The terrifying thought of no afterlife

[i_am_i]

I guess what I am getting at is this. You may die but the process that shaped you will continue on for a very long time. Perhaps long enough so that you might look into the stars a long time from now and ponder if you had existed somewhere else or if you will ever exist again.

Well, but...

I'll be dead in thirty year's time, easy. So how will I be able to look into the stars a long time from now unless I'm still alive?

[Cite134]

I'd only be afraid of dying painfully. On the other hand I am not, even safe to say never, worried about the "state" of death.

[Thumpalumpacus]

The only fear I have is my loved ones having to suffer without me. Death is not an easy subject, it makes even the strongest of people weak.

Knowing this, I'm going to live every day as if it were my last.

PARTYY            

It's a trade-off; we could either of us die tomorrow.  Rather than worry about what is beyond my control, I aim to live in such a manner as to salt their brains with good memories, so that even after I die I can make them smile.  I also aim to see the little things in them so that if they die first, I have a rich, if bittersweet, field of memory.  And I try to tell them those little things so that should death strike soon, one or the other of us will have those words to resonate.

[radicalaggrivation]

I guess what I am getting at is this. You may die but the process that shaped you will continue on for a very long time. Perhaps long enough so that you might look into the stars a long time from now and ponder if you had existed somewhere else or if you will ever exist again.

Well, but...

I'll be dead in thirty year's time, easy. So how will I be able to look into the stars a long time from now unless I'm still alive?

The point I was trying to make is that, the pattern that makes you up may die but the building blocks that make you will not. They may one day, billions or trillions of years from now, be part of another organic life form that ponders it's existence. What makes you up could foreseeable be cycled back into the process of life.

Also, I would not just give in to a ticking clock if I were you. Even if you are in your fifties, if you take care of yourself well and are able to adopt developing medical treatments, you could live much longer than 30 years. You could extend your life into the 90s and early hundreds today, with an extreme diet of supplements and exercise. Once nano technology is able to take over many of the functions of our immune system, possibly in the next 25 years, those who have access to it will radically extend their lives.

I think part of the reason that we are even so obsessed with death is because it is the end of what we know and we have never understood enough about it to try and stop it. I think we have been dying for so long that it is hard to imagine extending our lives much longer or not dying at all. However, there is no biological reason that we 'have' to die. We have programmed ourselves to die to make room for the next generation. It would have been a great detriment to our species to have long lives early on.

We have already identified the process that stops cell regeneration and we know how it works. Ever time we have discovered knowledge about a biological process throughout history we have learned to exploit it to our advantage. We already have the beginnings of the technology required to exploit cell death. Me or you may not see that day (or maybe we will) but if our abilities to manipulate biological processes continue at the rate it is going at now, our children or our children's children (at least) will possibly choose when they die.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I don't see eternal life as particularly charming.

[i_am_i]

However, there is no biological reason that we 'have' to die.

?

[DropLogic]

I often think about what is me.  Supposedly, by the time one is 18, not one atom from your birth is left.  Every particle has been secreted, sloughed off, expelled in some shape or form.  So...why do I continue to be me?  This is where we came up with our idea of the soul methinks.  It's a very simple explanation, and an attractive one at that.  We are after all, conscious meat bags with electrical signals firing off like mad in organized chaos.  Is it possible that once our bodies expire that this energy can be preserved in the ether?  I guess we'll find out when we get to the end.  Personally, I wouldn't mind being a ball of energy.  I could travel the stars easily.  This is the end that I hope for.

[Heretical Rants]

However, there is no biological reason that we 'have' to die.

?

We could clone ourselves new bodies every few years?  Hahah

[Thumpalumpacus]

I often think about what is me.  Supposedly, by the time one is 18, not one atom from your birth is left.  Every particle has been secreted, sloughed off, expelled in some shape or form.  So...why do I continue to be me?  This is where we came up with our idea of the soul methinks.  It's a very simple explanation, and an attractive one at that.  We are after all, conscious meat bags with electrical signals firing off like mad in organized chaos.  Is it possible that once our bodies expire that this energy can be preserved in the ether?  I guess we'll find out when we get to the end.  Personally, I wouldn't mind being a ball of energy.  I could travel the stars easily.  This is the end that I hope for.

Given evidence of Neaderthal burial rites, I'd bet that the idea of a soul predates the idea of atomism.

[DropLogic]

I often think about what is me.  Supposedly, by the time one is 18, not one atom from your birth is left.  Every particle has been secreted, sloughed off, expelled in some shape or form.  So...why do I continue to be me?  This is where we came up with our idea of the soul methinks.  It's a very simple explanation, and an attractive one at that.  We are after all, conscious meat bags with electrical signals firing off like mad in organized chaos.  Is it possible that once our bodies expire that this energy can be preserved in the ether?  I guess we'll find out when we get to the end.  Personally, I wouldn't mind being a ball of energy.  I could travel the stars easily.  This is the end that I hope for.

Given evidence of Neaderthal burial rites, I'd bet that the idea of a soul predates the idea of atomism.

Yeah I worded that wrong.  I didn't mean to suggest that the idea of soul has only been around for 25 years or so.

[Sophus]

However, there is no biological reason that we 'have' to die.

?

Did anyone else catch the television special with some scientist claiming that one day we would all be immortal?

I kind of doubt it though. We don't even know that the universe is immortal.

[Heretical Rants]

However, there is no biological reason that we 'have' to die.

?

Did anyone else catch the television special with some scientist claiming that one day we would all be immortal?

I kind of doubt it though. We don't even know that the universe is immortal.

That´s a physical reason we have to die-- the universe imploding or whatever it´s going to do.

Obviously, biological immortality does not equate to actual immorality.

[goatwitch]

I recently watched my mum die from cancer.  She chose Hospice to keep her pain free.  Not only did they choose to hold back all hydration, but constantly tried to push god and jesus on me.  I hope when my time comes, no one will choose hospice for me.  Hers was not a gentle death; she was not able to talk because of the drug cocktail they delivered, but you could tell she was thirsty; she kept smacking her lips.  
  I am so glad I don't believe in an after-life.  I would not want one if it were offered to me.    
  I finally had to call the head of social work in order to put a "gag" on the hospice nurses form thumping their bible at me.

[DropLogic]

Humans aren't supposed to live much beyond 60 or 70.  Rotting to death for 20-30 years is something I definitely don't want to do.  I think it would be irresponsible to lengthen our lives any more than they already are.  Over population is a serious issue, and that party is going to end badly within the next generation's lifetime.

[notself]

It is not unusual to withhold hydration from a dying patient.  Fluids can back up in the body causing great discomfort to the patient.  This isn't always the case.  Sometimes patients can handle fluids.  Either way, your mother's treatment should have been fully explained to you especially if you had her health care proxy.

The nurse was way out of line by imposing her religious beliefs on you or your mother.  You should lodge a formal complaint with the administrator.  If they were receiving any federal funds, which most likely they were, they could lose their funding.