Is life mapped out for us

[Chippy_boy]

Not read anything by Chippy Boy that implies he is a nihilist. You can be a materialist or a physicalist and still understand and appreciate the value intrinsic to life/sentience.

I am not familiar enough with the term nihilist to be able to say whether I am or not. But I can explain what i think.

That is all life is simply an arrangement of molecules, of differing complexity. Life itself is incredible and something to behold. But the more advanced life forms are extremely complex and as a result enable some remarkable things to occur, like consciousness.

Is this special? Of course it is, it's incredible, and the fact that I can think means of course there Is meaning to what I care about and how I act.

But other people would have you believe that a thinking brain contains more than just molecules and that there is some magic in there - "a soul". I do not believe that for one moment.

I am 100.00% confident that in the fullness of time, we will develop truly conscious thinking computers. In my judgement, we will achieve this with silicon chips and if we manage that, the idea that there's some extra "stuff" in the computer hardware or the software, is clearly bonkers. (It's possible current silicon won't be powerful enough and we will have to wait for quantum computing. But either way, it will come.)

Consciousness is simply a massively complex set of interactions which in the brain are achieved with electrical impulses and chemical changes. When we can model them on a scale large enough and complex enough, these computer models will start to truly think, much as we do.

Will such man-made life be special? Yes it will, it will be incredible. In a few hundred years we will have beings that are organic and also some whose basis is synthetic and it will pose some great questions about what is one's right to life, and rights more generally.

 

[Damocles]

If we are just made of molecules and atoms and nothing more, why do you care about anything ? If everything is just made up of meaningless atoms .. why do you care about others ? Man City ? If everything is just pointless ?

Why do you feel a desperate need for a greater narrative in your existence, like you're a hero in a Hollywood movie?

Just because everything is a product of an excitation in a field doesn't make it pointless or meaningless. Description doesn't remove emotion. In your terms football is 22 people kicking some leather around, the Mona Lisa is some colours on a blank page and Shakespeare is just a collection of letters.

Things have meaning because we value them as important in some degree. Life is important to us so we protect it, love is important to us so we embrace it, art is important to us so we make and express it.

 

[Bigga]

I am not familiar enough with the term nihilist to be able to say whether I am or not. But I can explain what i think.

That is all life is simply an arrangement of molecules, of differing complexity. Life itself is incredible and something to behold. But the more advanced life forms are extremely complex and as a result enable some remarkable things to occur, like consciousness.

Is this special? Of course it is, it's incredible, and the fact that I can think means of course there Is meaning to what I care about and how I act.

But other people would have you believe that a thinking brain contains more than just molecules and that there is some magic in there - "a soul". I do not believe that for one moment.

I am 100.00% confident that in the fullness of time, we will develop truly conscious thinking computers. In my judgement, we will achieve this with silicon chips and if we manage that, the idea that there's some extra "stuff" in the computer hardware or the software, is clearly bonkers. (It's possible current silicon won't be powerful enough and we will have to wait for quantum computing. But either way, it will come.)

Consciousness is simply a massively complex set of interactions which in the brain are achieved with electrical impulses and chemical changes. When we can model them on a scale large enough and complex enough, these computer models will start to truly think, much as we do.

Will such man-made life be special? Yes it will, it will be incredible. In a few hundred years we will have beings that are organic and also some whose basis is synthetic and it will pose some great questions about what is one's right to life, and rights more generally.

Ooo, go on then, explain the "out of body" experience some people can have, especially in hospitals where electrical functions have ceased, but the surviving patient is able to tell the story of what happened in those moments!

You know, with it all being 'simply a case of electric and chemicals' and all that...

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Why do you feel a desperate need for a greater narrative in your existence, like you're a hero in a Hollywood movie?

Just because everything is a product of an excitation in a field doesn't make it pointless or meaningless. Description doesn't remove emotion. In your terms football is 22 people kicking some leather around, the Mona Lisa is some colours on a blank page and Shakespeare is just a collection of letters.

Things have meaning because we value them as important in some degree. Life is important to us so we protect it, love is important to us so we embrace it, art is important to us so we make and express it.

well put.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Ooo, go on then, explain the "out of body" experience some people can have, especially in hospitals where electrical functions have ceased, but the surviving patient is able to tell the story of what happened in those moments!

You know, with it all being 'simply a case of electric and chemicals' and all that...

Such events probably almost never happen and where it does happen, it's misreported and people imagine it. Sorry, that's not what you want to hear, but that's what I think. People are very good at kidding themselves.

I don't believe crop circles are made by aliens either.

 

[Chippy_boy]

well put.

Yes, it was, I agree.

 

[Bigga]

Such events probably almost never happen and where it does happen, it's misreported and people imagine it. Sorry, that's not what you want to hear, but that's what I think. People are very good at kidding themselves.

I don't believe crop circles are made by aliens either.

Just say you don't know.

I've experienced it myself before I knew it existed. When it happens you are fully fooking aware, trust me!

I don't know what level of consciousness it is and it's never happened again cos it scared the fook out of me, but you make the normal error of dismissing information because you haven't (or don't have the ability to be receptive to it) experienced it.
Whether you believe my experiences or not doesn’t bother me in the slightest cos those things have seared into my brain when other things have faded.

Your opinion isn't any more or less valid than mine, except I live yours every day, but you've, clearly, never lived mine.

 

[Damocles]

Ooo, go on then, explain the "out of body" experience some people can have, especially in hospitals where electrical functions have ceased, but the surviving patient is able to tell the story of what happened in those moments!

You know, with it all being 'simply a case of electric and chemicals' and all that...

Think you're confused here. There's never been any recorded cases of any human ever coming back after electrical functions in the brain have stopped. Electrical functions stopping are how we define brain death. You could mean lack of cardio functions like a heartbeat or lack of breathing.

Out of body experiences are generally thought to be where the brain is dying and attempting to make sense/interpret the stimuli around it. The brain is a part computer but also part filter. It ignores certain things in order to make its life easier, which is why you can't see your nose all day long despite it being on your face. OOB experiences are thought to be where the brain has released endorphins to protect the body from pain and is on the verge of death so doesn't have the correct filters in place to put things into its context. Ironically, the experiences people have in OOB experiences generally conform to religious and/or spiritual mythology their culture conforms to, which is a clue that it's probably close to a half-dream

 

[skiddypants]

I can see my nose! My life is a woman!

 

[Chippy_boy]

Just say you don't know.

I've experienced it myself before I knew it existed. When it happens you are fully fooking aware, trust me!

I don't know what level of consciousness it is and it's never happened again cos it scared the fook out of me, but you make the normal error of dismissing information because you haven't (or don't have the ability to be receptive to it) experienced it.
Whether you believe my experiences or not doesn’t bother me in the slightest cos those things have seared into my brain when other things have faded.

Your opinion isn't any more or less valid than mine, except I live yours every day, but you've, clearly, never lived mine.

You asked me for my *opinion* and I gave you my *opinion*.

There's not need to imply I stated my opinion was fact and that you are wrong. I don't know why you felt the need to be quite so defensive.

You're entitled to believe what you believe, just as I am to believe what I believe.