Suspended Animation.

[noviceathome]

Assuming this nut is eventually cracked for long distance space exploration and re-animation is successful, what of the ' immortal soul ' ? If you believe in that sort of thing.
I hadn't thought much about it until I heard a scientist describe "death" as being a pre-requisite to the process.
Thoughts?

[glatt]

If you believe in that sort of thing, then clearly the revived human body will have no soul. Much like a dog has no soul. Or a zombie.

[TheDaVinciChode]

If you believe in such a thing (which I do not,) well... The answer is in the name.

The "immortal soul." Suspended animation is much like sleeping. You're not dead, so your soul will not leave your body. Your body could live a million years, but that's less than a blink, in Heavenly terms. Your soul, being "immortal" has no concept of time. Whether you die at birth, or live to be as old as our Universe, your soul will never wither, never die - It's immortal - It's perfect - It will always be ready, when your body lets go, to enter Heaven.

... That's my take on it, anyway, as a non-believer in fairy tales about magicians, invisible men, ghosts, zombies 'n' the like.

[TheMercenary]

All souls are immortal.

Suspended Animation is a fantasy.

[noviceathome]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Suspended Animation is a fantasy.

Apparently some frogs do it.

[noviceathome]

[quote=TheDaVinciChode;660193]

Suspended animation is much like sleeping.

Not according to some scientists it would seem. They were quite adamant the subject would meet all the criteria of death.

Not just thawing but some version of jump starting would be necessary.

[Sheldonrs]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

All souls are immortal.

Suspended Animation is a fantasy.

Matt Damon is a fantasy. Suspended Animation is a theory.

:-)

[noviceathome]

Originally Posted by glatt

If you believe in that sort of thing, then clearly the revived human body will have no soul. Much like a dog has no soul. Or a zombie.

Would that automatically preclude a scientist who believed/practised in that sort of thing from attempting to further this avenue of research on moral grounds?

After all, it might be construed as a trifle irresponsible to send off a bunch of frozen, expert, scientists/astronauts to explore the galaxy only to reawaken a horde of soulless zombies.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by noviceathome

After all, it might be construed as a trifle irresponsible to send off a bunch of frozen, expert, scientists/astronauts to explore the galaxy only to reawaken a horde of soulless zombies.

You say that like soulless zombies are a bad thing.

The whole "brains!" thing is just fiction. A zombie would look and act just like you and I, they simply have no soul. As I mentioned before, the Church's official position is that dogs have no soul. But I think dogs are pretty decent companions even without souls. Zombies would be too.

And it's not like you are destroying the soul. The soul is off to the afterlife and is having the rewards it deserves.

[TheDaVinciChode]

Originally Posted by noviceathome

Not according to some scientists it would seem. They were quite adamant the subject would meet all the criteria of death.

Not just thawing but some version of jump starting would be necessary.

The immortal soul, in all of God's wisdom, would know that the body was not dead... and if you were to "walk into the light," as they say, your body would die, you would not be able to be revived, at the end of your stasis period.

God has a plan, from the beginning, to the end. If His plan is that you go into stasis, and be revived 10, 20, or 10,000 years later... your soul shall follow that plan, and shall remain in your body... You are not dead, until He decides it is your time.

Really, there is no real question, as to what would happen to the soul, were you to enter stasis... If God exists, thus, we are born with souls... Then God's plan exists, too... and nothing can over-ride God's plan; certainly not any technology born of man.

Stasis, being not actual death, not God's chosen death, would simply be, as I stated, like sleeping. Do you fear your soul will leave you, as you fall asleep? Of course not. It's the same principal.

(Ignoring fact and science... because we're discussing God. However, if we're discussing science - Whilst you may meet most of the criteria of being dead, you're still lacking the main one... you will come back. So, technically, you're just in a very deep state of hibernation, with an incredibly stalled metabolic rate. So long as something is keeping your body from actual death, you are not dead. So long as the technology is in place to revive you, at the end of your deep hibernation, you're still simply sleeping, and not dead.)

[Gravdigr]

My immortal soul is in a pawn shop in Memphis.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

My immortal soul is in a pawn shop in Memphis.

Not anymore.

I just bought it for five bucks.

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by noviceathome

After all, it might be construed as a trifle irresponsible to send off a bunch of frozen, expert, scientists/astronauts to explore the galaxy only to reawaken a horde of soulless zombies.

They'd wake up as lawyers? Or maybe you meant "upper managers"?

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Brianna

Not anymore.

I just bought it for five bucks.

Hah, figures...I got ten for it...

[GunMaster357]

The main problem here is the definition of 'soul', immortal or not.

My OWN opinion is that the soul is what makes us what we are: intelligence, culture, beliefs, emotions, experience, etc.

Scientifically, it is said that all of these things are held in our brain. Today, we can read some of them with instruments that detect electrical currents, so I assume that, one day, it'll be possible to read everything and store it away like software.

Assuming that science could protect the body from decay, it would be a 'simple' matter of injecting the saved 'software' into the brain.