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Yeah, what the author is going through is extremely sad, but unfortunately I too found the piece quite superficial. The concept of the "afterlife" is far from

by bambax 5y ago

Yeah, what the author is going through is extremely sad, but unfortunately I too found the piece quite superficial. The concept of the "afterlife" is far from universal, in space as well as in time (it has a documented history that begins in Ancient Egypt). Even in the modern Western world, where it used to dominate, it is now disappearing fast. That would be inexplicable if it was part of how the human brain works.

Barrin92 5y ago
>Even in the modern Western world, where it used to dominate, it is now disappearing fast. One observation that has been made many times is rather than the afterlife (with its characteristics of rendering judgement onto the unjust and so forth) disappearing, particular in the 20th century, it has been translated into a variety of secular ideologies. If you want to find fantasies about eschatology, eternal life, resurrection of the dead and so on you only need to talk about atheist silicon valley engineers about the singularity.
- bambax 5y ago
  But if it was part of how the human brain operates it would concern everybody, not just a couple of tech self-proclaimed luminaries who hope to somehow "not die".
  - Barrin92 5y ago
    I think it is deeply engrained in culture. I mean you just need to look at pop culture. I don't think there was ever an age with more disaster / last day type movies or books than right now. Environmental politics (which I support, not to get me wrong) often has the same kind of cataclysmic fears projected on it. There's now services to immortalize your social media presence after you're dead and so on, pretty much mirroring religious ritual. I think there is genuinely few people who have a truly indifferent attitude towards death or last questions, for most it's just been transformed into something that looks superficially non-religious.
ad404b8a372f2b9 5y ago
Reincarnation is a topic that comes up a lot in the case of people who had near death experiences. If we take a purely materialist view of this phenomenon it could indicate that there is a mechanism in the brain that leads to these beliefs. Personally I had a spiritual experience while high on Ketamine last year that shared many similarities with these stories of reincarnation. And it's hard to explain, but it showed me that the perception of the world that our brain provides for us is not necessarily the truth but somehow arbitrary and constrained.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago
  I'm rather fond of the belief some people develop after experiences such as these that there is only one human soul, continually reincarnated across space and time. Obviously it's so deep into unfalsifiable territory there's very little point in a scientific debate about the idea, but as a pure belief I think it's probably a beneficial one in the 'love thy neighbour' sense.

by bambax 5y ago

Barrin92 5y ago

>Even in the modern Western world, where it used to dominate, it is now disappearing fast. One observation that has been made many times is rather than the afterlife (with its characteristics of rendering judgement onto the unjust and so forth) disappearing, particular in the 20th century, it has been translated into a variety of secular ideologies. If you want to find fantasies about eschatology, eternal life, resurrection of the dead and so on you only need to talk about atheist silicon valley engineers about the singularity.

bambax 5y ago
But if it was part of how the human brain operates it would concern everybody, not just a couple of tech self-proclaimed luminaries who hope to somehow "not die".
- Barrin92 5y ago
  I think it is deeply engrained in culture. I mean you just need to look at pop culture. I don't think there was ever an age with more disaster / last day type movies or books than right now. Environmental politics (which I support, not to get me wrong) often has the same kind of cataclysmic fears projected on it. There's now services to immortalize your social media presence after you're dead and so on, pretty much mirroring religious ritual. I think there is genuinely few people who have a truly indifferent attitude towards death or last questions, for most it's just been transformed into something that looks superficially non-religious.

ad404b8a372f2b9 5y ago

Reincarnation is a topic that comes up a lot in the case of people who had near death experiences. If we take a purely materialist view of this phenomenon it could indicate that there is a mechanism in the brain that leads to these beliefs. Personally I had a spiritual experience while high on Ketamine last year that shared many similarities with these stories of reincarnation. And it's hard to explain, but it showed me that the perception of the world that our brain provides for us is not necessarily the truth but somehow arbitrary and constrained.

BoxOfRain 5y ago
I'm rather fond of the belief some people develop after experiences such as these that there is only one human soul, continually reincarnated across space and time. Obviously it's so deep into unfalsifiable territory there's very little point in a scientific debate about the idea, but as a pure belief I think it's probably a beneficial one in the 'love thy neighbour' sense.