# What's after death? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 15, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349 "2013-02-15T00:26:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/101 "2013-02-18T05:24:20Z")
> [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > Yes it does make sense. We’re all gonna die. There’s more after that for our consciousness or there’s not… period. It’s the end of us or it’s not. No, it _doesn’t_ make sense-not in response to the question I posed to you. When you said “We’ll have to wait and _see_” (my italicization), I responded with the question, “With what??” As in, with what will we be “seeing” anything with after death of the body? You answered that question with “We’re all gonna die!!” Which is clearly _not_ a sensible answer. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/102 "2013-02-18T05:26:08Z")
> [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > Man, you are hilarious! Can you not see how ridiculous your comments are? We are only stating what we THINK and maybe HOPE! What’s wrong with that? > > NOBODY KNOWS! Not you, not me! We keep repeating that no one does and you keep arguing with that. Good grief! There is NO evidence either way… that’s really the whole point we’re trying to make here. It’s a matter of what we choose to believe personally. Why can’t you leave it at that? > If we want to believe it, then that’s entirely up to us. There is plenty of evidence. If you drug someone or damage their brain their consciousness is altered. If consciousness was outside the brain, damaging the brain shouldn’t damage the consciousness. Brain damage can cause huge changes in behavior and ability. You are free to believe what you like, but if you believe in an afterlife it’s only a childish wish, not a rational belief. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/103 "2013-02-18T05:27:41Z")
> [@panaccione](#): > > No one knows or will ever know. It is a completely unanswerable question. No, it’s an _already answered_ question; most people just don’t want to hear the answer. ---
**Author:** ![IaMoDiNaRy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IaMoDiNaRy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IaMoDiNaRy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/104 "2013-02-18T05:40:51Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > The OP wasn’t taking a poll, they were asking for opinions. If you’ve got an opinion worth posting, you should be prepared to defend it. You can’t refuse to explain what you mean and then say “hey, you don’t know what I meant.” Either elaborate on your reasoning (such as it is) or concede that you’re _not_ reasoning, just feeling and hoping. Otherwise, you wind up with the sort of crappy thought process that results in someone believing in an after-life - oh, wait. I did NOT say “Hey, you don’t know what I meant.” and I didn’t refuse to explain anything. Please quote where I said that epbrown01. However, Onomatopoeia did say Quote “You want to believe there is something more when we die because it lessens your anxiety and fear about the finality of death. There is zero evidence that there is anything after death. All you’re doing is wishful thinking.” To that I replied that he doesn’t know me. I do not feel fear and anxiety about the finality of death. He can’t claim to know what I’m feeling since he doesn’t know me. And leave me to my wishful thinking. I’m not harming you or anyone else since it’s simply my own personal belief. I believe there is something more and I don’t have to defend or explain anything to you or anybody else. I simple stated what I think. I personally don’t care to challenge anyone on their beliefs. You think what you think and good for you. I think what I think and that’s it. And if you think we’ll all be dead and done, why argue about it??? Ha! Seriously, why argue about it? ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/105 "2013-02-18T05:46:35Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, it’s an _already answered_ question; most people just don’t want to hear the answer. No, it’s a fallacious argument to say without a shred of doubt that “nothing happens.” Yes, everything we know and all the evidence we have points to this conclusion. But the fact that we don’t understand phenomenon of life itself, completely, lends credibility to the fact that we just don’t know, completely, without a shred of doubt. I’m an atheist. I think the Bible is for the most part stupid and wrong. However, I can still accept that they just might be right and I’m going to hell. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/106 "2013-02-18T05:50:27Z")
> [@panaccione](#): > > No, it’s a fallacious argument to say without a shred of doubt that “nothing happens.” Yes, everything we know and all the evidence we have points to this conclusion. But the fact that we don’t understand phenomenon of life itself, completely, lends credibility to the fact that we just don’t know, completely, without a shred of doubt. > > I’m an atheist. I think the Bible is for the most part stupid and wrong. However, I can still accept that they just might be right and I’m going to hell. It’s certainly possible that evidence is wrong. But it is unlikely in the extreme. I don’t give vampires or unicorns the benefit of the doubt. So I don’t give a supernatural copy of my consciousness popping off after my death one either. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/107 "2013-02-18T05:51:47Z")
> [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > And if you think we’ll all be dead and done, why argue about it??? Ha! Seriously, why argue about it? To help others not waste their lives on childish daydreams while the one and only life they have is ticking by. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/108 "2013-02-18T05:59:54Z")
> [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > You don’t know me, dude. So what I’m feeling and why I believe what I believe is something you can’t possibly claim to know… ALL you do know is what I’ve stated here. > > As for your certainty that there is nothing after death… you can’t possibly know that, either and neither do I. I’m curious, though. I’m not here arguing with anyone’s opinions. I merely stated my own. The OP asked the question “What’s after death?” You, on the other hand, seem to be hell bent on shooting me down since my opinion isn’t the same as yours. So WHY is that?? > > The last sentence of your post that I underlined… WTH? Calm down, … You seem to be the only one in this thread becoming emotional, which is your right, I guess. As to my certainty that there is nothing after death, you’re correct, I cannot possibly know. However, there is no reason to conclude that there is, or to believe it is even possible. You can believe what you want, but without proof or evidence of any kind, you really should expect to be queried about it, especially in a forum like this. We can measure what happens to the body and brain at the moment of death and afterwards. There is nothing to suggest that anything survives after that moment. Since you don’t want me to put words into your mouth what, other than fear or desire, causes you to place credence in a notion for which there has never been any confirming data? ---
**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, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/109 "2013-02-18T06:03:41Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I have a huge rock in my backyard. Now, I don’t ‘know’ that there isn’t a community of microscopic engineers and their families living under that rock preparing to take over the world, but the default position is to conclude that there are not. Doozers! ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/110 "2013-02-18T06:04:54Z")
> [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > I believe there is something more and **I don’t have to defend or explain anything to you or anybody else**. I simple stated what I think. Yeah, it’s pretty clear you and I differ on what “thinking” is. You’re basically saying your position is indefensible as far as logic and reason, but you believe it anyway. Your counter-arguments are all about what you “feel” and “believe” rather than logic or reason. That’s faith, and you’re not alone in that, but you’ve been misrepresenting it as reasoning. It’s not that you don’t have to explain it, it’s that you can’t using reason or logic. Why not concede that and move on? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/111 "2013-02-18T06:14:29Z")
> [@panaccione](#): > > No, it’s a fallacious argument to say without a shred of doubt that “nothing happens.” Yes, everything we know and all the evidence we have points to this conclusion. Which is as close to knowing “without a shred of doubt” as we can get in the real world, and mystical beliefs don’t deserve some special standard of evidence. A standard of evidence that is oh-so-conveniently impossible to reach. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/112 "2013-02-18T06:16:52Z")
> [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > Man, you are hilarious! Can you not see how ridiculous your comments are? We are only stating what we THINK and maybe HOPE! What’s wrong with that? > > NOBODY KNOWS! Not you, not me! We keep repeating that no one does and you keep arguing with that. Good grief! There is NO evidence either way… that’s really the whole point we’re trying to make here. It’s a matter of what we choose to believe personally. Why can’t you leave it at that? > If we want to believe it, then that’s entirely up to us. To put it simply, Occam’s Razor covers this pretty well. You can think whatever you want, but believing in an afterlife is an unnecessarily complicated prospect when the medical evidence we do have conclusively shows that death is the end of a person’s existence. There is no reason to believe otherwise. If you have a reason, any at all, then I’d like to hear it. To take this further, even if such a thing as an afterlife exists, we are unable to detect it. If we are unable to detect or calculate its possibility mathematically, then there’s no reason to propose it and for all intents and purposes it doesn’t exist. You’re still free to believe in it, as you’re free to believe in alien abduction, or a flat Earth, but until you can express a reason for such beliefs, many will consider it nonsense or, at best, a delusion. ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/113 "2013-02-18T06:23:13Z")
some people find it difficult to concede there are some things they just flat dont know. the whole point is death is the ultimate last frontier, and the people who are trying to speculate on what happens after death have not yet died …i think this bugs some people to simply say they dont know bc their not dead, so they insist on some belief, which is just that a belief, not a fact… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/114 "2013-02-18T06:27:08Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > some people find it difficult to concede there are some things they just flat dont know. the whole point is death is the uptimate last frontier, and the people who are trying to speculate on what happens after death have not yet died …i think this bugs some people to simply say they dont know bc their not dead, so they insist on some belief, which is just that a belief, not a fact.. Nonsense. We know what happens when people die, we see it all the time. It’s not an “ultimate frontier” any more than it’s a “frontier” when your car breaks. Do you think that your car’s soul goes off to car heaven? ---
**Author:** ![IaMoDiNaRy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IaMoDiNaRy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IaMoDiNaRy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/115 "2013-02-18T06:27:58Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > Yeah, it’s pretty clear you and I differ on what “thinking” is. You’re basically saying your position is indefensible as far as logic and reason, but you believe it anyway. Your counter-arguments are all about what you “feel” and “believe” rather than logic or reason. That’s faith, and you’re not alone in that, but you’ve been misrepresenting it as reasoning. It’s not that you don’t have to explain it, it’s that you can’t using reason or logic. Why not concede that and move on? I haven’t “misrepresented” anything. My comments have been simple and pretty straightforward. I BELIEVE there is something more. Period. And I’m definitely not alone in the world “thinking” what I “think” and believe. > [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > I don’t know what comes after our body dies but I’ve always found it very difficult to believe that all that we are ends when our body ceases to function. Who we are, our spirit?, our essence? Or whatever you want to call it is a wondrous thing. I refuse to believe that this is it for us… Nope, this isn’t it for me! I haven’t claimed to have evidence, I haven’t challenged anyone’s opinions that differ from mine. Can’t be any clearer than that. I stated, like several others have, that no one knows for sure. Not me, not you… ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/116 "2013-02-18T06:34:38Z")
der trihs, unless you have found a way to go with that person who died, INTO death, no, you dont know…unless you havent told us :). I am basing this on the assumption you have not yet been dead, and somehow came back… and forgive me for not debating your point that a person is a car. I disagree that a person can in any way be compared to metal ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/117 "2013-02-18T06:40:07Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > der trihs, > > unless you have found a way to go with that person who died, INTO death, no, you dont know…unless you havent told us :). Death isn’t some place you can go into, you can’t go into “death” any more than you can go into “broken”. > [@Tollhouse](#): > > and forgive me for not debating your point that a person is a car. I disagree that a person can in any way be compared to metal Because you want to pretend we are something mystical, instead of matter. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/118 "2013-02-18T06:41:30Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > some people find it difficult to concede there are some things they just flat dont know. the whole point is death is the ultimate last frontier, and the people who are trying to speculate on what happens after death have not yet died …i think this bugs some people to simply say they dont know bc their not dead, so they insist on some belief, which is just that a belief, not a fact.. Why do you use the word ‘frontier’ when speaking of death? Death is a finality, not a beginning. There is no reason to speculate on what happens after death, or that anything does. Stating that something is a possibility solely because no one can disprove it is faulty reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/119 "2013-02-18T06:44:27Z")
if you were dead back in the day 🙂 and can tell me what did or did not happen , i will give more weight to your words…but stating as fact what does or doesnt happen when you have never been ‘there’ makes your suppositions a belief of yours not a fact ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349/120 "2013-02-18T06:46:16Z")
der trihs, i never said death is necessarily a “place” you go…it is an experience, and those who dont experience it cannot say what those who died have experienced [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-after-death/650349.md?page=7)