When you die, are you really dead ?

[Bigga]

nor that it does continue either so the correct answer is we don't know

Let's say for argument's sake I agree, but then this question arises:

Would you say as you get older your consciousness deteriorates as the organic body does?

 

[Bigga]

I agree, and i didnt state it was a fact, it just appears to be the case.. but yes we cant disprove solipsism or P-zombies or whathaveyou, though i think consciousness is emergent and not just there always

Interesting viewpoint (I love this subject!). 'Emergent' is something I probably dispute as it intimates we don't really 'exist' before a certain time in our lives.

I think our consciousness is always there in the body, but waiting for it to 'develop' in order to accept 'understanding'.

I think from birth to death our consciousness and understanding expands accordingly.

 

[citizen_maine]

Yes!
The reason I was interested in the book is because I had an out of body experience many many years ago. I came out of a coma and a catholic priest was reading me my last rites. The doctors told my parents I wouldn't make it.
My experience was different in ways but similar in some.
What I took out of the YouTube video is that we are here to prove ourselves. If we don't prove ourselves we just may come back as ourselves or someone else until you get it right. I also took from the video that organized religion isn't needed to get to the next phase. I'm not knocking religion!!! Just my own take from the video.

Prove yourself to whom/what?
To get what right?
If you have no knowledge of previous attempts, you can spend eternity making the same 'wrongs'?

 

[MellowJoe]

Interesting viewpoint (I love this subject!). 'Emergent' is something I probably dispute as it intimates we don't really 'exist' before a certain time in our lives.

I think our consciousness is always there in the body, but waiting for it to 'develop' in order to accept 'understanding'.

I think from birth to death our consciousness and understanding expands accordingly.

Yes it is fascinating. The way you frame it is like consciousness exists and its like a dimmer switch, where maybe a baby has little and an adult has loads.. i'd say there is a change in sentience and understanding, but not necessarily consciousness.. (its an annoying word with different meanings)
When i said emergent i meant, i believe consciousness arises when a living being has a brain complex enough to feel and react and it doesnt exist until that point..

 

[AlgarveBlu]

There’s nothing particularly special about humans.

We aren’t big, fast, strong, we live an average to low lifespan (some fish and sea mammals live for hundreds of years, some trees for thousands), our hearing/sight/smell is poor, we can’t change colour or shape, we have no sonar, we have no venom or poison for protection...

Basically the only thing about our species is that our brains are fairly intelligent in relation to other Great Apes. However we also lack huge amounts of intelligence that even our hunter gatherer ancestors had as we are ruining the planet.

With our so called intelligence we have basically become a parasite to our host.

We will ruin that host eventually and all die out and the world will take a few hundred or thousand years to recover and there’ll be little sign we ever existed.

To think that a parasite gets an afterlife is as fanciful as it is stupid.

Agree with most of that but to be fair we have for example made objects that have now travelled into inter stellar space, explored our solar system, walked on another celestial body, are creating artificial intelligence- basically we have excelled in the sciences and arts which will hopefully make up for the millennia’s we spent inventing multiple deities to serve our lack of intelligence at that phase of our evolution which has led to the worst of humanity. To the best of my knowledge Chimpanzees and dolphins don’t pray.

We are parasites but hopefully we can start reversing the wanton destruction we have caused to the whole eco system in the last century with the change of mentality of the younger generations and advancements in new tech. Ultimately humans primeval wiring for survival has become effectively redundant with the civilizations and societies we have created and replaced by a need for more of everything over the centuries.

But yeah basically when we die I think then that’s it folks!

 

[tonea2003]

Let's say for argument's sake I agree, but then this question arises:

Would you say as you get older your consciousness deteriorates as the organic body does?

certainly if the relevant part of the brain degrades then yes it would, for instance a person with Alzheimer's appear to lose some aspects of consciousness

https://blogs.plos.org/neuro/2017/04/03/can-alzheimers-disease-steal-ones-consciousness/

also from personal experience watching my dad slowly die(peacefully i might add) he went from a human being with normal function to a virtual automaton where all bodily functions started to slowly shut down and at that point it certainly looked like all consciousness had all but evaporated from his being

 

[Bigga]

certainly if the relevant part of the brain degrades then yes it would, for instance a person with Alzheimer's appear to lose some aspects of consciousness

https://blogs.plos.org/neuro/2017/04/03/can-alzheimers-disease-steal-ones-consciousness/

also from personal experience watching my dad slowly die(peacefully i might add) he went from a human being with normal function to a virtual automaton where all bodily functions started to slowly shut down and at that point it certainly looked like all consciousness had all but evaporated from his being

Interesting point about Alzhemier's where consciousness is involved.

I'm almost hesitant to say memory and consciousness are separate aspects... In fact I will commit to that comment.

Recalling something can/ will put you in two places at the same time.

My boys great grandmother passed 5 days ago. The week before I went to see her and she was bright, lucid and genuinely funny as always to me (RIP, I will really miss her). But, then, my wife says on certain days, she had no clue where she was.

In my opinion, consciousness and the Soul are the same thing, so to be subject to memory loss or dementia doesn't mean your consciousness suffers the same fate.

However, with that said, it's an interesting wrinkle for me to think about.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

So many intelligent posters on here saying that's it lights out brown bread nothingness. Some saying we have no soul. Hmm.

certainly if the relevant part of the brain degrades then yes it would, for instance a person with Alzheimer's appear to lose some aspects of consciousness

https://blogs.plos.org/neuro/2017/04/03/can-alzheimers-disease-steal-ones-consciousness/

also from personal experience watching my dad slowly die(peacefully i might add) he went from a human being with normal function to a virtual automaton where all bodily functions started to slowly shut down and at that point it certainly looked like all consciousness had all but evaporated from his being

My old fella passed away in 04, went to about 6st of skin n' bone. After several strokes and alzheimer's had took its toll he just lay on the bed motionless, eyes dancing into space oblivious to me being there. He hadn't even noticed I was in the room last two visits at his nursing home.

His death was imminent and he looked at deaths door but I had work to do working away, especially when I didn't know how long he had left. I said my goodbyes and held his hand whispering -"you know I love you dad don't you"?...... He looked at me and smiled(filling up writing this) I somehow knew he was at peace, hard to explain.

That was the last time I saw him alive. Two days later I got awoken at 6-10am in my hotel bed in Folkstone saying he'd passed away.

I felt such relief he wasn't suffering anymore and it helped give me closure.

 

[Indaparkside]

So many intelligent posters on here saying that's it lights out brown bread nothingness. Some saying we have no soul. Hmm.

My old fella passed away in 04, went to about 6st of skin n' bone. After several strokes and alzheimer's had took its toll he just lay on the bed motionless, eyes dancing into space oblivious to me being there. He hadn't even noticed I was in the room last two visits at his nursing home His death was imminent and he looked at deaths door but I had work to do working away, especially when I didn't know how long he had left. I said my goodbyes and held his hand whispering -"you know I love you dad don't you"?...... He looked at me and smiled(filling up writing this)

That was the last time I saw him alive. Two days later I got awoken at 6-10am in my hotel bed in Folkstone saying he'd passed away.

I felt such relief he wasn't suffering anymore and it helped give me closure.

At least you got to say you loved him and goodbye m8, but how does your post prove there is a life beyond this one

 

[Lemon7277]

Dead as a dough dough