# "Nobody really knows what happens after death." Is that just pc BS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 9, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278 "2012-03-09T15:39:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/181 "2014-11-20T20:30:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > “What happens to my consciousness after I die?” > “Your secret identical twin that lives in another universe will continue to live your life for you!” Well, except for the fact that it’s not a secret and it’s not an identical twin but it’s basically you…yeah. That’s it in a nut shell. Thanks for condensing it so well though. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/182 "2014-11-20T20:31:49Z")
XT, you’re not offering a significant argument here. Even if there are duplicates in other worlds, that matters not at all for what your life is after you die. If I duplicate you with a magic wand, and shoot the original. The other “you” is a copy. and may be close enough for your wife and children to love, but the fact is that the original you shut off and ended when the bullet punctured his noodle. The original you is utterly unaffected by there being any number of copies. Especially if those copies live in another universe that can’t be interacted with. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/183 "2014-11-20T20:40:52Z")
If in any sense you go on in another universe after you die, another you in a universe where you have already died clearly goes on in you. Therefore, this is the afterlife for that version. Hope that makes you feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/184 "2014-11-20T20:46:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > If in any sense you go on in another universe after you die, another you in a universe where you have already died clearly goes on in you. Therefore, this is the afterlife for that version. > Hope that makes you feel better. If _I_ have an “afterlife”, _I_ was really hoping _I_ would be there to enjoy it. Know what I mean? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/185 "2014-11-20T20:59:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If _I_ have an “afterlife”, _I_ was really hoping _I_ would be there to enjoy it. > > Know what I mean? You can’t enjoy your afterlife, but you can enjoy someone elses But I don’t see any angels around here. Or virgins. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/186 "2014-11-20T21:04:40Z")
[QUOTE=x-ray vision] Yeah, again, it basically is. Much more so than you calling a duplicate of me that is a little different than me “me.” [/QUOTE] Again, no…it’s not a clone. > [@](#): > > No. Something about our brains are different or we would have flipped the coins exactly the same. Why? I flipped the coin. You haven’t even ever physically met me. How does me flipping a coin hundreds or thousands of miles (or mere feet) from you affect you in any way? > [@](#): > > If something in our environment was different to cause our coin flips to be different, then the differences in the environment caused our brains to have different experiences, and by definition our brains are not exact duplicates of one another, regardless of how slight that difference is. I didn’t tell you the outcome. You have no idea…you have no idea if I even flipped the coin. Nor does the alternative you in another universe. > [@](#): > > Same with your choking on a burger scenario. If one lives in an environment where he lives and the other dies, neither the universes nor the brains are exact to the other. At that point that there is a divergence you are correct. So, another you with exactly the same memories, relationships and life that doesn’t choke on a burger and die will live on, but it won’t be you because it won’t have those last memories of choking on a burger in rage over this discussion. And you figure that means that ‘you’ won’t live on, even though all your memories and experiences up to that point are exactly equal. Well, ok then. > [@](#): > > You need to look up the word “exact.” If he’s having experiences that differ than mine (which he is if he dies and I continue to live, have experiences, etc.), his brain can’t possibly exactly be mine. If you say so. If you really feel that the alternative x-ray vision’s living in myriad alternative universes to ours where I flipped a coin, didn’t flip a coin or decided to go out for pizza instead of tacos today are different than you are because of that, well, not much I can say about that. You believe what you believe. Assuming the theory/speculation on all of this is correct though, they ARE you at the most fundamental level, and my coin flip (or, some other guys coin flip that we are never aware of) isn’t going to change that. > [@](#): > > Yes, it is. There’s no more evidence that there is an exact universe where exactly the same stuff happens to us, (except for “little” differences, like one of us dies) than there are fairies in middle earth. Only if you believe all that science stuff has no more validity than fairies in middle earth I guess. > [@](#): > > Even if there was, it would be irrelevant. I am not my duplicate. If I became 100% convinced that there is an exact duplicate of me having the same experiences and everything is exactly the same, I would not be okay with dying. I want to live because “I” want to live. I don’t care if my duplicate does. My consciousness is separate from his regardless if his is identical. Something will or won’t happen to “me” when I die and his brain will go on to make even more changes and he won’t be “me” by any definition. I am not my duplicate, and I am not a duplicate if we don’t do exactly the same things. I disagree. If there is a parallel universe exactly like this one except for one small difference (a butterfly flapped it’s wings in China instead of taking a nap today) then you are in both, and both of you are you. It’s a valid point of debate though, I grant, and the whole thing is purely speculative to be sure. > [@](#): > > I don’t see how you think what you’re talking about is relevant to the OP. And I honestly don’t see how it’s not relevant to the question asked in the OP. It’s merely a different way of looking at the question…and a difference in opinion as to the implications. I think those other copies of you (or me, or even Czarcasm) ARE us in the universes that are closest to our own. A me that is living in another universe that has just died does not render all of my memories moot because I don’t have the final memory of that death…all MY memories and experiences are still here, so I go on even though that other me is now dead. > [@](#): > > I’m not knee-jerking. I’ve thought about what you wrote and have concluded that a duplicate of me with different experiences is not only not “me”, it’s not even an exact duplicate. Fair enough then. At least you seriously thought about it, which is all I was asking for. > [@](#): > > Explain how flipping a coin creates a universe. Explain how a coin flip could have a different result when everything about the universe is exactly the same as the other. Explain why the synapses in my brain are exactly the same as a duplicate of me where a coin flip isn’t exactly the same. Explain how I would have the same brain when I die as an exact duplicate of me has that already died by having a life different enough than mine where he choked on a cheeseburger and I continue to live and have changes happen in my brain. You are asking me to explain quantum physics and the many worlds interpretation of that, something I doubt more than a handful of humans on the earth really understand. 😛 My no doubt flawed understanding is that in an infinite universe (or infinite multi-verse I guess), all choices are not only possible or probable but happen. So, flipping a coin means that both heads AND tails are not just possible but happen. When you flip that coin it spawns another universe where whatever outcome didn’t happen in your universe happens in the other (and, hell, probably infinite other branchings of other possibilities). You could, perhaps, make a case that if YOU flipped the coin that the result would make some fundamental difference between the you that got a heads and the you that got a tails, I guess (though that’s a pretty minor difference), but not if I flipped the coin…or if someone else on the earth did. > [@](#): > > "And how is an exact copy of me that lives in different circumstances than me and/or makes different decisions an “exact” copy? " Because I’m not talking about the myriad you’s that live slightly different lives. Those are still ‘you’, IMHO, but you are right…their lives are slightly different. I’m talking about a ‘you’ that is living in this universe where I flipped a coin and got heads and one where I flipped a coin and got tails…and ones where I didn’t flip a coin, or used the coin to by a gum ball, or countless other things that you have no idea what the outcome is or was or would be. Those you’s are exactly you on every level…same exact memories, same exact experiences down to the sub-atomic level. They are you in every meaningful way. I don’t know how to explain it differently than that, to be honest, as I don’t have the math or the theoretical physics background, or probably the intelligence needed (like I said, I got a B in my college 3rd year physics, and that was as far as I went since that’s all that was required for my degree). > [@](#): > > If one has experiences where he chokes on a cheeseburger and dies and the other doesn’t, and gets to live longer, how are their brains duplicates of one another? Obviously at the divergence they will be different with different experiences. An infinite number of you’s are now dead in an infinite number of ways, while an infinite number of you’s live on in various ways. They are all you, though, even if some of them have slightly different memories. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/187 "2014-11-20T21:17:09Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > XT, you’re not offering a significant argument here. Even if there are duplicates in other worlds, that matters not at all for what your life is after you die. > > If I duplicate you with a magic wand, and shoot the original. The other “you” is a copy. and may be close enough for your wife and children to love, but the fact is that the original you shut off and ended when the bullet punctured his noodle. > > The original you is utterly unaffected by there being any number of copies. Especially if those copies live in another universe that can’t be interacted with. Well, nothing new about me not offering a significant argument. 😛 I disagree with your assessment here, of course. If you create a duplicate of me down to the last atom, it IS me. It’s the same argument as using the Star Trek transporter. Kirk et al get destroyed, copies and then the bits put back together. It’s still them. Honestly, the only way this wouldn’t be the case, IMHO anyway, is if that soul thingy were real, which I don’t believe in and see no evidence for. If you don’t see it that way, that’s fine. I seem to be in the minority here (no change there either), but I think it’s interesting. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/188 "2014-11-20T23:35:24Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Again, no…it’s not a clone. That’s the third time you omitted “basically” that I put before it. I used the word as I was responding to what you wrote which was: _“They speculate that they are essentially exact copies of ‘you’. Maybe one of ‘you’ decides to text while driving and gets his just rewards, while others don’t and continue on. They are all still ‘you’, basically,”_ If we’re not exactly the same, we’re different. Our memories and experiences will be different. That makes us different. That makes your argument fall apart (among other claims that make it fall apart). If one decides to do something different than me, his brain is different than mine, regardless of how small that difference is. But it’s still irrelevant to the discussion the OP started. Either something happens to both of us when we die or it doesn’t. An exact duplicate getting to live, have different experiences and brain changes and dying as a unique individual (which he will be if he lives even one nanosecond more) has zero to do with anything. > [@](#): > > Why? I flipped the coin. You haven’t even ever physically met me. How does me flipping a coin hundreds or thousands of miles (or mere feet) from you affect you in any way? I must have misunderstood you. I thought my duplicate and I both witness the coin flips but the outcomes are different. > [@](#): > > At that point that there is a divergence you are correct. So, another you with exactly the same memories, relationships and life that doesn’t choke on a burger and die will live on, but it won’t be you because it won’t have those last memories of choking on a burger in rage over this discussion. And you figure that means that ‘you’ won’t live on, even though all your memories and experiences up to that point are exactly equal. Well, ok then. Which means that this has nothing to do with the OP. One being is dead. The other isn’t. The OP is in reference to what happens to the being that dies. The OP didn’t ask what happens to our memories when we die. An almost exact being having almost all of the exact memories but getting to live because for some reason only one of his choices was different is irrelevant. If he makes a different choice, then his brain is not identical. It makes no sense to say every other little thing he’s done in his life has been identical if his brain and universe are the same and claim that you are somehow talking about a valid scientific theory. > [@](#): > > Assuming the theory/speculation on all of this is correct though, they ARE you at the most fundamental level, and my coin flip (or, some other guys coin flip that we are never aware of) isn’t going to change that. No, I am me and he is he. Alone I weigh what I do and together we weigh twice as much. We are made of different atoms regardless of out protons, neutrons, and electrons being exactly alike. If everything in the two universes are exactly alike, then either nothing happens to us, we both have a souls arise or some other thing. This doesn’t answer the OP. If one chokes to death on a cheeseburger and the other doesn’t, then the two universes aren’t exactly alike and the two people will die at different times and the OP is still not addressed. What happens to the one that died? I have “almost” the same memories and then will have many more, but what happened to “him”? I won’t have “his” memories, I will have similar memories in my brain. His memories will cease to exist as “his” brain is no longer functioning. > [@](#): > > You are asking me to explain quantum physics and the many worlds interpretation of that, something I doubt more than a handful of humans on the earth really understand. Then can you show me where a scientist has provided evidence that a coin flip (or some other small event) being different in another universe can cause another universe to come into existence? Not that it would make two separate beings the same person or be relevant to the OP, but I’m curious to see the claim. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/189 "2014-11-21T00:10:56Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Isn’t it just more practical to say: If I let go of this pencil, it will land on the floor? If people came back from beyond the dead to tell us whether there was an afterlife or not, then that would be evidence. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/190 "2014-11-21T02:23:24Z")
> [@XT](#): > > If you don’t see it that way, that’s fine. I seem to be in the minority here (no change there either), but I think it’s interesting. More to the point, given that your view appears to be shared by no other participants of this thread, it is wandering well into hijack territory. Feel free to open a new thread to discuss your views, but drop it in this thread. **EVERYONE ELSE!** Do not bring up “rebuttals” to XT’s views in this thread. If he is not permitted to respond, you are not permitted to harp on the topic. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/191 "2014-11-21T03:19:16Z")
> [@XT](#): > > I’m not talking about an afterlife. I’m talking about ‘you’…and there are theories or at least real scientific thinking/speculation by real scientists that speculate on this question. Again, if there IS a multiverse composed of infinite (or even extremely large numbers of) parallel universes that have ‘you’ in them, then after ‘you’ die in THIS one ‘you’ can still go on in those other ones, in theory at least. And that’s the really nice outcome I mentioned previously : you miraculously keep living after 7 strokes, 5 cancers, a double amputation, being ran over by two cars, going blind and deaf by age 130, and so on. Assuming multiverses, it makes complete sense. All the potential you surviving should have a sense of continuity, so you would somehow survive until the heat death of the universe. But if true, it’s an unadulterated nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/192 "2014-11-21T03:28:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Even if one of the many speculations about multiple earths turns out to be true, what does the consciousness from your dying body have to do with the consciousness of the body of some alternate “you” that lived a life unconnected physically from yours? Did one of the scientists that proposed speculation about multiple earths also comment about some sort of connection between the consciousness of a person of one earth and the consciousness of a person from another earth? The thing is : you don’t die in this scenario. All the possible versions of you are still you. Yes, in some universes, you die, but it doesn’t matter since there are still many identical copies of you, remembering they are you and still living. So, it’s you still living. If you don’t accept this premice, then it means that you “die”, disappear, at each instant, being replaced by a large number a identical copies that aren’t you (similar to the teleportation issue). If you accept it, then it means that you keep living, because there’s always one of the branches were you survived against all odds. But then in what shape after, say, the first 200 years or so? Both prospects are very unpleasant IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/193 "2014-11-21T03:34:34Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > The thing is : you don’t die in this scenario. All the possible versions of you are still you. Yes, in some universes, you die, but it doesn’t matter since there are still many identical copies of you, remembering they are you and still living. So, it’s you still living. > > If you don’t accept this premice, then it means that you “die”, disappear, at each instant, being replaced by a large number a identical copies that aren’t you (similar to the teleportation issue). > > If you accept it, then it means that you keep living, because there’s always one of the branches were you survived against all odds. But then in what shape after, say, the first 200 years or so? > > Both prospects are very unpleasant IMO. See post #190. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/194 "2014-11-21T03:44:58Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > How strong is the evidence that universe with exact copies exist, anyway? Not that it’s relevant since my body dying is not the same as an exact copy living a life where he makes different choices lives. I don’t think it would be possible for an exact copy living in exact circumstances to make different choices, but this is really a discussion for another thread. In this hypothesis, you’re making all possible choices at every instant (and all possible things happen at every instant). So at the instant you’re reading this sentence, a massive number of universe is created. An untold number where you keep reading, and an untold number where you stop reading. In some you keep reading and pick your nose, in some you keep reading and don’t pick your nose, in some you keep reading, pick your nose and the ceiling suddenly collapses on your head, in some you keep reading, pick your nose and the ceiling doesn’t collapses. In some you keep reading, pick your nose, the ceiling collapses and you die, in some you keep reading, you pick your nose, the ceiling collapses and you survive. And you’ll keep surviving, branches after branches, because there’s always a “you” to ensure continuity. Note that besides guaranteeing you eternal life, this hypothesis also guarantees that you have absolutely no free will, since you will do absolutely everything that you possibly can, every conceivable arrangement of the universe having its own branch. For instance, there’s one where you’re so happy to have read my post that you send me a 50 000 check. In others, some particles in your brain will behave a bit differently, your neurons will fire in a slightly different way, and you'll send me a check of only 49 000. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/195 "2014-11-21T03:47:56Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > More to the point, given that your view appears to be shared by no other participants of this thread, it is wandering well into hijack territory. > Feel free to open a new thread to discuss your views, but drop it in this thread. > > **EVERYONE ELSE!** Do not bring up “rebuttals” to XT’s views in this thread. > If he is not permitted to respond, you are not permitted to harp on the topic. > > [/Moderating] Wait a minute…WTF? Guaranteed survival in the multi world hypothesis is a perfectly well known idea, and which has been mentioned many times on this board. Since when are we banned from mentioning something that is perfctly relevant to the thread just because only one of the participants supports it? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/196 "2014-11-21T14:31:43Z")
There is a bit of circular reasoning in the OP and other posts, not on what happens after death, but what is ‘life’ & consciousness, which should be definable, provable, observable, and understandable if it is entirely within the electrochemical body, but we have not done that yet. This if done could prove the OP’s conjecture ‘when you die that is it’. So yeah if you define life & consciousness as what is in the body, and the body ceases to function then life ceases to function, so when you die that is it, but that is only because you defined what life is by a unproven belief as a starting point. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/197 "2014-11-21T15:11:47Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > There is a bit of circular reasoning in the OP and other posts, not on what happens after death, but what is ‘life’ & consciousness, which should be definable, provable, observable, and understandable if it is entirely within the electrochemical body, but we have not done that yet. This if done could prove the OP’s conjecture ‘when you die that is it’. > > So yeah if you define life & consciousness as what is in the body, and the body ceases to function then life ceases to function, so when you die that is it, but that is only because you defined what life is by a unproven belief as a starting point. The definitions stem from the evidence collected so far, not from an unproven belief. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/198 "2014-11-21T16:02:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The definitions stem from the evidence collected so far, not from an unproven belief. And also fails on that very premise, the evidence collected so far does not support the claim. But if the claim is true it should: Here’s the thing with this line, if the ‘life and consciousness’ is entirely within the biological ‘unit’ then it is highly likely is it provable and understandable (for the very reason that it is totally within the biological unit - i.e. no spiritual or other component). Since that has not yet been proven, but if the OP statement happens to be correct, it is highly likely provable and therefore needs to be proven as fact before the OP’s conjecture is taken as anything more then a belief. Then it would be a error to state that ‘when you die that’s it’ because knowing that would mean that we have proven what ‘life and consciousness’ is. And again if, and only if, the OP is correct that is very likely provable due to the conditions of what life needs to be to fit the conjecture put forth. So the OP’s really statement falls to ‘We don’t know what happens after death’ because the statement he made is self contradictory. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/199 "2014-11-21T16:14:22Z")
Or simplified (the contradictory nature of the OP’s premise): 1: If a statement is known to be provable, it should not be taken (nor stated) as fact till it is proven. 2: The OP’s statement if correct should be provable. So the OP is not stating a fact because he does not know. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278/200 "2014-11-21T16:14:37Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > And also fails on that very premise, the evidence collected so far does not support the claim. Can you support this declarative statement? In what way does the verifiable evidence collected so far not support the claim? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-really-knows-what-happens-after-death-is-that-just-pc-bs/615278.md?page=11)