Consciousness, Individuality and the Soul

[TheDreamMaster]

I'm kinda the opposite. I don't really get why we 'need' to have a soul or other thing beyond death beyond the idea of existing after we die being nice. I also think that we make our own purpose and if there is a huge 'plan/destiny' for everything in the universe then it makes all of our achievements as individuals and as a species pointless. If there is no 'guiding hand' then everything we do for better or worse is upon us. No blaming a god or devil. Just us.

I've also personally seen zero evidence for or against any type or afterlife so I'm more in the middle of that debate.

Also, as for transferring the mind to other vessels, sure. I mean it's all just data and we've made great strides to connecting our brains to computers and transferring data between them. I could see days ahead where we transfer the minds of people into clone bodies or cybernetic doodads.

As for the religious stuff, well, sometimes you just want to believe there’s more to it than this. Considering the Hype’s policies these days, that’s all I’ll say, but sometimes for some people it helps to have hope that this isn’t all there is. And regardless of what I believe, I don’t find that a weakness if death is something you legit fear.

Like the game SOMA, I’d be interested in the ramifications of transferring ones consciousness to a new body or into data etc. if it is possible, is it a copy while you’re left behind, or can the impulses in the body and brain actually be transferred?

 

[childeroland]

If consciousness is just an emergent property of a complex-enough brain, I doubt it could be transferred anyway. If it is a discrete, preservable entity and could be copied, I guess both couldn't be you in a sense, since you'd both experience different qualia, I would assume. So if the original died, it might feel the same to the original as if it (you) were dying anyway and wouldn't feel any continuance, since the copy would be locked into its own qualia.

 

[Flash525]

I believe in the soul and I'm not afraid to say I think humans aren't the only ones who have them. I don't know that a soul can be transferred into a device, though, maybe only memories which I suppose could be data. I think we move on when we die.

But at which point are we considered dead?

Immortality only exists in movies and books. Live life and leave your legacy so nobody will forget your name.

And in Science? At least, a concept and/or theory for it should do.

Granted, from one perspective, we can't save our true selves by replicating or transferring our consciousness, but if science can provide us a way to replicate, rejuvenate and grow our cells quicker than they're dying off, then we could potentially be eternal; we'd have that immortality, and would only then have invincibility to concern ourselves with.

I believe in a soul and a purpose. Otherwise, life doesn’t matter and we are all but a spec in an uncaring cosmos with life from nothing more than insurmountable happenstance.

I am of the opposite belief, as much as I may think it's nice to believe we all have a purpose here, knowing (or at least having a good idea) of how big the universe is, and how small we are, I can't help but think that we're just meat sacks that have evolved to ponder these questions.

 

[Mike_D202]

But at which point are we considered dead?

When there's no brain activity.

C'mown man! t:

 

[Flash525]

When there's no brain activity.

C'mown man! t:

Hah, but if our consciousness was transferred to an artificial brain, that did have activity, would we still be defined as dead?

 

[Dr.]

As noted, so-called “materialists” would claim it’s not possible to survive death (contra many religious beliefs). This is because (as also noted) the mind is coupled to the physical brain; and once the brain dies, so does the mind. IOW, without a medium (“hardware”), the mind (“software”) cannot exist as a vaguely defined, free-floating “energy” or “spirit” that (say) haunts a house or flies off to heaven.

But to the extent that science can or might support a version of “immortality,” it would entail the fanciful stuff we’ve been discussing: some advanced tech means of transferring the informational content of the mind into a new medium.