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Isn't eternal life just as bad as eternal death?

  • 09-06-2013 08:53PM
    #1
    mangochavez
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 49 ✭


    What if there was an afterlife somewhere... maybe it was a peaceful place full of light and joy but... then what?

    Would we live and grow old like now or... would we be young and healthy forever without any problems? It sounds great at first but... try to imagine living like that for a million, billion, trillion...

    trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion years.

    And then after that... living the same number of years after that... forever.

    I like life and I don't want to die because I fear it but... I think when I experience something I want an ending even though I am irrational and sometimes want to keep living.

    So if there is an afterlife how will life be different than now?


«13456

Comments

  • #2
    FreshKnickers
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 343 ✭✭FreshKnickers


    Yeah but 45 minutes of death is grand. Makes you hungry though.


  • #3
    The Backwards Man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,299 ✭✭✭✭The Backwards Man


    mangochavez wrote: »

    trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion years.



    There's something very mesmerising about this.


  • #4
    Latchy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,190 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    Ahhh...now that's way to far ahead to be looking at the future .


  • #5
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,357 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    If there is "something" it might depend on the type of consciousness involved. Some theologies think we return to the universal godhead type vibe, in which case we were and will be eternal, outside time, with this life being a holiday from that, living one day at a time. We think in linear terms and arguably narrow ones at that. If we could be somehow outside time as a concept eternity might take on quite a different hue.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #6
    kneemos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    It does become really weird when you think about it.


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  • #7
    the_syco
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,310 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    mangochavez wrote: »
    So if there is an afterlife how will life be different than now?
    How do you know being reincarnated as an animal is not the afterlife?


  • #8
    krudler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,788 ✭✭✭✭krudler


    Eternal consciousness sounds awful tbh, I much prefer the idea that we become what we were, stardust and energy and nothingness


  • #9
    Turtyturd
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,404 ✭✭✭✭Turtyturd


    I thought the idea of a new account was to avoid detection?


  • #10
    pragmatic1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,573 ✭✭✭pragmatic1


    krudler wrote: »
    Eternal consciousness sounds awful tbh, I much prefer the idea that we become what we were, stardust and energy and nothingness
    Yeah. The notion used to terrify me as a kid.


  • #11
    Terry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,068 ✭✭✭✭Terry


    Wibbs wrote: »
    If there is "something" it might depend on the type of consciousness involved. Some theologies think we return to the universal godhead type vibe, in which case we were and will be eternal, outside time, with this life being a holiday from that, living one day at a time. We think in linear terms and arguably narrow ones at that. If we could be somehow outside time as a concept eternity might take on quite a different hue.
    Feck off, Wibbs.
    When you're dead, you're dead.

    A friend flushed a dead goldfish down the jacks today.
    It's dead, and it's not coming back.
    In the grand scheme of things, we're no more special than that goldfish.

    Yours,
    God.


    Just kidding. I don't exist.


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  • #12
    nacho libre
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,628 ✭✭✭✭nacho libre


    The only thing I fear worse than death, is to live forever- that truly would be hell.


  • #13
    Iwasfrozen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,250 ✭✭✭✭Iwasfrozen


    Terry wrote: »
    Feck off, Wibbs.
    When you're dead, you're dead.

    A friend flushed a dead goldfish down the jacks today.
    It's dead, and it's not coming back.
    In the grand scheme of things, we're no more special than that goldfish.

    Yours,
    God.


    Just kidding. I don't exist.
    You can't say with confidence that some form of God does or does not exist.


  • #14
    Jimoslimos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,930 ✭✭✭Jimoslimos


    Jim Jeffries sums up my feelings on the afterlife
    NSFW: Strong Language
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjUQR3Z7FHU


  • #15
    Hercule Poirot
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,231 ✭✭✭Hercule Poirot


    I think it was Jean-Paul Sartre who said: 'Hell is being trapped for eternity in a room with all your friends'


  • #16
    Karl Stein
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,687 ✭✭✭Karl Stein


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYOE_b4aYD0


  • #17
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,119 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    Hmm nope, I'm pretty sure it would be awesome to live forever, explore the expanding universe and watch civilizations rise and fall.


  • #18
    JD DABA
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 294 ✭✭JD DABA


    Questioning the fundamentals. No up without down, no light without dark, no life without death, that kind of thing - Taoism country.

    Odds are we conceive only a tiny part of fundamental reality.


  • #19
    jobeenfitz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,473 ✭✭✭jobeenfitz


    When I was younger I knew it all. I was sure there was no god and no afterlife. Now I'm older and I know that I know fcuk all. I love this subject. Nice to ponder it all.


  • #20
    Lingua Franca
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,800 ✭✭✭Lingua Franca


    Hercule Poirot wrote: »
    I think it was Jean-Paul Sartre who said: 'Hell is being trapped for eternity in a room with all your friends'

    Yeah, but all his mates were French.


  • #21
    Karl Stein
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,687 ✭✭✭Karl Stein


    Tar.Aldarion wrote: »
    Hmm nope, I'm pretty sure it would be awesome to live forever, explore the expanding universe and watch civilizations rise and fall.

    Travelling by Ryanspace would become tedious.


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  • #22
    rossie1977
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,527 ✭✭✭✭rossie1977


    its one of the many things religious people didn't think through...others include the earth being the centre of the universe, adam and eve, a flood that lasted for 40 days that overflowed the highest mountains by over 20 feet


  • #23
    Meritocracy Wins
    Closed Accounts Posts: 205 ✭✭Meritocracy Wins


    Tar.Aldarion wrote: »
    Hmm nope, I'm pretty sure it would be awesome to live forever, explore the expanding universe and watch civilizations rise and fall.

    I applaud this view. I will adopt it as my wish.


  • #24
    SafeSurfer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,181 ✭✭✭SafeSurfer


    The worst afterlife I can imagine is eternal consciousness, but without physical form. It would take a couple of billion years to get your head around that alone.

    Multo autem ad rem magis pertinet quallis tibi vide aris quam allis



  • #25
    seven_eleven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,558 ✭✭✭seven_eleven


    The idea of living forever seems to be liked by very few. I would absolutely want to live eternally. Death scares me. I dont want it.


  • #26
    3rdDegree
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,266 ✭✭✭3rdDegree


    pragmatic1 wrote: »
    Yeah. The notion used to terrify me as a kid.


    Terrified me too as a child. I never thought in terms on Heaven or hell. Just the thought of "forever never ending" invoked such a strange and odd sense of terror.


  • #27
    catallus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭catallus


    JD DABA wrote: »
    Questioning the fundamentals. No up without down, no light without dark, no life without death, that kind of thing - Taoism country.

    Odds are we conceive only a tiny part of fundamental reality.[/QUOTE]

    This has to be a fact. Just because we don't have the apparatus to detect something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
    jobeenfitz wrote: »
    When I was younger I knew it all. I was sure there was no god and no afterlife. Now I'm older and I know that I know fcuk all. I love this subject. Nice to ponder it all.

    This + 1 trillion. It is a dream to think we know everything. If the writings of the scientists and philosophers tell us anything it is that we are searching in the dark.


  • #28
    krudler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,788 ✭✭✭✭krudler


    seven_eleven wrote: »
    The idea of living forever seems to be liked by very few. I would absolutely want to live eternally. Death scares me. I dont want it.

    Why though? living forever means seeing everyone around you dying, that'd be awful


  • #29
    seven_eleven
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,558 ✭✭✭seven_eleven


    krudler wrote: »
    Why though? living forever means seeing everyone around you dying, that'd be awful

    Nope. Wouldn't phase me a bit. Dying is the number one thing I fear most.


  • #30
    SafeSurfer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,181 ✭✭✭SafeSurfer


    krudler wrote: »
    Why though? living forever means seeing everyone around you dying, that'd be awful

    Everyone we ever loved, would die for all eternity. It would surely sour any experience you could ever have with a human being, knowing that your time together was but an instant in your existence. Constantly seeing those you love, grow old and die through the centuries like the changing of the seasons could be hellish.
    seven_eleven wrote: »
    Nope. Wouldn't phase me a bit. Dying is the number one thing I fear most.

    There must be things you fear more than death. Pain for instance. If you were being tortured and subjected to excruciating pain you may see death as a relief.

    Multo autem ad rem magis pertinet quallis tibi vide aris quam allis



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  • #31
    DarkDusk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 914 ✭✭✭DarkDusk


    mangochavez wrote: »
    What if there was an afterlife somewhere... maybe it was a peaceful place full of light and joy but... then what?

    Would we live and grow old like now or... would we be young and healthy forever without any problems? It sounds great at first but... try to imagine living like that for a million, billion, trillion...

    trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion x trillion years.

    And then after that... living the same number of years after that... forever.

    I like life and I don't want to die because I fear it but... I think when I experience something I want an ending even though I am irrational and sometimes want to keep living.

    So if there is an afterlife how will life be different than now?

    Well, first of all, you don't have to fear having to deal with seeing black space for eternity. The reason - you cannot experience nothing. So, if there is nothing on the other side, you will not experience it - EXACTLY like the time before you were born. Do you remember the 1890s? Of course you don't, you can't experience not being alive.


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