My mention of embryogenesis and the appearance of recognizable parts of the brain was in response to this part of a post by Stoid.
I’m not sure exactly what Stoid meant by “activated” (though it seemed, given the context of the rest of that post, to me to be a suggestion that some non-material “thing” – a soul, I suppose – might enter the brain at some unspecified time and begin to interact with it in some unspecified manner). The larger point behind my response was that once conception happens – given normal development – the brain will appear as part of embryogenesis, and grow, and begin to do everything the brain does: IOW, the biological process of reproduction activates the brain simply by bringing it into being; there is no need to posit a soul, as, given normal development, a necessary outcome of the increasing complexity of the brain is what we call consciousness.
In the spirit of this thread, I have (through an amazing episode of thought transference*) discovered an explanation that covers NDEs, the afterlife and more - and it relies on quantum theory!
With this technique you can jump between universes, meet up with Princess Diana, conduct live healing and eliminate bad habits like smoking, gambling and Just Asking Questions**.
The website features a dramatic photo of Max Planck, which is almost as good as having Einstein on your team.
The head Quantum Jumper, Burt Goldman is an accomplished figure who makes Deepak Chopra look like Ben Stein.
I’m gonna try this stuff out and if you don’t see me posting for awhile, I’m in a parallel universe being fed grapes by Salma Hayek.
*actually it was a sponsored Google ad on the Dope.
**You can post anything you want and deny it later, since it’s all an illusion of physical reality!
If you’ve ever watched a kid grow, up close, they begin a bit less responsive than your average smart dog, and over the first years of life gain more and more abilities and more and more self-awareness. Newborns have to work out that their fingers belong to them. If a soul brings consciousness, it happens after birth.
And yes, that my little bundle of reflexes grew up into a young woman who I co-author papers with is amazing.
I haven’t read most of this thread: I apologize if this point has already been made.
You are asking what the definition of “Fact” is, in part.
fact
something that actually exists; reality; truth: Your fears have no basis in fact.
something known to exist or to have happened: Space travel is now a fact.
a truth known by actual experience or observation; something known to be true: Scientists gather facts about plant growth.
something said to be true or supposed to have happened: The facts given by the witness are highly questionable.
Law . Often, facts. an actual or alleged event or circumstance, as distinguished from its legal effect or consequence. Compare question of fact, question of law. Fact Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
In the sense of #2 and #3: it is not universally accepted that the afterlife does not exist: not a fact. In the sense of #5, it very well may be a question of fact whether the afterlife exists. In the sense of #1, Dio can claim that it is a fact that the afterlife does not exist: he is making a statement about reality, a fact.
I can also say in the sense of #4, that the facts of the woo-woo example are in dispute.
[hijack!] After some consideration, I surmise that the preponderance of the evidence favors an afterlife. I am willing to consider other hypotheses. After my major organs cease to function, life will most assuredly not disappear and even human life will continue. All major and minor categories of experience that I’ve encountered will repeat themselves – many times. Some of my precise experiences will not recur - but that fact obtains during my lifetime as well. Many of my memories of current events and all major categories of memory will be duplicated in other vessels after my organs cease function.
Conventional wisdom implies that there is a fixed self that is born, lives for a spell and dies: this of course is nonsense. I did not exist 3 years, 150 days, 3 hours and 2 minutes ago: it was somebody with a different set of memories and a different mental state at that point in time. (That guy even used my username on this board: the nerve!) I will not exist in 2 years, 43 days, 16 hours and 15 minutes: that will be a third person with different memories and mental state. Notwithstanding, all three of us will probably experience an afterlife, a set of mental states that follow the ones contemporaneously held. Of course, a sense of self is strongly selected for evolutionarily: it does not cease without some effort and endeavor. So the illusion persists.
There’s a third possibility. I cannot rule out the Great Hacker solution to the fine tuning problem. The Great Hacker may make backups, which implies an afterlife. Typically simulations are run many times: if the Great Hacker shares these practices and He does not rely wholly on parallel processing, then there will be an afterlife. Over and over and over again: when will it end?
I know that some people of faith will insist without evidence that there is no afterlife, but there’s just no reasoning with some people. [/hijack!]
That brings a smile to my face, Voyager. Yes, it is amazing. We ain’t writing papers together, but the little guy whose first slow blink I watched in the delivery room as I held him moments after his birth will soon graduate from high school. To watch the changes, especially over the first few years, was, and is, phenomenal.
And I absolutely agree that consciousness happens after birth – some time after 6 months would be my completely WAG … between then and 3 years.
Funnily enough, my post where I used the word “amazing” was typed as I held my seven-week-old son in my arms (my first child). Not easy to type with one hand! But anyway…if anything can push someone into extra-materialist “thinking”, this would be it. So far, I have passed this difficult test, by resisting that temptation. But just barely!
P.S. Off-topic, but I recommend to all new fathers Nicholson Baker’s little book Room Temperature.
