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Fair enough. But I am sure you can understand my frustration.

People talk about a soul but cannot demonstrate existence. You wouldn't accept the same for many other things - fairies, goblins, dragons. There's no consistency.

Yes, I can understand. Like I said earlier, I do not discard nor accept any theory beforehand. So I in fact consider fairies, dragons and whatnot the same as I do God(s) or souls. I don't mind people talking about immaterial phenomena or what are widely considered fantasy creatures as if they are proven to exist. As a matter of fact, I am highly interested to hear them. I love to ponder on the unknown regardless if it's true or not.

No no, you don't concede an argument like that when you're speaking nothing but fact and logic.

The onus of proof is on the person making the positive claim, its not on you to "disprove" something.

"I have a magic, invisible, two headed rainbow unicorn in my garage beside my Lambo. Disprove it."

This is not how rational discourse is conducted.

Sort of an odd standard, isn’t it? Demanding irrefutable proof? Seems like an oddly high bar for someone who is (presumably) willing to believe in souls.

The burden of proof, in point of fact, rests with those making the affirmative, (and in this case) extraordinary claim.

First we must ask, what is a soul? What does it do?

Does a soul (for example) store memories? If it does, why doesn’t it serve as a kind of backup drive in the event of Alzheimer’s or head trauma?

Is it our awareness? If so, why can I shut it off with a dose of propofol?


If it is not awareness and it is not memory, in what way can it be said to be ‘you’?


I look forward to seeing any measurements you can provide that support the existence of a soul - once you can tell us what it is.

"End of consciousness!"

That reminds me of a conversation I had at a party with a woman who believed in reincarnation.
I was quite interested to understand how the process worked (or how she believed it worked).

"So when someone dies, does their soul float about until it finds a pregnant woman and then it whooses inside her, like a gas?"

She was not impressed.

I cannot help you. Your assumptions and explanations about what souls are or could be may be true, but they may just as well be false. I do not know what a soul is. I have, as far as I know, never encountered one. Which is why I have never claimed that souls exist, nor have I claimed they don't. You are right to say I am willing to believe in the existence of souls, with sufficient proof. The same goes the other way around. Since neither is the case, I prefer to keep my options open. Nothing more, nothing less. I simply don't discard an option because it seems unlikely given our current understanding of things. Especially not when it has no influence on my life whatsoever. It's not my problem you consider that or my asking for irrefutable proof an oddly high standard. It is how I see things.

He, however, did claim something, which was the reason for my reply. He stated, and I quote, 'Further investigation into more spiritual matters have concluded that there's no such thing as a human "soul" that persists after death and various religious concepts of that "soul" entering a parallel dimension to meet with an "invisible superhero who lives in outer space" to be totally without foundation.' That implies there's a theory behind that claim, and I would like to read it.

Edit: typo

>I prefer to keep my options open.


This has a facade of reasonability about it, but are you similarly open minded about other propositions with comparable amounts of proof to support them?

Faeries, dragons, bogeymen, elves, gnomes, Bigfoot, and so on?

Yes, I am. I have no idea if faeries, Bigfoot and whatever other entities exist or not, so I neither have a reason nor the knowledge to confirm or deny that. In fact, I find the idea there might be more than meets the eye, regardless how unlikely it may be, quite intriguing.

Bigfoot and faeries don't exist.

So you’re open to the possibility that souls exist, but you don’t know what they are, and you’re equally open to the idea that faery tale creatures are real.

Got it. I appreciate you, but either you’re being insincere or there is insufficient overlap between your reality and mine for communication to be productive, I think. Cheers!

Interesting that the possibility of souls existing is different to you than the idea Bigfoot or faeries exist. As far as I'm aware, there's equally little proof for both, if any at all. I'd be interested to hear where you draw the line and why. However, seeing that you have already characterized me for yourself based on a few forum posts, there indeed is no point in continuing this conversation. Have a good life.

You would be dead

Guess we'll find out, eventually.

Unless we don't.

Your save state is likely archived in the simulated universe that simulates our own. You die in our universe, but your data is likely forever preserved. Even if the universe simulating ours collapses, a simulated universe simulating our simulators will likely have backups of that universe, thus saved data on us.

Nothing happens when you die ... You just cease to exist.

Yes i suppose i am a bit negative about this but it is being realistic.

Religious beliefs about the afterlife etc are just a crutch.

It is good to have hope for the future a vision in life. But it is all over when you die.

I am genuinely concerned when i look around the world and see people investing too much time in their religious beliefs. It really is a crutch.

Live your life now. There is nothing after. Live your life well now, be nice, kind, helpful. Be a good person.

There is no other place you goto when you die. When you die everything is gone.

I don’t know.

Depends if you have any lives left

Didnt read the others comments but mine is: when i die, i just want to poof, delete myself from the world. If possible, delete my entire existence from everyone's memories yay. This will be the true death i assume.