Your Stance on Death

The earliest thread I found was created more than a year ago. I figured it would be okay to make this one.

Are you afraid of death and why/why not, and do you believe in an afterlife?
What opinions people have is what they have. Don't argue rudely. Thanks!

Remember what it was like before you were born? Exactly.

No, because there is no use worrying about the inevitable, its better to enjoy your life then to worry about your death.

The afterlife is what gives meaning to our first physical life

Originally Posted by Young Old Man

No, because there is no use worrying about the inevitable, its better to enjoy your life then to worry about your death.

Yeah I pretty much subscribe to this philosophy.

However, with science and technology, we'll eventually surpass death. Let's just hope it's within our lifetimes.

I like to think that everything new is made up of everything else that is gone. When I die, I will become parts of a lot of different things.
Ever read the ending of The Amber Spyglass? Yeah. Like that.

Death is inevitable and will never be conquered.

I do believe in some sort of heaven existing, a place where people go after leaving this world.

I remember reading something that dealt with death a while back - a philosophical piece. It said something along the lines of what Flames of Valor stated, that why should you be afraid of dying or of death. Were you afraid before you born?
As for me, I'm not afraid of dying or death. It'll come when it comes.
'Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because dawn has come.' - Rabindranath Tagore

Originally Posted by Sweetie

Death is inevitable and will never be conquered.

Of course it could be. Death is determined by our genes; with proper manipulation, we could remove that trait.

Or, once our technology becomes advanced enough, we could preserve our minds with the proper machinery and maintenence. Possibly through the use of artificial bodies, or simply "brains in vats."

Originally Posted by Andross

Of course it could be. Death is determined by our genes; with proper manipulation, we could remove that trait.

Or, once our technology becomes advanced enough, we could preserve our minds with the proper machinery and maintenence. Possibly through the use of artificial bodies, or simply "brains in vats."

I thought you died due to dying cells, I believe they begin reproducing more slowly at a certain time of your life. I was unaware that it was a trait.

How can we preserve what we do not know? Define to me, what the mind is. Begin with the basics please, is it physical or non-physical?

Originally Posted by Forte

I thought you died due to dying cells, I believe they begin reproducing more slowly at a certain time of your life. I was unaware that it was a trait.

How can we preserve what we do not know? Define to me, what the mind is. Begin with the basics please, is it physical or non-physical?

That is because you are correct and he misread/made stuff up.

No, I am not afraid to die. I figure I will die quickly in some weird way before it gets old and painful to live and I believe in an afterlife. No worries here.

I'm not so much as afraid to die as I am curious on what death holds.

I believe that there is, in fact, something that happens to you after you die, but, I don't understand how people can be so sure that it is a "heaven" or "hell"... There's millions upon millions of religions; what are the chances of the religion you follow being the "correct one"?

For this reason, among others, I am atheist. No, not because I worship the devil, don't believe in a higher being, or whatever. I choose to remain atheist because I do not believe any one single religion is correct. Just look at Christianity - all it is is scrapped ideas of other religions. You tell me how that's going to be accurate.

Originally Posted by Cukeman

The afterlife is what gives meaning to our first physical life

I don't understand this at all.
If there's an afterlife then surely the present life means nothing at all, other than as a way to score points that can be spent after death.

Yeah, life as we know it now, is just the time period you use to see how many tickets you can win, and when you die, depending on the amount of tickets you won during your first life, you can get some pretty sweet stuff in the afterlife. This going a long an arcade kind of mindset. P;

Okay, seriously, death is a pretty natural thing. I find it doesn't scare you if you understand it, may that be religious or not. Personally, I believe that we'll die, be buried in our graves, and then when Jesus comes again, we'll go to Heaven. People of other religious beliefs think differently, etc, etc.

I don't know for a fact that my belief will be true, but it's a comforting thought to have.

Meh, just live as long as you can.
I'm planing to live for a while now, even though I'm 15. x3

Originally Posted by Andross

Of course it could be. Death is determined by our genes; with proper manipulation, we could remove that trait.

Or, once our technology becomes advanced enough, we could preserve our minds with the proper machinery and maintenence. Possibly through the use of artificial bodies, or simply "brains in vats."

Let's consider the first statement to be true.
Even if we could alter our genes as to not grow or die, then there's the matter of accidents, there's the matter of running out of food (we definitely need it if we want to be able to function, since it's our source of energy), and there's the matter of entropy (Energy will eventually not be "usable energy")
So if one single person could live forever, it would violate laws of physics.
Anyways, I don't want to turn this into a discussion of "is death inevitable", since it's not what the author intended it to be.

The second point I won't argue as not possible. However, would you say you live forever if you made a young clone of yourself every 20 years? or are they new persons?
Even if all your processes can be turned to a machine, you YOURSELF will eventually die, which brings us to the original question "are you afraid of it?"

I myself have mixed feelings every now and then.
Sometimes I am comforted by death, thinking that eventually I'll have no more worries.
Other times it pushes me to want to excel at whatever I do. And very often, I have a selfish depressing feeling (though not scared), of why should I die? There's so much I could do if I didn't.

Just different things I think whenever I ponder on the subject.

Also, I do like to believe in an afterlife. Everything I know and trust tells me otherwise, but I like to believe in it.

Originally Posted by Andross

Of course it could be. Death is determined by our genes; with proper manipulation, we could remove that trait.

Or, once our technology becomes advanced enough, we could preserve our minds with the proper machinery and maintenence. Possibly through the use of artificial bodies, or simply "brains in vats."

What about over crowding?

Originally Posted by Andross

Of course it could be. Death is determined by our genes; with proper manipulation, we could remove that trait.

Or, once our technology becomes advanced enough, we could preserve our minds with the proper machinery and maintenence. Possibly through the use of artificial bodies, or simply "brains in vats."

That sounds an awful lot like being hooked up to a life support system.

I am afraid of death every one is dispite how much they say thier not. Death is what drives humanity, it's what shapes us and leads us.

I am catholic, I belive in god and heaven. Even if it can't be proven, it's some thing to help me. It conforts me to know that some one or something grate cares for me and is thier for me at any time I need it.Also the thought of my good deeds will be rewarded in the after life, helps me be a better person.

Originally Posted by Lehran

The earliest thread I found was created more than a year ago. I figured it would be okay to make this one.

Are you afraid of death and why/why not, and do you believe in an afterlife?
What opinions people have is what they have. Don't argue rudely. Thanks!

cough cough Are you scared to die? cough cough.