Philosophical Question - Amiguing

[Thorham]

@ Thorham:



I do not think that word means what you think it means.

You got me there, thought you meant superior However, we're obviously only special to ourselves...

[Thorham]

This world doesn't need a caretaker. For billions of years everything was fine. Then comes along the human, and all of a sudden a caretaker is needed. Seems a little strange to me. What this world needs is us not screwing everything up.

[Thorham]

Yep. Here we go again... assuming that man can only be a negative force... nothing ever changes.

Indeed, nothing ever changes, which is exactly why people think that. When have humans ever been a positive influence on this world? Or at least not a negative one?

Humans have great potential, but you wouldn't think that when you look at the world as a whole today.

[Thorham]

I'm pretty sure psxphill was trying to express his belief that all religions are an invention of man.

And it's blatantly obvious he's correct. The fact that people still believe in those books is utterly astounding. A bunch of people a few thousand years ago wrote some books saying that they were inspired by some god. Oh really?

[Thorham]

You'll find out for sure one day.....

When I do find out I'm sure it won't be like human religion says it will be.

"Those who reject Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) are deaf and dumb in darkness. Allah sends astray whom He wills and He guides on the Straight Path whom He wills." Al-Qur'an 6:39

Most religions (if not all) say that. They are right, and everyone else is wrong.

Actually, if he's right, he won't find out.
He'll just die.

I never said there isn't more, just that human religion is wrong.

But I think the answer is all around us screaming for attention and people like him are just deaf to the sound.

The only answer is that there has always been something, and what or who that is, is unknown. From purely mechanical, physical 'stuff' all the way to one or more omnipotent beings, and even both. It's possible, but I seriously doubt the answers are in thousands of years old books.

[Thorham]

Ultimately everyone has to accept the nature of the reality they perceive around them

The problem is just knowing what the nature of reality is.

[Thorham]

The fact that they can't all be right on account of mutual exclusiveness doesn't at all mean that each one cannot be right...

True, I just find it highly unlikely any one of them is right.

[Thorham]

The real problem is determining whether a person is just a part of the information in the brain, or something external (there's our soul again .

Aren't we just sophisticated machines?

Our physical bodies certainly are, but is that all there's to it?

[Thorham]

I would suggest looking at what happens when the body, or more specifically the information stored in the brain is damaged... If the person is more than just the information stored in the brain, the I would suggest that the damage or loss of information would have no effect upon the person.

I know from experience that if there is degradation in the information stored in the brain, then we have a stark and often upsetting change in the "person" I once knew. This has a profound effect upon how I view what makes a person, a person!

If a person is external, then the brain is an interface into the physical world, and when this interface malfunctions, then the person may not be able to manifest itself through the body in the normal way anymore. The problem is figuring out what really happens.

There is no proof either way, most religions do require you to believe there is more to it.

Proof isn't required for things to exist. Many of the things we know today were completely ridiculous a thousand years ago. 'Simple' things we take for granted such as radio waves. In the case of the most fundamental existential questions you can't necessarily turn to sciences such as physics, because they're concerned with physical phenomena such as the speed of light and gravity, while there may very well be more than just that. In fact, physics can often not even explain why things are the way they are, because the ultimate fundament is unknown.

A scientific answer would be, does there need to be anything more for the system to work?

What if it does? How do we find out? And can we even find out by just examining the brain?

[Thorham]

The soul is simply the vehicle for immortality invented by humans to explain how people could live forever when it became obvious that dead bodies decay and can never be revived-: the body dies, but the "soul" can live forever, therefore immortality is possible.

Or perhaps because of the realization that there may be more than just the physical universe.