Joys of living single

[Divine_Wind]

If there was a god and an immortal soul, there would be no such thing as dementia. Dementia, more than anything, proves who we are is 100% dependent on the brain.

Non Sequitur. Soul and brain are as different as a radio signal and the radio itself. The radio could have a blown speaker or even stop working but that doesn't mean the radio signal ceases to exist. It's apples and oranges.

 

[TheGoverness]

That is such nonsense. I hear it all the time from atheist/materialists. We need a functioning brain to interact with this physical world. It does NOT follow that the brain is who we are.

The brain is who we are, actually.

 

[Divine_Wind]

once you are found to be plagued by dementia the decisions about how and where you will live are no longer your own

Only to an extent. I just buried my dad who was diagnosed with dementia a little over two years ago which developed into Alzheimer's. While I did eventually become his legal guardian, there were other factors and it wasn't immediate or automatic. It's a process....and I have a Plan B should I ever be diagnosed.

 

[Divine_Wind]

If there was a god and an immortal soul, there would be no such thing as dementia. Dementia, more than anything, proves who we are is 100% dependent on the brain.

That is such nonsense. I hear it all the time from atheist/materialists. We need a functioning brain to interact with this physical world. It does NOT follow that the brain is who we are.

Agreed to an extent. While I believe there is more to existence than the Natural Universe, our brains and body are how we interface with this Universe. People with dementia, TBIs, genetic issues, etc, have a problem interfacing the Universe. Their thinking is distorted.

We see people with all sorts of off-the-wall thinking online. IMO, the number of people with mental disorders is higher online than IRL.

 

[TheGoverness]

I can’t say that I’ve experienced enough of it to make a call, but if I ever found myself single again, I’d probably make a concerted effort to stay that way. Living with others has its challenges.

Singles Awareness Day: The benefits of being single - CNN



I can see that. Being in a monogamous relationship does tend to resemble living on a small private island we call the nuclear family.

Hey, ain't nothing wrong with being a single mingle. I'm nowhere close to settled down with my girlfriend, but at some point in the future I plan to be. I've never felt insulated in my relationship, though, since we hang out with people a lot. I've never been a social person, but my girlfirend did give me the boost to start bonding my own relationships, instead of just relying on her charisma and her circle of friends. Ivr made plenty of friends in college, and now I've got more friends than I ever had in my entire life. But I've got plenty of life left to live, so who knows what'll happen.

 

[Divine_Wind]

The brain is who we are, actually.

Do you think any part of you transcends death? Or do you think we're all ambulatory meat computers responding to biochemical programming and of no real value except for our component parts....of which most is water?

 

[TheGoverness]

Do you think any part of you transcends death? Or do you think we're all ambulatory meat computers responding to biochemical programming and of no real value except for our component parts....of which most is water?

What's with the either-or options?

I don't believe anything of us transcends death, because I see no evidence of such things. However, that doesn't mean we as people don't have value or no worth at all. I don't need to believe in spritual transcendence to make my life feel that I have meaning. My "meaning" in my life is to care people that I love, and do my best to be a productive member of society, and give back to the community. I've only got so much time here on this Earth, and I want to spend it with the people that I love, and doing things that I enjoy. That's what I put worth in, and I don't need to believe in spiritual transcendence to find value in that, or myself.

 

[Divine_Wind]

What's with the either-or options?

I don't believe anything of us transcends death, because I see no evidence of such things. However, that doesn't mean we as people don't have value or no worth at all. I don't need to believe in spritual transcendence to make my life feel that I have meaning. My "meaning" in my life is to care people that I love, and do my best to be a productive member of society, and give back to the community. I've only got so much time here on this Earth, and I want to spend it with the people that I love, and doing things that I enjoy. That's what I put worth in, and I don't need to believe in spiritual transcendence to find value in that, or myself.

Because value is a relative term just like beauty. Which is more beautiful, Michelangelo's David or the Sistine Chapel paintings? Which is more valuable? Regardless of the answer, it's an arbitrary answer because there is no universal standard of measurement.

Same goes for human beings. Sure, most of us are valuable to ourselves and most of us have mothers who think we are the most valuable thing in the Universe, but the reality is, again, there is no universal standard of measurement. You and I are each no more valuable than a rock in the Asteroid Belt or a hydrogen gas atom orbiting our galaxy.

A person who says we are all equally valuable is also saying we are all equally valueless. A 100km-diameter asteroid could slam into the Earth, wiping out all life, and what is lost as far as the Universe is concerned? What value to the Universe is the survival of the human race or the elimination of the human race? Short answer: no value at all. However, most people fantasize that their life has meaning.

 

[TheGoverness]

Because value is a relative term just like beauty. Which is more beautiful, Michelangelo's David or the Sistine Chapel paintings? Which is more valuable? Regardless of the answer, it's an arbitrary answer because there is no universal standard of measurement.

Same goes for human beings. Sure, most of us are valuable to ourselves and most of us have mothers who think we are the most valuable thing in the Universe, but the reality is, again, there is no universal standard of measurement. You and I are each no more valuable than a rock in the Asteroid Belt or a hydrogen gas atom orbiting our galaxy.

A person who says we are all equally valuable is also saying we are all equally valueless. A 100km-diameter asteroid could slam into the Earth, wiping out all life, and what is lost as far as the Universe is concerned? What value to the Universe is the survival of the human race or the elimination of the human race? Short answer: no value at all. However, most people fantasize that their life has meaning.

Of course value is relative, and that's not what my argument is. It's all going to be arbitrary, because it's a perspective, a perspective that not everyone is going to share. When it comes to me and how I value myself, I place my life's value on certain things. In the grand scale of things, is me, a small human on a small, probably insignificant planet in a ever expanding universe going to make much of an imprint? No, not really. But I don't care about that, because it's not insignificant to me; it's all I know. I don't care if I'm more valuable than an asteroid, or whatever. What I care about is my society and the relationships that I've forged; those are entirely more important to me than grasping for some spirtual concept of "meaning".

But that's my perspective.

 

[calamity]

Agreed to an extent. While I believe there is more to existence than the Natural Universe, our brains and body are how we interface with this Universe. People with dementia, TBIs, genetic issues, etc, have a problem interfacing the Universe. Their thinking is distorted.

We see people with all sorts of off-the-wall thinking online. IMO, the number of people with mental disorders is higher online than IRL.

If a person with a damaged brain commits an offense, is it because they are "bad" or is it because they have a damaged brain?

Hint: this is not ****ing hard.

 

[calamity]

Do you think any part of you transcends death? Or do you think we're all ambulatory meat computers responding to biochemical programming and of no real value except for our component parts....of which most is water?

Define "transcends death."

When we die our body heat leaves, thereby transcending death, if you will. But, does an actual conscious portion of our functioning brain move on to another place? I see no evidence suggesting it would.

 

[Divine_Wind]

If a person with a damaged brain commits an offense, is it because they are "bad" or is it because they have a damaged brain?

Hint: this is not ****ing hard.

Damaged brain. However, unless there's a cure, that person needs to be isolated to prevent harm to others or themselves.

 

[Divine_Wind]

Define "transcends death."

When we die our body heat leaves, thereby transcending death, if you will. But, does an actual conscious portion of our functioning brain move on to another place? I see no evidence suggesting it would.

ROFL How about "Hint: this is not ****ing hard"? It means exists beyond mortal existence.

There is no evidence anything of the person exists beyond the physical universe. That's why it's spiritual, not physical or mental. At the moment, it can't be measured.

Imagine traveling back 10,000 years with an iPhone. It exists but you'd have no way to charge it, no Wifi and no cell towers much less anyone to call. For a short time you'd have a neat little computer and a flashlight. If you had a solar charger, you could keep using it until one or the other breaks, most likely the charging cord first. Regardless, does that negate the existence of radio waves? The physics of what allows it to work? Of course not. The concept that a part of us, some believe all living things, transcends death is very old and cross-cultural. We can't say it definitely exists but neither can we can it definitely doesn't exist.

Still, there's the big mystery of why the Universe came into existence. Some don't care. It just "is". Others are curious. Some of those that don't care like to attack those who are curious. Some of those who are curious like to attack those who don't care. Regardless of who is attacking whom, both tend to be idiots. Not for believing what they believe but for seeking to force or bully others into believing what they believe.

 

[TheGoverness]

The concept that a part of us, some believe all living things, transcends death is very old and cross-cultural.

That doesn't add legitimacy to the existence of a soul.

We can't say it definitely exists but neither can we can it definitely doesn't exist.

That's a burden of proof falacy. The fact that it cannot be entirely disproven, does not lean credence to it's existence. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and there is zero substantial evidence to support the existence of a soul.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Agreed to an extent. While I believe there is more to existence than the Natural Universe, our brains and body are how we interface with this Universe. People with dementia, TBIs, genetic issues, etc, have a problem interfacing the Universe. Their thinking is distorted.

Yes, "our brains and body are how we interface with this Universe."

 

[Luther]

Yes, "our brains and body are how we interface with this Universe."

Off topic here, but just curious on how you and Lorenzo are doing?

 

[Good4Nothin]

What's with the either-or options?

I don't believe anything of us transcends death, because I see no evidence of such things. However, that doesn't mean we as people don't have value or no worth at all. I don't need to believe in spritual transcendence to make my life feel that I have meaning. My "meaning" in my life is to care people that I love, and do my best to be a productive member of society, and give back to the community. I've only got so much time here on this Earth, and I want to spend it with the people that I love, and doing things that I enjoy. That's what I put worth in, and I don't need to believe in spiritual transcendence to find value in that, or myself.

Well yeah, a lot of people are not interested in speculating about the unknowable. But there is plenty of evidence, since people have been communicating with beings in other dimensions since forever. They always did, and they still do.

Of course the atheist/materialists have their all-purpose answer to this -- it's all hallucinations. Well that's easy enough to say, if you are determined to be an atheist/materialist no matter what the evidence.

And there are many other reasons for believing in other realities. Physics definitely suggests it.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Define "transcends death."

When we die our body heat leaves, thereby transcending death, if you will. But, does an actual conscious portion of our functioning brain move on to another place? I see no evidence suggesting it would.

And you, of course, know all about everything. Nothing left to discover about this life.

 

[Good4Nothin]

ROFL How about "Hint: this is not ****ing hard"? It means exists beyond mortal existence.

There is no evidence anything of the person exists beyond the physical universe. That's why it's spiritual, not physical or mental. At the moment, it can't be measured.

Imagine traveling back 10,000 years with an iPhone. It exists but you'd have no way to charge it, no Wifi and no cell towers much less anyone to call. For a short time you'd have a neat little computer and a flashlight. If you had a solar charger, you could keep using it until one or the other breaks, most likely the charging cord first. Regardless, does that negate the existence of radio waves? The physics of what allows it to work? Of course not. The concept that a part of us, some believe all living things, transcends death is very old and cross-cultural. We can't say it definitely exists but neither can we can it definitely doesn't exist.

Still, there's the big mystery of why the Universe came into existence. Some don't care. It just "is". Others are curious. Some of those that don't care like to attack those who are curious. Some of those who are curious like to attack those who don't care. Regardless of who is attacking whom, both tend to be idiots. Not for believing what they believe but for seeking to force or bully others into believing what they believe.

:applaud:agree

 

[Good4Nothin]

That doesn't add legitimacy to the existence of a soul.



That's a burden of proof falacy. The fact that it cannot be entirely disproven, does not lean credence to it's existence. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and there is zero substantial evidence to support the existence of a soul.

You have never seen evidence, and you have never heard or read about evidence. People go out of their physical bodies -- that is good evidence for a soul. Of course, the atheist/materialists came up with convoluted ridiculous explanations.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Off topic here, but just curious on how you and Lorenzo are doing?

He says he will still always love me, although he has given up trying to get me in bed. We are still friends and we still hug.

 

[TheGoverness]

Well yeah, a lot of people are not interested in speculating about the unknowable.

Actually, I am interested in speculation about the universe. That's why I love Lovecraftian horror so much; interest in the unknown. I just don't believe in the concept of a soul or anything spritual in nature.

But there is plenty of evidence, since people have been communicating with beings in other dimensions since forever. They always did, and they still do.

Um, no. You might have people that said they've communicated with beings from other dimensions, that is not evidence of such. You apparently have a critical misunderstanding about what constitutes evidence.

 

[Luther]

He says he will still always love me, although he has given up trying to get me in bed. We are still friends and we still hug.

Cool

Maybe one day a more romantic part of you will emerge

 

[Good4Nothin]

Actually, I am interested in speculation about the universe. That's why I love Lovecraftian horror so much; interest in the unknown. I just don't believe in the concept of a soul or anything spritual in nature.



Um, no. You might have people that said they've communicated with beings from other dimensions, that is not evidence of such. You apparently have a critical misunderstanding about what constitutes evidence.

No I have no misunderstanding about that. The best scientific evidence is from controlled experiments. But it's ridiculous to ignore experiences that people have always had in all times and places.

Doing controlled experiments on the supernatural is difficult or impossible. We should not ignore what we experience ourselves, we should not assume any paranormal experience must be a hallucination, just because the atheists say it is.

The evidence for other levels and aspects of reality is plentiful, and is supported by physics.

The only people who flatly deny it are the atheist/materialists. Because they need to think everyone who has paranormal experiences is a nut. Maybe they are envious that they can't experience these things.

 

[TheGoverness]

No I have no misunderstanding about that. The best scientific evidence is from controlled experiments. But it's ridiculous to ignore experiences that people have always had in all times and places.

You obviously do have a misunderstanding, because if you understood what actually constitutes as valid evidence, you would understand that anecdotal personal experiences do not constitute as evidence that is testable and falsifiable.

Someone saying they spoke to spirts/transcended into another reality/etc. is not evidence that that actually happened.