Bubs

Life on other planets, almost certainly yes, and loads of it. Just too vast and plentiful of energy sources and planets for there not to. Will we ever make contact? Probably not, lifespans too short to even scratch the surface of intergalactic travel.

Life after death? Almost certainly no. We are organic matter, nothing more.

Scipri0

I was never religious, so when it comes to death i believe it was like before we were born and when you're gone, you're gone. When it comes to life on other planets i would say yes, It doesn't have to be intelligence life but i would say it's nearly a given considering how vast space is. There could be some dinosaur type life just going about their business, but i don't think we'd be sitting down and having a cup of tea and a chat soon.

TinyMuffin

The Fermi paradox tries to explain life on other planets.

endacl

There is life after death. It’s just that you won’t be in it.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121598369#Comment_121598369

Fermi got the idea from a chap on Neptune.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597248#Comment_121597248

I don't

Tony EH

Life after death? More than likely no.

Life on other planets? More than likely yes...

...but, it may not be life as we understand it and there's almost certainly nothing in our galaxy in immediate terms anyway. But considering there are an incredible number of planets and solar systems out there, the odds that some kind of life exists elsewhere is quite high, even if it's just a single cell organism.

I think when mankind does eventually come across a lifeform on another planet, an awful lot of people are going to be mightily underwhelmed.

Glaceon

IMHO of course…

The universe is too vast for us to be the only life in existence so I’d be almost certain that there is life on other planets. But the laws of physics would suggest that it’s unlikely we’d cross paths.

I’m not so sure about life after death. My logical side tells me no but some anecdotal bits seem to suggest that something is there.

tom23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058330656/is-there-life-after-death-or-maybe-life-on-other-planets

Life after death. No. We came we saw we died. Life on other planets. There has to be. At what stage of development?.. who knows... if we found life? Fine Gale would try and tax it.

dxhound2005

Even though the Milky Way is a small galaxy, it still has a lot of stars and planets. So it would make sense to look there first.

"Our galaxy probably contains 100 to 400 billion stars, and is about 100,000 light-years across." 

Cordell

Yes and yes. But the first yes must be understood as most of your atoms will go on living, but you as a person, certainly not. Notions like eternal life or soul are ridiculous and created just because humans can't accept that the death is their end.

saabsaab

Time is an illusion. At least according to Physics..

billyhead

Life after death. Yes. I like to think so.

Other life forms on other planets. Yes aswell. There has to be.

Leg End Reject

I have a vague memory of bacteria being detected in material taken from another planet and evidence that there was once water there. Was it Mars?

Life after death? I don't think so beyond our atoms being redistributed.

Life on other planets? I'd say very likely. I like @o1s1n's theory here:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597306#Comment_121597306

dxhound2005

Never mind meeting them, it is impossible to communicate with them. If a life form which existed five million years ago on a planet ten million light years away had sent out a signal, what would happen if we picked it up today? They could be extinct for millions of years, and our reply would not get back there for ten million years.

And those distances are the equivalent of going to the next room in a house, compared to the outer reaches which would be like going to Australia.

paddyisreal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121598203#Comment_121598203

Lol, very good !

arctictree

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121597335#Comment_121597335

Err, I dont think 1% of 100 Billion is 10 million!