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hot_pastrami · 06-02-2003, 01:19 PM

I tend to think of the "soul" as simply the conglomeration of a person's values, thoughts, and feelings... the combination of abstractions which make a person unique. Everyone has one, but it's nothing supernatural.

It is a bleak view to think of ourselves as chemically programmed meatsacks though... if there is no spirit or soul, no heaven and hell, and no great diety... if everything we think and do is preprogrammed response to chemicals and electrical impulses according to the laws of physics... if creativity is nothing more than a rogue electron strking a vulnerable neuron... then that means that everything was basically pre-decided the instant the universe was created. So if the universe were suddenly destroyed and a new one born in exactly the same fashion, we would lead the same lives, because all of the same rogue electrons would still hit the same vulnerable neurons at the exact same times. I would still type this same posting, and you would still read it and get the same "this guy is really full of bullshit" feeling you're experiencing now. Things like creativity, morals, and choice would all be illusions. Bleak.

One powerful reason to believe in an afterlife is the desire to think that there is more to life than being a helpless puppet in this version of the universe. So do I believe in an afterlife? I WANT to.... but my preprogrammed response happens to be one which won't allow me to easily swallow such an idea without evidence. And a "feeling" isn't evidence to me. Well, maybe circumstantial evidence.

Ok, I'm done.

06-02-2003, 01:19 PM	#11
hot_pastrami I am meaty Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,119	I tend to think of the "soul" as simply the conglomeration of a person's values, thoughts, and feelings... the combination of abstractions which make a person unique. Everyone has one, but it's nothing supernatural. It is a bleak view to think of ourselves as chemically programmed meatsacks though... if there is no spirit or soul, no heaven and hell, and no great diety... if everything we think and do is preprogrammed response to chemicals and electrical impulses according to the laws of physics... if creativity is nothing more than a rogue electron strking a vulnerable neuron... then that means that everything was basically pre-decided the instant the universe was created. So if the universe were suddenly destroyed and a new one born in exactly the same fashion, we would lead the same lives, because all of the same rogue electrons would still hit the same vulnerable neurons at the exact same times. I would still type this same posting, and you would still read it and get the same "this guy is really full of bullshit" feeling you're experiencing now. Things like creativity, morals, and choice would all be illusions. Bleak. One powerful reason to believe in an afterlife is the desire to think that there is more to life than being a helpless puppet in this version of the universe. So do I believe in an afterlife? I WANT to.... but my preprogrammed response happens to be one which won't allow me to easily swallow such an idea without evidence. And a "feeling" isn't evidence to me. Well, maybe circumstantial evidence. Ok, I'm done. __________________ Hot Pastrami!