Who actually even wants an afterlife?

[LSHAFC2004]

I've been giving things a lot of thinking recently. One is the afterlife. Now when you think about it, if I offered you an afterlife and guareenteed it, if you accept my offer, you will have an afterlife .Nearly all of you would except it. Great you'd say. I get to be with all my family again for the rest of eternity. Now heres the problem. The problem lies in the word eternity. Who in there right mind wants to live for eternity. Let me give you an example. Our lives are on average 70-80 years. Thats quiet long in a way. Now image the afterlife life. Its duration is:(A trillion is 1 followed by 15 zeros)trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion.trillion,trillion,trillion, trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trilli on,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,tri llion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion, trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion years. Now in eternity. This is not even a nanosecound of the time we have in afterlife. This is not even a infinte fraction of a secound of the time we spend in the afterlife.As bad as hell may be or as good as heaven is, who wants to live for eternity anywhere, be it the most peaceful place we could ever image. Eventually the boredom would be awful, it would drive us all to suicide. But we are already dead, so there is no way of escaping it. So when asked this question again, if you want an afterlife, consider what I have just said. And relise this is the reason I would choose dreamless sleep and non-existence in favour of an afterlife most proberly if i was given an option. Anyone agree/disagree? :thumbs: :down:

[JohNeo]

If an afterlife meant only eternal bliss, and reunification with those we love (less their faults), it may be appealing. But like you're saying, there would have to be so many conditions it is absurd to even hope it's true.

Since our only concept of joy is in material and temporal things, we have no idea what we are really asking for. If heaven is sitting on a cloud playing a harp or driving a Cadillac down streets paved with gold, I think it would get tiresome in a hurry. And if eternal life meant watching people die around us while we go unchanged, you might as well call it Hell.

The life I have here is quite sufficient, thanks. A little more "quality time" here on Earth might be nice.

The only thing I kind of wistfully miss about believing in the afterlife was the hope I had that I could transcendentally visit the planets, fly freely through space, etc. I never was too interested in the cartoon versions of heaven--really it was more that I did not want to go to Hell.

JohNeo

[Leah]

A little more "quality time" here on Earth might be nice.
*agreed*

[j-ogenes]

I would love to be reincarnated as various people, and certainly as animals. I am so curious about others' consciousnesses.

[kciredor reprah]

I would do it, however, I would not want to keep the memories of people I love during this life time, it would be too painful when they all die. I would like to keep a memory of the times though, what humans have gone through and how far we have come, technologically, mentally, etc. No personal memories though.

Peace

[Mageth]

I would love to be reincarnated as various people, and certainly as animals. I am so curious about others' consciousnesses.

In eternity, you could re-live the life of every person, animal, fish, plant, insect, worm, bacteria, etc. that's ever lived or that ever will live in this universe. Then repeat them all over and over, shuffling the order you experience them in in every possible permutation. Then do it all backwards, and in slow motion. Then repeat the whole process, as many times as you want.

And you'd still have eternity to fill.

[diGriz]

Yes, saying eternity is a long time doesn't quite get the point across. I think there are very few people who really grasp the concept of forever.

However, I will say this, as far as I know I exist, and I like existing. Granted it is all I have ever known but the thought that someday I may no longer exist is a tad disconcerting to me. I hope that there is something after life, I'm not so much hoping for a heaven or a hell but maybe just a next step.

[Yggdrasill]

I wouldn't mind eternal existence, if the universe was dynamic, infinitely complex and never-ending. The key is stagnation, I wouldn't want to live in a static universe, I'd grow bored in a few millienia. With constant change, there is always something new to learn, something to see that hasn't been seen before.

Of course, the universe we live in will probably end, but while I'm dreaming of eternal existence, I might as well dream of my own universe, too.

[Dark Knight Bob]

I would prefer to experience various forms of existance. The idea of say living out 10 different types of existance and having every 10th "turn" be one where you can remember your last 9 experiences to have a sort of "sandbox" reality where you know way more than you're supposed to.

Of course a lot of this would be dependant on me being the only sentient being in the 10th reality else you'd get all sorts of paradoxs popping up.

I'd settle for a good 800 years in this life and then call it quits though.

In theory of course if you knew enough about the workings of the brain you could theoretically use chemical influence to impose a constant state of euphoria and as such manipulate your reality into an idefinite state of bliss and awareness.

[Plognark]

I imagine that wandering through Hell might be interesting for at least a few millenia ;)

[Dark Knight Bob]

Well where else you gonna go? Detroit?

[Arvel Joffi]

I don't want to die, so an afterlife would be nice. I was raised with reincarnation, which is like the evolution of an eternal soul. It was very comforting, and a tough to abandon. The Big Black Nothing? Not comforting.

[JohNeo]

I don't want to die, so an afterlife would be nice. I was raised with reincarnation, which is like the evolution of an eternal soul. It was very comforting, and a tough to abandon. The Big Black Nothing? Not comforting.

If it makes any difference to you, the world went on before we were born, surely it can manage without us too. And we will be oblivious to the fact.

Of course I was raised to believe that Jesus would bring my soul up to heaven from the grave when I died, so embracing the idea of annihilation is like throwing it all away, in the eyes of a believer.

Hell is all that I don't want, but I think it's as made up as heaven. And as far as I can tell, I'm not living a life that would land me there.

JohNeo

[PinkPanther_04]

the thought that someday I may no longer exist is a tad disconcerting to me.Don't worry, when you stop existing you won't even realize it! :D

I like the idea of a finite existence, though it is a little scary on the surface. If we were just going to live forever (in some kind of positive emotional state) after we died, why would we need to value this life? The knowledge that this existence is all we've got makes life much more special.

[MonCapitan2002]

I don't want to die, so an afterlife would be nice. I was raised with reincarnation, which is like the evolution of an eternal soul. It was very comforting, and a tough to abandon. The Big Black Nothing? Not comforting.
I always found the Big Black Nothing rather comforting. Knowing that my miserable existence will end is one of my life's few comforts.

[Stacey Melissa]

Whoever came up with the idea of eternal life should chug Drain-o, die, and be forced to suffer through their idea of eternal boredom... errr, life.

[Vinnie]

Infinite afterlife = infinite boredom and therefore, infinite torture.

Heaven = hell. They are the same place.

Vinnie

[DaMan121]

An afterlife would be cool if you could have your memory "reset" every few hundred years or so...but ofcourse this leads to the tricky philosophical quandry of whether it would still be "you" when your memory gets reset. It goes without saying that where you spend your afterlife is the most important part.

[jmem]

A limited afterlife where I could explore space to my heart's content without bodily harm...that I would take. An infinite afterlife of any kind with no way out...no thanks...the thought of eternal peace and quiet, going back to the state of nothingness before I was born (after a long and satisfying life of course) is comforting to me.

[His Noodly Appendage]

at least part of the value I place upon my own life is based on its finite nature.

If I were going to be around literally *forever*, I really wouldn't value it, and it'd be a fairly horrible prospect. Serious, MAJOR ennui.

There's just no way a human mind could contain all the knowledge and memory and adaptations of even a severely protracted lifespan. Anything that survived for centuries would either be saturated and unresponsive, or not "me".

It'd either be a ghastly vegetative state through boredom and saruration, or it'd be happening to a stranger with some of my memories. Neither of which is good for me.

jbc

[starling]

Who in there right mind wants to live for eternity. Who in their right mind wants to cease to exist?

There are a number of ways to pass the time eternally. It's not like you're doomed to wile away forever in one direction entropically. You could start your life over, or only have memories of the latest 1000 years. You could spend time in contemplation for long periods of time, coming out when the world needs your presence. Remember that given immortality, you by definition don't increase in Entropy, at least on average. It would suck to see the death of the universe, but given the collapse of the quantum waveform, anything you interacted with would also not increase in entropy, so maybe...

I'd go so far as to make the whole universe immortal, in the entropic sense. Not so we could sit twiddling our thumbs for a kajillion years, but so that we could resonate through all of time like an open string, but a tone immune to damping or dying, not growing louder or softer as time passes, but simply changing in manifold and beautiful ways.

[|2eason]

I'd rather be eternally bored than eternally dead! Although, the option to 'rest' for a period of time would be nice:)

Besides, with the universe as a playground, you'd have to lack imagination to a serious degree in order to get bored.

Also, it should be noted that in most views of the afterlife, we would be transendent of space-time, so your fears about trillions and trillions of years of boredom wouldn't make much sense. We would just 'exist' in a manner that our time dependant minds can't even comprehend.

[diGriz]

I liked what Daisy said on Dead Like Me "maybe we're all just temps."

[SLUGFly]

I believe that through modification of the gene pool, eventually the elect will be immortal and soon (relatively) thereafter, natural birth will be phased out and we will all be immortal. Unfortunately, this may not occur until maybe 20 or 50 generations after us, but consider this: (I know I'm substituting heaven for immortality, but it works the same way)

All you could learn in your 70 something year old life is a tiny fraction of what mankind has learned thus far, and what we've learned thus far is but a tiny fraction of all their is to be learned. After the first 500 years or so you probably would have learned most of what there is to be learned (since unlike our species, the knowledge is retained instead of passing from one vessel to another with losses and distortions).

At this point, it's a playground. Creation can not be limited by knowledge because of its very definition. It's a big universe and I believe it to be infinite, therefore an infinite life offers infinite possibilities. Boredom only to those who should have been phased out in the beginning stages and who later become deadweights.

[Plognark]

I believe that through modification of the gene pool, eventually the elect will be immortal and soon (relatively) thereafter, natural birth will be phased out and we will all be immortal. Unfortunately, this may not occur until maybe 20 or 50 generations after us, but consider this: (I know I'm substituting heaven for immortality, but it works the same way)

All you could learn in your 70 something year old life is a tiny fraction of what mankind has learned thus far, and what we've learned thus far is but a tiny fraction of all their is to be learned. After the first 500 years or so you probably would have learned most of what there is to be learned (since unlike our species, the knowledge is retained instead of passing from one vessel to another with losses and distortions).

At this point, it's a playground. Creation can not be limited by knowledge because of its very definition. It's a big universe and I believe it to be infinite, therefore an infinite life offers infinite possibilities. Boredom only to those who should have been phased out in the beginning stages and who later become deadweights.

This would only be worthwhile, I think, if we could surpass our current limitations on memory and intelligence.

[RaymondR]

The problem with having an afterlife where you are reunited with your old family and friends, is once you are caught up, it would get pretty boring.
Imagine old uncle alfred telling the same series of stories for an eternity.
No thanks.

I don't want an afterlife at all.

[getalong]

if I offered you an afterlife and guareenteed it, if you accept my offer, you will have an afterlife .Nearly all of you would except it.

Says who? I can't think of any point in my adult life when I would have accepted an afterlife offer.

getalong

[Atheos]

I can't help thinking about how that in any afterlife the most recent memory of being alive that you'll have is how you died. Ugh.

-Atheos

[Arvel Joffi]

I always found the Big Black Nothing rather comforting. Knowing that my miserable existence will end is one of my life's few comforts.

Although spend much of my life as depressed as hell, I always feel like I can somehow claw my way to happiness. It seems around just the corner, though running away like madness is on its tail. If I could spend one whole day in which I felt just...content, then I think I could die happy. If I thought it impossible, I would look forward to death. It seems like I can grab it; I want it, but it's always just out of reach, making me want to live long enough to grasp it and remember it forever.

So it's not so much a desire for an afterlife, as a fear of death.

[LSHAFC2004]

Well. Most of us obviously understand the concept of living for eternity is bit to much. Obviously if I was given an offer to live for perhaps 200 years, maybe 500 even I would take it. But eternity really would be pushing the boundry. Like I stated in my first post who wants to live for this sought of duration. trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trilli on,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion.trillion,trillion,trillion, trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,tri llion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trilli on,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion, trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,tri llion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trilli on,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion, trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,tri llion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion years. Take all those trillions and cube them. Then times your answer by itself 99999999999999trillion, then times all those trillions altogether another trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillin,trillion,trillion,trillion,trillion times. After we have lived all this time regarding our duration of life in eternity, it is not even an infinte part of a nanosecound. I would much rather life just a basic 70 + years. Most people though(Not us) would want to live for eternity though. The only eternity we will live is the eternal sleep, and that our existence is embedded in the fabric of spacetime for eternity. :)

[southernhybrid]

I don't need no stinking after life. I would like the promise of a sweet and peaceful death after a long and happy life right here.

[Dark Knight Bob]

I'd quite like a stats screen to see how well I did before popping off to oblivion.

"CONGRATULATIONS YOU GET TO PUT YOUR NAME ON THE LEADER BOARD!"