Why the Soul Can't be Real

[MadBomr101]

This has always been a thing with me, the claim that in the afterlife our souls will either experience eternal happiness and bliss, or eternal pain and torment.  But I see a problem with this thinking.  Consider the following...

Scenario -1 : You eat a piece of chocolate and experience both a pleasant physical and emotional reaction - the enjoyment of the taste of the chocolate as it melts in your mouth and the contentment you feel as a result of this.

Scenario - 2: You're a smoker.  You're enjoying your favorite brand of cigarette and taking a long, draw to get all the nicotine goodness deep into your lungs.  Suddenly you jump in pain as hot ash falls from the tip and sears your balls.  Yes, for some reason you're smoking naked.  The pleasure has become pain.

The point of this is that emotions and physical responses are entirely the product of a complex organic system which receives input from our senses, is processed by the brain and is then experienced either physically or emotionally by the individual.

The soul is not a complex organic system, it is the spiritual, non-corporeal remnant of the complex organic system that is now sitting in an urn on your widow's mantle.  Since the soul has shed its organic shell, there is no way it can experience physical or emotional stimuli of any kind.  Ostensibly then, all those souls in Hell are feeling no pain and all those souls in Heaven are experiencing no joy.  The complex organic system that processed those stimuli is dead. 

So a soul, if it were real, would be immune to suffering and incapable of emotion.  If it reacted with these responses to a given stimuli, it would have to be as a resut of it merely remembering what sort of response a given stimuli should generate.  Of course memory is also a product of the same complex organic system that is now dead so it wouldn't be capable of that either.

Which means all this stuff about a soul is just more religious detritus to be jettisoned as quickly as possible.

There is no soul.

[Stevil]

The point of this is that emotions and physical responses are entirely the product of a complex organic system

Unfortunately, you can't know that this statement is true.
Scientifically they can prove that emotions and physical responses are associated with complex organic systems.
But they can't prove that their isn't a metaphysical soul also associated with complex organic systems. They can't prove it, because souls cannot be measured or observed, therefore they cannot observe a correlation between the soul and the complex organic system.

This stuff is entirely in the realm of theology. They have spent thousands of years sorting out the logic of their theology, they have an answer for everything. None of the answers ever tie into anything that can ever be measured. How they ensure that their explanations remain untestable is that they only stick to conceptual terms. The soul is a concept, so is the mind, so is morality, so is god and heaven, so is good and evil. They are not dumb, they know what they are doing.

I was talking to a catholic, she was telling me that your soul is where your memories are. I suggested that if that is the case then why do brain damaged people sometimes have memory problems. She said because the body uses the brain to access the soul's memories. BS answer, but you can't test for it. It remains conceptual, a person can choose to believe it or not.

[Too Few Lions]

yeah, there's no soul. It's weird that people still cling to ideas formulated by people thousands of years ago who didn't have any of the medical / neurological knowledge we have today. It's like still believing that the universe is made from four elements.

[fester30]

Scenario - 2: You're a smoker.  You're enjoying your favorite brand of cigarette and taking a long, draw to get all the nicotine goodness deep into your lungs.  Suddenly you jump in pain as hot ash falls from the tip and sears your balls.  Yes, for some reason you're smoking naked.  The pleasure has become pain.

Been there.  Done that.

[Asmodean]

Scenario - 2: You're a smoker.  You're enjoying your favorite brand of cigarette and taking a long, draw to get all the nicotine goodness deep into your lungs.  Suddenly you jump in pain as hot ash falls from the tip and sears your balls.  Yes, for some reason you're smoking naked.  The pleasure has become pain.

Been there.  Done that.

Have been a smoker for years, both naked and otherwise... Never did that.

What I did do many times, however, is get a cig stuck to my lips, so when I try holding it with two fingers, they slide along and end up holding the ember.

[Stevil]

If you play with fire, you're gonna get burnt.

[MariaEvri]

there is a document called "the ghost in the machine" by If I remember correctly
EBON MUSING
or something like that...
it explains perfectly how the brain works and how it is impossible for a soul to exist. Unfortunately I have it greek and I dont think linking you to the greek translation would help

[Asmodean]

If you play with fire, you're gonna get burnt.

Played a lot with fire, never gor burned by it. That saying is just bullshit.

Got some molten plastic, cigarette and hot metal burns, but those are not fire - just hot objects.

[Stevil]

If you play with fire, you're gonna get burnt.

Played a lot with fire, never gor burned by it. That saying is just bullshit.

Got some molten plastic, cigarette and hot metal burns, but those are not fire - just hot objects.

So you were holding the ember but didn't get burned.
Are you some kind of superhero?

[Sweetdeath]

If you play with fire, you're gonna get burnt.

Played a lot with fire, never gor burned by it. That saying is just bullshit.

Got some molten plastic, cigarette and hot metal burns, but those are not fire - just hot objects.

For some reason, picturing you smoking with your lips pierced is kinda sexy~

[Asmodean]

So you were holding the ember but didn't get burned.
Are you some kind of superhero?

Oh, I did get burned. But not by fire.

[Asmodean]

For some reason, picturing you smoking with your lips pierced is kinda sexy~

Yes, some do find it so.

Me, I don't think it's the smoking that's sexy - it's how you do it, just like with everything else.

[Sweetdeath]

For some reason, picturing you smoking with your lips pierced is kinda sexy~

Yes, some do find it so.

Me, I don't think it's the smoking that's sexy - it's how you do it, just like with everything else.

Oh, I totally agree~  <3

[Stevil]

So you were holding the ember but didn't get burned.
Are you some kind of superhero?

Oh, I did get burned. But not by fire.

Your cigarette doesn't burn with fire?
Does it smoke due to chemical reaction?

[Asmodean]

Your cigarette doesn't burn with fire?
Does it smoke due to chemical reaction?

Oxidation is not rapid enough. It is hot, but it's not burning - just smoldering. When you actively draw the smoke in, however, it comes very close to what one would consider burning.