The terrifying thought of no afterlife

[Inevitable Droid]

The fact of death pisses me off because it means I won't be able to continue doing the things I enjoy doing.  Hence it isn't the absence of an afterlife that bugs me, but the shortness of this life here on Earth, in this body, doing what this body does.  In an attempt to increase the odds of living longer and with better vitality, I have taken up an athletic lifestyle, the centerpiece of which is going to a dojo four nights a week to engage in karate, cardio kickboxing, and the Israeli commando martial art, Haganah.  Adding dietary self-control has enabled me to drop my weight to healthy levels per the Body Mass Index (BMI) and this, in itself, hopefully will increase my statistical longevity.  I want to live!  I like it here!

[DropLogic]

The fact of death pisses me off because it means I won't be able to continue doing the things I enjoy doing.  Hence it isn't the absence of an afterlife that bugs me, but the shortness of this life here on Earth, in this body, doing what this body does.  In an attempt to increase the odds of living longer and with better vitality, I have taken up an athletic lifestyle, the centerpiece of which is going to a dojo four nights a week to engage in karate, cardio kickboxing, and the Israeli commando martial art, Haganah.  Adding dietary self-control has enabled me to drop my weight to healthy levels per the Body Mass Index (BMI) and this, in itself, hopefully will increase my statistical longevity.  I want to live!  I like it here!

It's good to take care of oneself, and to make the most of ones time here.  However, you're still going to rot and wither.  Death sucks.

[LegendarySandwich]

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.

Didn't us humans only live to around forty or so not that long ago? I'm sure that back then, they thought that we weren't supposed to live much longer than forty. But we do, now. I guess it might be considered irresponsible, but hopefully we can learn to control our population at the same time we learn to lengthen our lives.

[LegendarySandwich]

The fact of death pisses me off because it means I won't be able to continue doing the things I enjoy doing.  Hence it isn't the absence of an afterlife that bugs me, but the shortness of this life here on Earth, in this body, doing what this body does.  In an attempt to increase the odds of living longer and with better vitality, I have taken up an athletic lifestyle, the centerpiece of which is going to a dojo four nights a week to engage in karate, cardio kickboxing, and the Israeli commando martial art, Haganah.  Adding dietary self-control has enabled me to drop my weight to healthy levels per the Body Mass Index (BMI) and this, in itself, hopefully will increase my statistical longevity.  I want to live!  I like it here!

It's good to take care of oneself, and to make the most of ones time here.  However, you're still going to rot and wither.  Death sucks.

I don't think death sounds that bad. To me, it sounds pretty peaceful.

[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.

Didn't us humans only live to around forty or so not that long ago? I'm sure that back then, they thought that we weren't supposed to live much longer than forty. But we do, now. I guess it might be considered irresponsible, but hopefully we can learn to control our population at the same time we learn to lengthen our lives.

I think these numbers are slightly skewed because of war and disease.  The longer we extend our lives, the faster our population will balloon even further out of control.  I don't envy Earth's inhabitants 50 years from now.

Medieval Britain    30   
Early Modern Britain      40+   
Early 20th Century        30-45   
Current world average     67.2   2010 est.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy

[Thumpalumpacus]

Didn't us humans only live to around forty or so not that long ago? I'm sure that back then, they thought that we weren't supposed to live much longer than forty. But we do, now. I guess it might be considered irresponsible, but hopefully we can learn to control our population at the same time we learn to lengthen our lives.

People weren't dying of old age at forty or so.  The mid-40s average came from the averaging of age of death, and that was skewed by an enormous infant mortality rate.  A person who lived through early childhood had a good chance of living to be sixty.  As a result, I doubt that the medical community held the 40-something lifespan as a rule of thumb.

[Inevitable Droid]

I'm too selfish to give over-population a thought when considering my own mortality.  If offered a life span of a thousand years with good vitality, I'd grab it.  Nor would I begrudge anyone else grabbing it.  We need to terraform Mars.  Or grow gills and take to the sea.  With serious enough intent our species could surely achieve either goal.  Of course, we might opt instead for massive waves of annihilation.

[tymygy]

I'm too selfish to give over-population a thought when considering my own mortality.  If offered a life span of a thousand years with good vitality, I'd grab it.  Nor would I begrudge anyone else grabbing it.  We need to terraform Mars.  Or grow gills and take to the sea.  With serious enough intent our species could surely achieve either goal.  Of course, we might opt instead for massive waves of annihilation. :pop:

[Thumpalumpacus]

You don't think you'll see signs of overpopulation in your lifetime?  What do you think global warming is?

[Inevitable Droid]

Uhmm, growing gills? I'd pass on that.

You don't think it would be cool to be able to explore the ocean depths without any technological apparatus?  We'd need more than gills, of course.  Other modifications would need to be made so we could comfortably handle the pressures and temperatures.  We'd also want our sight, hearing, and tactility adapted more perfectly and powerfully to an aquatic environment.  Fins would help too.  And our vocal chords would need to be adapted somehow so that air wasn't necessary to their function.  I really have no doubt that if humanity doesn't annihilate itself, mer-men will eventually be bred.

But we'll send the robots down there first.

Also, how long would it take to create this liveable environment?

We won't know until we try.

Who would go? Who would decide?

I'm sure there would be tremendous warfare over that.  Thus would our numbers be culled.  But eventually the arks would begin to lift off.  Who would be on them?  The survivors.  One might argue from a Darwinian perspective that the survivors would be the fittest and thus are precisely the ones who should go.

[WillyBeamish]

A good book called the Atheist Afterlife comes to mind. It's a pretty good read but it's not going to prove that there is an afterlife...
( no book will do that. )

I consider myself an agnostic, only because I do a lot of afterlife research and testing. I look at the afterlife as a definite possibility. Of course, death being the extinguishment of consciousness and mind is also a definite possibility as well.

The Monroe Institute will swear by they're hemi-sync / binaural beats that the afterlife is a fact and supposedly a lot of people with good credentials work with them and also believe they prove the afterlife is a fact. ( Of course the thousand of dollar workshops seem incredibly sneaky to me. )

The Afterlife Experiments done by Gary Schwartz which involved the testing of mediums was an amazing read, and IF there was no funny business involved then these amazing word for word blind tests on the mediums were so accurate one would have to insist that some sort of afterlife or recording of life exists that can be  tapped into.

.....however.... I watched a tv report that apparently involved Gary stealing 3 million dollars from some rich man that wanted proof that his son still existed in the afterlife.... which, if true is really shady and probably takes the validity of his book right out the window. He also wrote 2 more books after that! ( Which I have not read. )

This adds a further question, why would some moron hand 3 million dollars to Gary who is a professor, NOT a medium? There are tons of mediums out there which range in price from as low as $25.00 to even well known ones that only charge $300.00? Meh... it's all really fishy and confusing.

I really liked the idea of taking all of the mediums and putting them to the test, reading strangers they have never met and only receiving yes/no answers. It seems like a very valid way of testing mediums once and for all. In fact, I think mediumistic testing is more relevant than binaural beats from the Monroe Institute which (IMO) can all be construed as IMAGINATION. (I watched Mr. Rogers when I was little so I know the power of Imagination. haha!)

[jduster]

There's a reason behind why heaven/hell/the idea of an afterlife was created, and that's because humans can't handle the idea of being gone for eternity after you die. I remember I was about 6 years old when I experienced my first 'deep' thought - I was sitting on the floor of the assembly hall at my school with a few hundred other kids surrounding me and had this terrifying thought; when I die, the world is just gonna go on and on. Everything is gonna go on forever. I'm never gonna be alive again! In my mind i was panicking, but then I looked around at everyone else and thought 'well, they're gonna go through the exact same thing' and everything was alright again.

My question is.... do you believe us atheists/non-believers in the afterlife are more likely to be scared of the eternal nothingness after death, because we know that's what's gonna happen to us? I've never really been scared of the thought cus I know I won't be aware at the time, but it's just the thought of being dead forever, after you die, that gets me a lil! And when you see it that way, you can really see why people find comfort in believing in an afterlife.

There is no reason to be scared of "eternal nothingness".

Not existing is a state of nuetrality.

A person cannot be in a good or bad state if they cannot be.

Therefore, there's no logical reason to be afraid of no afterlife.

[WillyBeamish]

Maybe there is something wired wrong in my brain because the exact thought patterns is thus:

#1. It's not okay to die.
#2. I will die.
#3. The afterlife probably does not exist.
#4. I will experience nothing, like sleep, without dreams.
#5. The remains of my body will decay and do gross things (if not cremated)
#6. Since this is the outcome of all life, life itself has no true meaning.
#7. Life should not exist.
#8. Find a way to destroy all life.

I would be interested to see what a psychologist thought of this thought pattern, if it is typical, or if it is a major problem and if they think it is directly related to a chemical imbalance within the brain.

[LegendarySandwich]

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.

Didn't us humans only live to around forty or so not that long ago? I'm sure that back then, they thought that we weren't supposed to live much longer than forty. But we do, now. I guess it might be considered irresponsible, but hopefully we can learn to control our population at the same time we learn to lengthen our lives.

I think these numbers are slightly skewed because of war and disease.  The longer we extend our lives, the faster our population will balloon even further out of control.  I don't envy Earth's inhabitants 50 years from now.

Medieval Britain    30   
Early Modern Britain      40+   
Early 20th Century        30-45   
Current world average     67.2   2010 est.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy

Didn't us humans only live to around forty or so not that long ago? I'm sure that back then, they thought that we weren't supposed to live much longer than forty. But we do, now. I guess it might be considered irresponsible, but hopefully we can learn to control our population at the same time we learn to lengthen our lives.

People weren't dying of old age at forty or so.  The mid-40s average came from the averaging of age of death, and that was skewed by an enormous infant mortality rate.  A person who lived through early childhood had a good chance of living to be sixty.  As a result, I doubt that the medical community held the 40-something lifespan as a rule of thumb.

Ah, okay.

[Davin]

Maybe there is something wired wrong in my brain because the exact thought patterns is thus:

#1. It's not okay to die.
#2. I will die.
#3. The afterlife probably does not exist.
#4. I will experience nothing, like sleep, without dreams.
#5. The remains of my body will decay and do gross things (if not cremated)

Decaying and gross things happening won't be of any concern to you after you're dead. Your body decaying just means that you're giving back some energy to the system that you've been devouring energy from while you were alive.

#6. Since this is the outcome of all life, life itself has no true meaning.

I don't see how this follows.

#7. Life should not exist.

Wait a minute, you can't go from life having no true meaning to dictating what should and should not be.

#8. Find a way to destroy all life.

Now how does that follow?

I would be interested to see what a psychologist thought of this thought pattern, if it is typical, or if it is a major problem and if they think it is directly related to a chemical imbalance within the brain.

I don't know what a psychologist would say, but I don't think it makes any sense at all. From what I can tell from your "thought patterns", is that you're just placing a bunch of random statements that are ordered from 1 to 8 for no particular reason.