Global Warming - Not Our Fault

Sternwallow wrote

Wouldn't it be a kick in our collective philosophy if it turned out that there were souls and there was an afterlife and heaven and hell and absolute morality, but no god behind it?

We atheists can visualize creation of the universe without a god so why not all the rest of the religious stuff without god as well?

Quite so. It would confirm that the Universe is a No God Zone.

I'd go for souls (if provided with proof!)but Heaven and Hell are such obvious artificial constructs that it is difficult to believe they could ever be true.

Besides, which version of Heaven/Hell are we talking about?

Sternwallow wrote

Consciousness in a machine is not quite enough. You would also need an array of sensory simulators to mimic what you were sensing when the transfer happened otherwise the transition would be very apparent. If, for instance, you "woke up" unable to see or hear or touch or taste or smell, you might guess that your bodily status had changed radically.

Yes, of course. Though I did not specify that, it was my line of thought. Sorry about the omission. So, even though the body had changed, I still think adapting to it without automatically thinking one was dead might be possible. But retaining whatever degree of sanity one originally possessed? Hmm, I wonder...

[Tenspace]

Sternwallow wrote

Wouldn't it be a kick in our collective philosophy if it turned out that there were souls and there was an afterlife and heaven and hell and absolute morality, but no god behind it?

We atheists can visualize creation of the universe without a god so why not all the rest of the religious stuff without god as well?

Have you read Peter F Hamilton's, Night's Dawn Trilogy (the first book is The Reality Dysfunction)? If not, you might be interested in how he handles that very subject.

In AD2600 the human race is finally beginning to realise its full potential. Hundreds of colonised planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialisation of entire star systems. And throughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace. A true golden age is within our grasp.

But now something has gone catastrophically wrong. On a primitive colony planet a renegade criminal's chance encounter with an utterly alien entity unleashes the most primal of all our fears. An extinct race which inhabited the galaxy aeons ago called it 'The Reality Dysfunction'. It is the nightmare which has prowled beside us since the beginning of history.

I'm with Woody Allen " I want to be immortal by not dying"

[Sternwallow]

ubs wrote

Except that we are, all of us, social constructs.


...or so I'm told.

True, but that doesn't make programming or debugging us very easy, does it?

[Sternwallow]

Tenspace wrote

Have you read Peter F Hamilton's, Night's Dawn Trilogy (the first book is The Reality Dysfunction)? If not, you might be interested in how he handles that very subject.

In AD2600 the human race is finally beginning to realise its full potential. Hundreds of colonised planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialisation of entire star systems. And throughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace. A true golden age is within our grasp.

But now something has gone catastrophically wrong. On a primitive colony planet a renegade criminal's chance encounter with an utterly alien entity unleashes the most primal of all our fears. An extinct race which inhabited the galaxy aeons ago called it 'The Reality Dysfunction'. It is the nightmare which has prowled beside us since the beginning of history.

That does sound good. Thanks. I'll look for it, though most of my recreational reading these days is non-fiction.

[Sternwallow]

BOF wrote

I'm with Woody Allen " I want to be immortal by not dying"

I'm with Mark Twain "If you can't reach seventy by a comfortable road, don't go."