It seems to me that your response presupposes an answer to the question; ie: you seem to have made a conclusion before there is any evidence one way or the other.
The scientific method requires that a testable hypothesis be proposed, then tests specified that can either prove or disprove the hypothesis.
So if we start with the hypothesis that reincarnation exists as a real phenomenon,what tests could we propose to test this?
Czarcasm’s response above seems to be on the right track. He specifies some things that he/she(?) would like to see in order to accept the hypothesis.
What other testable evidence would be required in order to prove/disprove the hypothesis?
I do not have ‘evidence’ that I was not reincarnated…the poster asked do you believe in reincarnation
So my answer was no, I do not believe in it
I cannot imagine one could come up with proof or evidence regarding something like reincarnation, unless you can subpoena dead people to testify :eek:that I was or wasn’t living centuries ago
Yes, I get that. Your response is an accurate response to the original question.
But looking at the broader issue, it is evident that everybody has an opinion on the subject. Also, there seems to be lack of definitive evidence underlying those opinions; furthermore, there seems to be a lack of agreement as to what would be acceptable evidence or proof for conclusively settling the question one way or the other.
Therefore, my questions are aimed at getting some kind of clarity as to what would be required in order to get a definitive answer to the question.
I don’t believe in past lives, I think the life you have is the only one you have. You being the key phrase, all that makes up your body is what allows your brain (feelings, emotions, fears, etc.) to cooperatively sustain any kind of emotional/spiritual activity. Any tangible materials leaving your body, become a part of your exterior environment for something else to use. Those materials don’t carry the memories, or anything else that existed in the current living being.
Go to Heaven
Go to Hell
Float around like a spirit
Be reincarnated as another being
Cease existing completely
None of the above
There’s is no proof for any of these so im entitled to believe that those who believe in reincarnation have just as much credibility as those who believe that when they die , they die.
Unless you can actually prove otherwise you cant rule it out. Theories exist until they can be proven otherwise and none of these theories canl ever be proven false.
Guess we will just have to see if theres life after death, or not
Well, you are wrong. All the evidence is that when we die we die we just stop; there’s no evidence at all that the other options are even possible. They are pure fantasy that contradicts what we know of how the world and our minds work.
Only the “we just go away” option qualifies as a theory.
If you want to close you mind up to all posibilities thats perfectly fine, you do you.
But there isnt a shred of evidence nor can there be disproving any of the theories of what happens after you pass on, unless you have died and came back to tell us all of what happened
You believe that once you die that’s its and that’s a fine belief to have but thats just you, not everyone shares your beliefs nor should they.
“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing”
You may want adopt this mindset, its a good one to have for us mere mortals
According to everything we know, those alternatives are not possibilities. They are impossible fantasies; the universe doesn’t work like that.
That’s nonsense. We have enough understanding of how the mind and brain works to predict with confidence that the mind dies with the brain. There’s plenty of evidence for how the brain works.
Honestly speaking unless your some kind of all knowing Omniscient God you can have no idea how the Universe works.
Cling to the supposed truths you know about life and death, your superior intellect clearly knows more about the entire universe than anyone who has ever lived before
You probably just mad because you cant ever prove what you think you know about the world and cant force others to see your point of view.
You may be right, and you may be wrong sad truth is whilst your still alive not matter how hard you try you will never know.
And no amount of arguing, and claiming they are impossible fantasies will change that.
In science a theory is not whatever random thoughts may pop into your skull. According to the National Academy of Sciences, it is "“a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment.” Of the limited number of ideas that you have listed above, the only one that comes close to being a theory is the fifth one, which is the default position because it is the only one we have actually observed so far, the only one for which we have evidence for(that would be evidence, not proof-two entirely different things). All your other choices are baseless speculation without any evidence at all to back them up.
We have tons of evidence for one possibility, and no evidence for any of your other possibilities.
Nobody here has made anything even close to that claim. Which poster are your responding to here?
The only one showing anger here seems to be you. Projection, maybe?
It may be that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong - but that’s the way to bet-Damon Runyon. Until evidence comes up that is strong enough to overturn what we now know, I’m not going to lose any sleep worrying about baseless speculations.
And no amount of evidence on one side versus absolutely no evidence on any of the other sides will seem to change yours.
We have never observed any of these, the only people who know or can what happens when they die are the dead. So im not sure what evidence you are speaking about?
And since we cant observe or experiment on the dead and ask them what happens (since they are dead) all of the scenarious are as possible as the others.
Again unless you have died and come back again how can you say you have observed the fifth one? And what makes them baseless speculation and the thought you have in your head the truth?
I find myself in this particular body, on this particular planet, at this particular time — it could be possible I’ll find myself in another body on the same or different planet, at the same or different time.
Perhaps there’s only one, hapless conscoiusness that subjectively experiences existence of all living beings that have and will exist throughout the universe.
If Reincarnation is real, am I limited to human existence, and where did I start? Where would I end? How many “others” are there?
Etc… As you can see, we have only one data point for experiencing self-awareness, and no evidence of experiencing any others (vague, subjective notions of such don’t count), suggesting that even if it were true, you wouldn’t/couldn’t know any better, so it makes no difference to just accept you surface to awareness some time after you were born, and cease to exist upon death.
I, and billions of others, have personally observed people existing.
I, and billions of others, have personally observed people cease to exist.
These two things are all that any of us have observed to date, so until evidence is brought forth that anything else happens, the current conclusion, based on the evidence I just presented, is that we live and then we die.
