# Atheist's Afterlife! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 17, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718 "2011-02-17T17:17:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/21 "2011-02-17T18:57:44Z")
Oblivion. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/22 "2011-02-17T19:02:22Z")
Moved from IMHO to MPSIMS at OP’s request. Either way seems like a borderline case straddling the fence between the two forums. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/23 "2011-02-17T19:06:21Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I imagine that witnessing things like this would be colossally boring. Would you speed them up or anything? Yes of course! Well to an extent. I would want to see the actual colors of the skins of dinosaurs. I would want to see the incidence of the meteor that hit the Yucatan peninsular, But remembering that I have an eternity to spend then I wouldn’t rush through things too much ( my previous TIVO comment was comic relief) ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/24 "2011-02-17T19:08:36Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Oblivion. Wow! immediately? You wouldn’t like an excursion before you choose that option? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/25 "2011-02-17T19:12:23Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Dude, you don’t want to hang with the jocks, they’ll beat you up. 😃 I was once called the meanest 135 pound nose guard in the state. Of course, I was also the only 135 pound nose guard in the state. But, of jocks, I am one. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/26 "2011-02-17T19:16:44Z")
My afterlife would be hanging out with other dead people, such as my sister, and we’d go places and do things. Time travel to experience past eras. If we can inhabit other people in the past or present I’d want to be able to know which person my sister was inhabiting so we could do things together. I’d want to do some space travel too, to see what’s really out there, with my own eyes. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/27 "2011-02-17T19:24:36Z")
I’d like the selective time travel condition as well. It’d be great knowing what really happened, who actually did the evil / wonderful deed. And also, ice cream and french fries would be considered health food in my afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/28 "2011-02-17T19:45:45Z")
A few requirements: - Near-absolute control over my own memories. Eternity is a long time, and eventually I’m going to start repeating things. If I find I enjoy learning to play the violin, I want to be able to forget how to play so I can learn it again (after trying every other instrument first, of course). And I might want to discard some particularly painful memories (not all, of course–some memories, even bad ones, are too valuable to throw away). - A kind of “guardian angel” that doesn’t allow me to get into too much trouble. For instance, it might let me try out being a soldier in WW2 for a month without the ability to go back (until the month has passed)–just to see what it’s like to be trapped in that kind of situation. But if, in a fit of boredom, I want to try out an actual hell for a billion years, it might decide to let me change my mind. Or, the guardian might not allow me to degrade my intelligence below a certain point, since that could end up a one-way process, unless I had passed some tests demonstrating that I really, really wanted that. Besides that, I’d want to pretty much try _everything_. Though perhaps my opinion is invalid since I’ve never lost anyone truly special to me, visiting dead relatives/friends/pets is just about at the bottom of my list. Sometimes you have to move on. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/29 "2011-02-18T02:26:13Z")
I want to come back as “Q” from STNG. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/30 "2011-02-18T02:31:44Z")
Oh, I get to choose? hmm Do I get to be young, attractive, spicy, and the opposite gender if I want to be? If so, then I’d choose to be a young, attractive, spicy male surrounded by a bevy of infertile, attractive, very sexually active women. If not, I want to know where the aliens are, and go there as ambassador of earth. Or at least watch them for a little while if I can’t interact. Then oblivion’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/31 "2011-02-18T03:26:52Z")
For quite a while back in the 1960s-1970s, I wanted to come back as one of Linda Ronstadt’s tee shirts. I think now that I’d like reincarnation, if I could just force myself to believe in it. As of this moment, I believe that when I’m dead, I’m dead. End of story. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/32 "2011-02-18T04:09:02Z")
I think I’d like to become part of the internet. Not like a fixed address or anything. Just able to bounce through the wires, see what everyone else is seeing. And I guess if somehow the internet goes the way of the Betamax, I’ll just fade away. ---
**Author:** ![Cyningablod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Cyningablod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyningablod)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/33 "2011-02-18T04:46:10Z")
I choose instant oblivion after my earthly human life. Don’t ask me why–I dunno. I guess I’ve just gotten used to the idea that that’s actually what’s gonna happen. I’m genuinely not interested in fantasies about immortality or superpowers. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/34 "2011-02-18T04:47:06Z")
I want to be able to live on earth for one day every hundred years, forever. I just want to know what’s going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/35 "2011-02-18T07:23:33Z")
Goddammit, I want my oblivion ! I’ve played along, been a good soldier and this whole consciousness thing has gone on long enough, thank you very much. Non-existence me, plox. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/36 "2011-02-18T07:46:34Z")
I dunno, a beer and stripper factory sounds pretty heavenly. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/37 "2011-02-18T09:32:47Z")
I want to understand what the hell’s going on with the world. I want awareness of my life and where I went wrong. Then I want to sit under a tree on a sunny day, in a gentle breeze, reading my favourite book, sipping an ice cold glass of lemonade. Forever. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/38 "2011-02-18T09:46:24Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Oblivion. [You want to be in a land of shoddy textures, creepy stiff people and an uneven levelling system?](http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion) I’d like a college movie montage of all the people I’ve met, with subtitles telling me what they all did with their lives after I lost touch. Then a boat, and an ocean to cross. But with good weather and an autopilot so I could veg out and play video games from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/39 "2011-02-18T13:24:23Z")
I could spend an eternity meeting those who came before, family and famous, and all in between. Imagine talking to people who lived events that eventually were seen as pivotal or world-changing and hearing what really happened, what they intended, what they were thinking… I dunno - I’d find that a fascinating way to spend an afterlife. First on the list would be lunch with Richard Feynman. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718/40 "2011-02-18T16:47:55Z")
In my heaven, sugar **kills** the germs that cause tooth decay. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-afterlife/571718.md?page=3)