To the Atheists on the forum.

JimiTime

This is from complete curiosity. I am not aiming to argue how wrong I think you are or how can you believe this or that, its just to satisfy my curiosity if you will.

As an atheist:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

Do you believe everything came from nothing? (I know evolutionists hate this term, but I'm stressing that an atheist does not believe in a higher power, so at somestage you have to consider a beginning, which leads to once again where that beginning came from etc etc etc. I'm not undermining the 'evidence' for evolution, I do understand that evolutionists say that they have only scrathched the surface etc.) or Are you just waiting on satisfactory evidence from science to show the beginning? or is it neither, maybe you don't really think about it, and don't want to as you feel it irrelelavent.

Just to be clear, I'm not looking for a debate, I would just like to know an atheist view of life and death, and even see if they vary from atheist to atheist.

Thanks.

babyvaio

JimiTime wrote:

This is from complete curiosity. I am not aiming to argue how wrong I think you are or how can you believe this or that, its just to satisfy my curiosity if you will.

As an atheist:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

Do you believe everything came from nothing? (I know evolutionists hate this term, but I'm stressing that an atheist does not believe in a higher power, so at somestage you have to consider a beginning, which leads to once again where that beginning came from etc etc etc. I'm not undermining the 'evidence' for evolution, I do understand that evolutionists say that they have only scrathched the surface etc.) or Are you just waiting on satisfactory evidence from science to show the beginning? or is it neither, maybe you don't really think about it, and don't want to as you feel it irrelelavent.

Just to be clear, I'm not looking for a debate, I would just like to know an atheist view of life and death, and even see if they vary from atheist to atheist.

Thanks.

Maybe they live to die, not live to live, they maybe live to eat, drink, enjoy, etc.? :cool:

Nevyn

Why start this thread here ?
Why not use the Agnotsic/atheist forum.
Here.

babyvaio

Thaedydal wrote:

Why start this thread here ?
Why not use the Agnotsic/atheist forum.
Here.

Maybe Jimi wanted to ask them in this subforum, cos they're all over the place, Jimi?

JimiTime

Thaedydal wrote:

Why start this thread here ?
Why not use the Agnotsic/atheist forum.
Here.

There are plenty of Atheists here, and this is where I always check out, so out of convenience really. I have talked to many here, and so in that context I'd like to keep it here if thats ok?

babyvaio wrote:

Maybe Jimi wanted to ask them in this subforum, cos they're all over the place, Jimi?

Ah yes, the omnipresent atheists:D

Son Goku

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

Yes, I think that life ends at the moment of death.

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe everything came from nothing? (I know evolutionists hate this term, but I'm stressing that an atheist does not believe in a higher power, so at some stage you have to consider a beginning, which leads to once again where that beginning came from etc etc etc.

I believe there is more than enough evidence from modern science to conclude that causality in only a feature of low energy sections of the universe.
Neither the universe itself nor certain high-energy phenomena seem to care about what we call time.
In this sense the words "came from" or "beginning" don't have the required scope to be sensical question about the universe.

Ciaran_D

Trying to recursively explain cause and effect leads to the Infinite regression problem, which is unlikely to yield any answers (in the scientific sense). Generally, there is always going to be an 'event horizon' beyond which science will not be able to formulate answers; that horizon being the big-bang. Talking about what happened previous to this moment makes no sense within the confines of contemporary science because the time/space exists outside our frame of reference - we can never have any knowledge of what is outside our closed system - the universe.
Inventing some entity or mechanism that exists outside this system (God) is irrelevant because it is not needed to explain the processes that occur within the system - those processes that are accessible to science and therefore scrutiny - and adds nothing of any worth (in my view) to an understanding of the natural world.
The atheistic view is therefore quite simple - the life/death process is only one of innumerable processes that occur within this closed system, and needs no special explanation.

Schuhart

Son Goku wrote:

Yes, I think that life ends at the moment of death.

I’d agree with that.

Son Goku wrote:

In this sense the words "came from" or "beginning" don't have the required scope to be sensical question about the universe.

If, in layman’s terms, this is much the same as saying the universe may have always been there, I’d agree with that also. But I’d accept this is a simplification, as you are saying that our everyday notion of time doesn’t have relevance once we step outside of our immediate reality.

I think scientific enquiry into the origins of the universe is valid, and hearing about the results of enquiry can be interesting. But, on Jimi’s point of how crucial this is to our outlook, I think for most people its enough just to know that the origin and end of the universe are so far beyond reach compared to our life span as individuals that we might as well regard it as eternal.

The job then is to focus on the more parochial concern of how we manage our affairs on this planet, on the grounds that it’s the only one we’re ever likely to have.

babyvaio

A question for atheists:

Do you think soul exists? If so, what do you think happens to it after the death of the body?

Schuhart

That may depend on how you define ‘soul’. We have consciousness, but then so does a dog – even if our consciousness is far more complex and capable of doing more things. Would you mean some soul to mean some attribute that we have but a dog does not have?

IFX

babyvaio wrote:

A question for atheists:

Do you think soul exists? If so, what do you think happens to it after the death of the body?

It remains in the memory of others.
As for death, atheism is non adverserial about that. We are all go to nothing, i.e. the same place many theists accept we came from before we were born.

Most of theism is adverserial about death, you go one place if you have been approved another place if you have not. Atheism there is no distinction, we all go to the same nothing.

Ciaran500

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

Yep, life starts when you are born and ends at death. Just like any other animal.

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe everything came from nothing?

As has been touched on there is a good chance we will never know. We don't know what came before the universe and there is no reason that it has to follow the same physical rules we have in our universe.

Do you think soul exists? If so, what do you think happens to it after the death of the body?

Define what a soul is.

JimiTime

Thanks Son Goku.

Son Goku wrote:

I believe there is more than enough evidence from modern science to conclude that causality in only a feature of low energy sections of the universe.

Is there a way of explaining this in laymans terms or easier still is there a resource, preferably online, that I could see this theory and its evidences?

Neither the universe itself nor certain high-energy phenomena seem to care about what we call time.
In this sense the words "came from" or "beginning" don't have the required scope to be sensical question about the universe.

So for want of a better term, you would say the universe is timeless? Are there any terms with the scope to be a sensical question about the universe?

Thanks again.

JimiTime

babyvaio wrote:

A question for atheists:

Do you think soul exists? If so, what do you think happens to it after the death of the body?

Hi babyvaio. If you wouldn't mind, I would just like this thread to answer the questions I have asked. I'm not looking to challenge or disprove the answers, just trying to understand where they are coming from. Purely a selfish educational quest by me:) Arguing your point, will throw it off my educational agenda. I don't mind if you want to ask questions without giving your opinion, as long as they are just designed to give you understanding of them not to argue against them.

Thanks.:)

bill_ashmount

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

I'll give you my rather simlistic view on it.
I don't believe in God. The idea of Christianity disgusts me (Along with all other religions). I don't think Christianity is a religion of peace and love like some people say. I think it is peace and love for all who believe and pain/torture/seperation for all who don't. The idea that massive segments of society can be excluded because they choose the wrong religion to me is ridiculous.
My own personal view point is that if I am wrong and the Christian God does exist (Or any other God for that matter) then i'll hold my hands up and say "fair enough, I was wrong" but i still refuse to believe in you. If you fell like torturing me or having me seperate from my family for eternity then you have the power to do that, well done.

This isn't an attack on Christianity or any other religion, i just believe love and respect should come from the heart and not from fear of threat.

Obviously this is a massive area so I hope the above isn't too dumbed down.

robindch

> Do you believe everything came from nothing? I know evolutionists hate this term,

We do not "hate" it. We detest it because it shows, for the gazillionth time, that religious people have a tendency to argue against an inaccurate representation of it. For the record, we do not currently believe that "everything came from nothing".

> Do you believe death is the last horrah?

Not sure what you mean by the last hurrah. I'd hate to see my family sitting around as I was gasping my last, all going hip-hip-hurrah!

But certainly, once I'm dead, that's it. Would be nice to go to a heaven of some kind, but I don't kid myself that it's there. And if heaven is full of the kind of people I've met who tell me that they're expecting to go there, then frankly, I'd much prefer to be amongst the far more interesting party-goers in hell

> Are you just waiting on satisfactory evidence from science to show the
> beginning? or is it neither, maybe you don't really think about it, and
> don't want to as you feel it irrelelavent.

The beginning of the universe is irrelevant to me in my day to day lilfe. As an intellectual exercise, current cosmology is fascinating, convincing and elegant, but whether or not it's an accurate description of where we are does not affect any decision I make, any more than the accuracy or otherwise of evolution does. It's fun thinking about it, though.

Does this answer your question?

JimiTime

robindch wrote:

> Do you believe everything came from nothing? I know evolutionists hate this term,

We do not "hate" it. We detest it because it shows, for the gazillionth time, that religious people have a tendency to argue against an inaccurate representation of it. For the record, we do not currently believe that "everything came from nothing".



> Do you believe death is the last horrah?

Not sure what you mean by the last hurrah. I'd hate to see my family sitting around as I was gasping my last, all going hip-hip-hurrah!

But certainly, once I'm dead, that's it. Would be nice to go to a heaven of some kind, but I don't kid myself that it's there. And if heaven is full of the kind of people I've met who tell me that they're expecting to go there, then frankly, I'd much prefer to be amongst the far more interesting party-goers in hell

> Are you just waiting on satisfactory evidence from science to show the
> beginning? or is it neither, maybe you don't really think about it, and
> don't want to as you feel it irrelelavent.

The beginning of the universe is irrelevant to me in my day to day lilfe. As an intellectual exercise, current cosmology is fascinating, convincing and elegant, but whether or not it's an accurate description of where we are does not affect any decision I make, any more than the accuracy or otherwise of evolution does. It's fun thinking about it, though.

Does this answer your question?

In a word. Yes. And a thanks to all that are responding to the question.

babyvaio

JimiTime wrote:

Hi babyvaio. If you wouldn't mind, I would just like this thread to answer the questions I have asked. I'm not looking to challenge or disprove the answers, just trying to understand where they are coming from. Purely a selfish educational quest by me:) Arguing your point, will throw it off my educational agenda. I don't mind if you want to ask questions without giving your opinion, as long as they are just designed to give you understanding of them not to argue against them.

Thanks.:)

Hey Jimi, my 2 questions were posted out of curiosity, no worries.

JimiTime

babyvaio wrote:

Hey Jimi, my 2 questions were posted out of curiosity, no worries.

No bother. I was just making sure, in case it went off on a tangent.

Asiaprod

Thaedydal wrote:

Why start this thread here ?
Why not use the Agnotsic/atheist forum.
Here.

It should indeed be moved to the Agnotsic/Atheist forum, it does not belong here.
Brian C, please move it over.

Zombrex

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

I hope not, but I've nothing to base that hope on except for the fact that I would rather not not exist I hope to be plesently surprised, but logic would tell me that it is.

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe everything came from nothing?

As Robin and other point out "everything" and "nothing" are relative terms to our universe. If "nothing" can include "something" outside of our universe then clearly "everything" came from that, what ever that is.

JimiTime wrote:

but I'm stressing that an atheist does not believe in a higher power, so at somestage you have to consider a beginning, which leads to once again where that beginning came from etc etc etc.

I'm not quite sure why theists expect atheist to have an answer for that.

I have absolutely no idea what existed before the big bang. None what so ever. I'm fine with not knowing that, and it unknown aspect doesn't make me want to "filling the gaps" with a concept like God.

JimiTime wrote:

I'm not undermining the 'evidence' for evolution

Evolution has little to do with where matter came from. After all matter existed for 6 billion years before evolution started on Earth.

Also evolutionists aren't astro-physis. The scientists studying biological evolution on Earth are not the same as those studying the big bang. The general term "evolutionists" used by creationists is quite inaccurate. It would be quite possible for an evolutionist to not accept the big bang theory and vice versa. The big bang theory is not necessary for neo-darwin evolutionary theory. The two theories have very little in common and touch on hardly any of the same questions.

JimiTime

Asiaprod wrote:

It should indeed be moved to the Agnotsic/Atheist forum, it does not belong here.
Brian C, please move it over.

Why bother? I am trying to ask the Atheists who regularly view the christian forum these questions. They seem to be intelligent people with genuine knowledge of all things scientific. If its not too much to ask I would like it to remain here. But you the boss, if thats the rule, thats the rule.

BrianCalgary

I'm going to leave it here for now. I am enjoying the responses.

I am also going to stick with the OP and as soon as debate starts I will lock it.

I trust everyone will agree.

After all we are all friends.

Asiaprod

JimiTime wrote:

Why bother? I am trying to ask the Atheists who regularly view the christian forum these questions. They seem to be intelligent people with genuine knowledge of all things scientific. If its not too much to ask I would like it to remain here. But you the boss, if thats the rule, thats the rule.

No problem, Brian is cool with it, therefore so am I.

JimiTime

Asiaprod wrote:

No problem, Brian is cool with it, therefore so am I.

Much Appreciated, Thank you both.

Dades

Nice uncomplicated thread. Can't leave without dropping my 2 cents!

I'd echo wicknight's point that athiesm isn't about knowing or finding all the answers. It's more of a rejection of the answers to the Big Questions as provided by religion.

Once you reject the notion of a soul or an afterlife as conjured by any number of religions - you are left with the stark, if honest, conclusion that we live and die like every other creature that shares the planet with us. The only difference being our (relative) intelligence enables us to contemplate this.

Dave!

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

Yes I believe that once you die, that's it, you have no more consciousness (on earth or in some afterlife). There's no evidence to support an afterlife, and when one thinks about it logically they can appreciate where the "need" for afterlife came from. Nobody likes dying, and it's comforting to think that you're going somewhere afterwards. I really don't know how anyone could believe otherwise, but there ya go.

Do you believe everything came from nothing? or Are you just waiting on satisfactory evidence from science to show the beginning? or is it neither, maybe you don't really think about it, and don't want to as you feel it irrelelavent.

I don't think it is irrelevent, no. It mightn't affect me in my day-to-day life, but it's still the "ultimate" question that scientists must be aiming to answer. Everything else we discover leads us closer to understanding the big question.

As to where it all came from... I don't think I fully understand the Big Bang enough to put my support behind it, but from what I gather, it was a collection of gases, etc., that rapidly expanded and produced space and time and so on -- but that leaves us asking where the gases came from, and we go around in circles. Anyways it's not really important whether the Big Bang is the best explaination or not -- the fact is, science is all about discovery and learning. Before Newton, we didn't understand the laws of motion, and now we've fired a rocket to the moon, walked on it, and returned safe and sound.
It's a constant learning process, and hopefully one day we will understand the origin of the universe, just like we now understand force and thermodynamics and so on.

And my reasoning for not just accepting it when people say "that's just god" is that I think it's a cop out -- just like it was a cop-out when people looked at the sun (and hurt their eyes ), and said "that's just god".

5uspect

Nice idea for a thread. There is no need for debate or arguement and hopefully those of us who are religious can understand the atheist veiwpoint a bit more clearly.:)

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

As far as I know when we die we die, just like every other organism ever to live on this planet. And thats it.

I'd like to quote Jonathan Miller as he finished up his Rough History of Disbelief Series for BBC 4. (I highly recommend this for additional understanding but google video seem to have deleted it )

I'm [...] rattled by some of the more complacent assumptions which I find amongst my friends and acquaintances that my godlessness implies some sort of lack of seriousness on my part, that people like me have failed to recognise the existence of the soul and above all its imortality.
Well to be quite frank, I find this somewhat impotent.
The fact that I entertain no prospects whatever of some sort of subsequent existence doesn't mean that I'm indifferent to the fact that I like everyone else must die.

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe everything came from nothing? (I know evolutionists hate this term, but I'm stressing that an atheist does not believe in a higher power, so at somestage you have to consider a beginning.

When I came into existence I didn't know anything. I've spend all of my life learning the things people who came before me learned or thought or observed. Some of these things have been shown to be more than likely false and I have had to disregard them and other things have been reinforced by additional observations making their probable truth more certain. So I try to avoid believing in anything and would rather know something to a high degree of certainity. I'll do my best to make my own tiny contribution to this knowledge, tho I'll hardly even make a smudge on the surface nevermind scratch it.

So I have no belief about anything coming from nothing, my understanding of the big bang says everything came from a point singularity and not nothing. The existence of time is apparently a consequence of the big bang. But I cannot be certain as I don't know enough about it, but its something I look forward to reading more about it as we learn more.

I don't see a reason to believe in a higher power such as an intelligent all powerful God, its still possible but ultimately its a product of the human imagination which means nothing without evidence to support it. And (without starting a debate) I have not seen any evidence.

I'd like there to be something (not necessarily god) there but I cannot bring myself to believe.

charley lucky

hello
saw this, intersting, please exuse bad english, not my first lingo, anyway, I suppose I am one, I read a book called " the christ conspiracy" I challenge anyone to read that, and still believe ,lets face it... religion is just so full of holes, its just hope device for people who don,t like to accept that we live, we die, thats it,I also opened my eyes,trhe lies, the buggery, the...I could go on and on
Christians say , take on faith, depending which dictionary you use, some define faith as trust, trust needs to earnt, how can that be from something which has never proved anything and is so full of holes
virgins having kids, walking on water, up after few days after being kebabed,please, its too much\
if that jesus fella did exist why we only hear about when born and when died?, nothing inbetween, this time was so well recorded, its just a mix of cabals of the days,put together to suit the ruler of the day, throughout history zero has been proved, the herd will go to church feeling better because they don,t like to accept that we,re all going to worm food soon, and turn blind eye to all the misery that the church has caused, when you look at it, its done far more negitive than good, the pathetic shame guilt factor, vilence, I tell you what, old satan must be laughing
its all the sames, the mislims are no better, at least some exercise buldin to there daily hope device,aweful racket, if God exists, he must be wearing an hearing aid, but look at the dresses there women, if you can call them that, wear, pathetic! its laugh I tell you, someone up thers taking the pissi do have soft spot for the quakers, kind, quiet, practical,not too judgemental good people, doing good things
right off to slaughter a chicken, read the book, don,t be blind, if there is a heavan/hell its here now, enjoy it whilst you can
charley

Beruthiel

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

I believe death is the end of life, there is nothing after it.
Heaven, for want of a better word, is now, this life, and as such should be lived to the full.

Do you believe everything came from nothing?

Everything comes from something else.

Are you just waiting on satisfactory evidence from science to show the beginning? or is it neither, maybe you don't really think about it, and don't want to as you feel it irrelelavent.

When and if science comes up with an answer, I will be thrilled to hear it (don't expect that one in my life time though). Other than that, I don't believe there to be an alternative answer to science though. Even if by some remote chance there was one, well, I'm not going to change how I think on a 'perhaps there might me....' I find that only a logical explaination works for me.

I would just like to know an atheist view of life and death, and even see if they vary from atheist to atheist.

Life starts the day you are born and ends the day you die. Living in the 'hope' that something else exists afterwords is futile and also more than a bit sad.
Why is it people need more, are they not thrilled to be alive in the first place? Is this life not enough for them, why does there have to be more?

The word 'soul' is just a word to describe what makes you you, your consciousness, your morals. It does not exist outside your body, it dies with you. Perhaps to a degree, living in the minds of those who loved you.

Playboy

I believe death is the end of a certain type of experience. There is no conclusive evidence to indicate that we will continue to experience something after we die but I'm not so sure that death is the end. As an animal or an entity all I have is experience, i cant experience non existence. I as a being am a manifestation of energy. Who is to say that this energy is not going to reform into another type of entity that is also able to experience? Maybe if this energy does change into something else it might not bear any connection to who or what I am now or maybe it will. Who knows? Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and if I'm not then I won't know. I like to keep an open mind without falling into comfortable irrational beliefs that contradict what my experience has taught me.

Zillah

Playboy wrote:

I as a being am a manifestation of energy. Who is to say that this energy is not going to reform into another type of entity that is also able to experience?

To what energy do you refer? The electrics in your brain? The heat in your body? The charged particles in your atoms?

All that energy will of course still exist after your death. But what makes you you is the system that that energy forms.

To me there is nothing other than wishful thinking that would lead me to consider any possibility of that system remaining in any form after death.

Playboy

Zillah wrote:

To what energy do you refer? The electrics in your brain? The heat in your body? The charged particles in your atoms?

All that energy will of course still exist after your death. But what makes you you is the system that that energy forms.

Yes they are all types of energy to which I'm refering. If energies such as these can arrange themselves in such a way so that I can exist as a concious being then in all likliehood at my death these energies can be incorporated into a new system that forms a different type of experience. Maybe it could have a connection to who or what I am now but you are right that is wishful thinking. But there is no harm in being wishful as long as you don't get confused that ideas such as an afterlife or reincarnation are anything more than hopeful ideas.

robindch

> in all likliehood at my death these energies can be incorporated into a new
> system that forms a different type of experience.

The study of physics, chemistry and biology all suggest that the only thing you'll be experiencing is nothing at all, since your brain will be dead. A pity, but that's the way the world seems to work. Enjoy as much as you can while you can, I say! And be nice while you're enjoying it.

> you are right that is wishful thinking. But there is no harm in being wishful as
> long as you don't get confused that ideas such as an afterlife or
> reincarnation are anything more than hopeful ideas.

Yes, you're right

5uspect

Playboy wrote:

Maybe it could have a connection to who or what I am now but you are right that is wishful thinking. But there is no harm in being wishful as long as you don't get confused that ideas such as an afterlife or reincarnation are anything more than hopeful ideas.

The only thing we know that lives on is our thoughts and ideas in the memories of family and friends, thats enough for me, and as Robin said be nice and those will be good memories.

tba

As an atheist

I do not believe death is the last hurrah, merely a system that allows what I am to become something else, the world will continue on but I won't know or care.

I do not belive there is sufficient evidence for the existance of a deity of any description. In previous eras a lack of understanding of what the sun and thunder was caused people to assume that they were gods (Ra and Thor).

In the same sense we do not yet fully understand the infancy of our universe, but filling in the gaps with an omnipotent entity is suposition based on conjecture.

I would like there to be a god, a heaven, an eternal reward, but do not belive there is one, based purely on a lack of evidence. But based on this I choose to abide by a set of rules, a code of morals, not in fear of eternal damnation from a godhead but from those people that will follow. I choose to live my life for that, not for what happens to me after that.

beans

All that energy will of course still exist after your death. But what makes you you is the system that that energy forms

When we die, it's fair to say that our matter and energy returns to the earth. Energy can't be created or destroyed right? I see all life as just a function of it's environment, we come from the earth and return to the earth when we die, leaving our mark upon the earth whatever that may be. When we die, it's back to the soil for us; i dont believe we're 'reincarnated' per se, but we never go away, our atoms just scatter to become part of the planet again, we never really go away.

In much the same way as an apple tree produces apples, the earth produces peoples. That's how I view things in a nutshell.

Zillah

Playboy wrote:

If energies such as these can arrange themselves in such a way so that I can exist as a concious being then in all likliehood at my death these energies can be incorporated into a new system that forms a different type of experience.

As robindch points out, in all likelihood they will not arrange themselves into a new system and will in fact randomnly scatter once the physical system of matter on which they are completely dependent breaks down. The last electrics in your brain make their final discharge, the atoms (and their charged particles) get absorbed by other things such as trees and bacteria, the kinetic energy dissapates into the bed on which you died, the chemical energy is usurped by opportunistic bacteria and the heat dissapates into the air and earth.

Not a pleasant picture but its the only rational conclusion.

MagnumForce

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe death is the last horrah? If not what do you think?

Do you believe that life is the first "horrah"? Why should I believe there is something after by body begins decomposing if there was nothing before my body started being built in the womb?

JimiTime wrote:

Do you believe everything came from nothing? (I know evolutionists hate this term, but I'm stressing that an atheist does not believe in a higher power, so at somestage you have to consider a beginning, which leads to once again where that beginning came from etc etc etc. I'm not undermining the 'evidence' for evolution, I do understand that evolutionists say that they have only scrathched the surface etc.) or Are you just waiting on satisfactory evidence from science to show the beginning? or is it neither, maybe you don't really think about it, and don't want to as you feel it irrelelavent.

Why does there have to be a beginning at all? everything in this world is made of something which already existed previously, so why should I think that there was a time when there was nothing?

abetarrush

Yeah, I think when you die, you die, and live on in memory etc

This is why I'm not religious. Religion tells you that if you dont do A, B or C, which in most cases are natural things tainted by religion, that you'll go to Heaven, but if theres no Heaven, then you just missed all these good things and you can never do them again

And why do we need to know how the universe was made? We're here now, can we no just be thankful and spend our time lookin for more important answer like how to cure Aids and Cancer???

adam_ccfc

Zillah wrote:

As robindch points out, in all likelihood they will not arrange themselves into a new system and will in fact randomly scatter once the physical system of matter on which they are completely dependent breaks down. The last electrics in your brain make their final discharge, the atoms (and their charged particles) get absorbed by other things such as trees and bacteria, the kinetic energy dissipates into the bed on which you died, the chemical energy is usurped by opportunistic bacteria and the heat dissipates into the air and earth.

Not a pleasant picture but its the only rational conclusion.

I needn't bother typing up my opinions on the matter, as everything I believe is contained in this post.

"Life", as an arrangement of different atoms which use energy to carry out various functions, has a beginning and an end, but the constituents of "life" are eternal and simply return to Earth on your death.