Suppose It Was Revealed To Mankind There Is In Fact No After Life, What Then?

[Ikari]

Suppose through some kind of "message to the planet Earth" we learnthat there has never been is not now and never will be an after life. Mankind learns this is the only truth and nothing else is included in "The Message". We never now what the source of the message is only that it is undeniably the only truth. The only life in the universe is here and it ends here. Now mankind must adapt to this change. What will life be like ten years, one hundred years, etc. after "The Message"?

Pretty much exactly as it is now with 10 years, one hundred years, etc. more advanced technology and knowledge.

 

[DDD]

Contradictions are a thing to be avoided. I thought everyone knew that.

You are wrong but, meh.

 

[rhinefire]

Too many humans relate death to life. Life is what is happening now. Death is unknown. Death is opposite of all that we know. If we continue on in this state we call death it can never be envisioned in any shape or form of any part of life. There is no sight, smell, laughter, talking, etc. as those occur in life. So is there any stimuli in death? We read too many religious and sci-fi garbage that says we somehow retain our human forms for example, or we visit this planet as spirits. I think that is nonsense. We WERE life but now we ARE death.

 

[rhinefire]

At that moment there would be no point to the continued existence of human life. Without a higher calling, humanity has no purpose and life has no meaning.

The instant it was proven would be the last instant of my life.

A higher calling , it could be said for the reason you give is invented to justify existance, i.e., the quote "If there was no God we would invent one". Through time man has invented many gods and still does today. Man will always turn to something to justify what is happening.

 

[Tigger]

A higher calling , it could be said for the reason you give is invented to justify existance, i.e., the quote "If there was no God we would invent one". Through time man has invented many gods and still does today. Man will always turn to something to justify what is happening.

Very true. The question comes down to this.... "Do you believe that something Higher exists or not?"

If it were to be proven that the answer to that is "NO" you would see society collapse as you know it. Social order would founder and die within days to weeks. The chains of human civilization would disappear almost overnight.

 

[Quag]

Very true. The question comes down to this.... "Do you believe that something Higher exists or not?"

If it were to be proven that the answer to that is "NO" you would see society collapse as you know it. Social order would founder and die within days to weeks. The chains of human civilization would disappear almost overnight.

No it wouldn't there might be a few crazies that would go nuts but the vast majority of people will go on with their lives as before.

 

[Tigger]

No it wouldn't there might be a few crazies that would go nuts but the vast majority of people will go on with their lives as before.

I respectfully disagree. I think one of the things that holds our human society/civilization together is the idea that there's something more. Regardless of what name you use for it, or if you have a name for it at all. Knowing that there is nothing beyond this life would undoubtedly make people considerably less interested in helping others, in worrying about following the law, saving for the proverbial "rainy day", etc....

 

[Quag]

I respectfully disagree. I think one of the things that holds our human society/civilization together is the idea that there's something more. Regardless of what name you use for it, or if you have a name for it at all. Knowing that there is nothing beyond this life would undoubtedly make people considerably less interested in helping others, in worrying about following the law, saving for the proverbial "rainy day", etc....

And I respectfully disagree with you. I have far more faith in humanity than to think that only a combination of fear and hope of reward keeps us from descending into total anarchy. In my experience atheists who do not believe in the punishment/reward dynamic are just as decent and respectful as anyone else.

 

[Tigger]

And I respectfully disagree with you. I have far more faith in humanity than to think that only a combination of fear and hope of reward keeps us from descending into total anarchy. In my experience atheists who do not believe in the punishment/reward dynamic are just as decent and respectful as anyone else.

I have little to no faith in human beings, period. I generally find the species to be slightly less advanced, philosophically and morally, than any of the three versions of the bubonic plague virus.

 

[Quag]

I have little to no faith in human beings, period. I generally find the species to be slightly less advanced, philosophically and morally, than any of the three versions of the bubonic plague virus.

Then we will have to agree to disagree

 

[Tigger]

Then we will have to agree to disagree

That we will. I wish you the best and have a nice afternoon.

 

[Paschendale]

That's correct. I do not *believe* there is oxygen in the air, I *know* there is.

That's the diference between belief and knowledge: evidence.

Like when someone says "I believe in God", don't ask them for evidence. They just told you they don't have any when they used the word "believe".

So really, belief is the fallback that a person who doesn't want to make a decision based on knowing things relies on to justify their positions when there is no evidence. Where there is knowledge, belief is irrelevant. And where there is no knowledge, one should not reach a conclusion without evidence. As you describe it, belief sounds like an extraordinary weakness.

For many of us, it is essentially revealed that there is no life after death. I, for one, have no doubt. There is no reason whatsoever for me to think that there is one, and I am certainly not counting on there being one to alleviate any shortcomings in my life right now. This is what I get and I am getting everything I can from it.

 

[Mr. Invisible]

Suppose through some kind of "message to the planet Earth" we learnthat there has never been is not now and never will be an after life. Mankind learns this is the only truth and nothing else is included in "The Message". We never now what the source of the message is only that it is undeniably the only truth. The only life in the universe is here and it ends here. Now mankind must adapt to this change. What will life be like ten years, one hundred years, etc. after "The Message"?

I don't think anything would change because while there would be no afterlife, it wouldn't mean that this current life isn't worth living.

 

[chromium]

As to the question of social order, it is interesting how inmates and ex-cons are disproportionately religious. That sure doesn't seem to be a deterrent for them. Of course, it's one thing to be a drug user and another to be uninhibitedly violent, so for many it could get worse. The bigger concern, i think, is what would motivate the downtrodden but not criminal to avoid stealing, rioting and so on? Shortened life span comes to mind, when you start talking of real collapse of order.

Middle to upper class probably will have no need for this behavior, because they generally find life worthwhile as is. Without cashiers and janitors willing to slave away on their behalf, though, who knows. How do atheists function now? They are also guided by morals, just of a different kind, and self pursuit. I don't know which of these would win out, but scandinavian countries are already approaching majority atheism, and i don't see them falling into anarchy. Substitutes for the afterlife/religion can and have been found: nationalism, money, "good of the species."

 

[cpwill]

If the only life is here, who is it, then, who is sending the message?

One would assume that this would be Divine Revelation.

 

[cpwill]

As to the question of social order, it is interesting how inmates and ex-cons are disproportionately religious. That sure doesn't seem to be a deterrent for them

You are missing the causal relationship in that correlation. Many inmates become religious.

 

[cpwill]

So really, belief is the fallback that a person who doesn't want to make a decision based on knowing things relies on to justify their positions when there is no evidence. Where there is knowledge, belief is irrelevant. And where there is no knowledge, one should not reach a conclusion without evidence. As you describe it, belief sounds like an extraordinary weakness.

For many of us, it is essentially revealed that there is no life after death. I, for one, have no doubt. There is no reason whatsoever for me to think that there is one, and I am certainly not counting on there being one to alleviate any shortcomings in my life right now. This is what I get and I am getting everything I can from it.

A sad enough condemnation of the Atheist position as one could possibly muster.

 

[Oftencold]

Then it would follow that nothing we ever do or experience has the slightest meaning or relevance, and any concept of morality would be absurd.

 

[Cyrylek]

Suppose through some kind of "message to the planet Earth" we learnthat there has never been is not now and never will be an after life.

People would become fiercely religious. Who can possibly know that something not only "has never been", but also "never will be"? Only the omniscient and timeless God.

 

[maquiscat]

FWIW Jews don't believe in an afterlife.

To quote a famous Jewish scholar and author, the reasons for following God's laws are because you will only be here once and it's your only chance to be a great human being. Now, I suppose it's worth noting that Judaism is in decline whereas the 2 other major religions are growing because one offers Heaven and the other offers Virgins.

The afterlife is a marketing device for organized (income producing) religious organizations. People seem to have trouble coping with the unfortunate reality that when you die, it's all over for you. George Washington does not know he is on the dollar bill. So, another invisible product can be used to make sales to the credulous.

Actually not true. Historically, there was a division among the Jews, most notably embodied in the Sadducee and the Pharisees. Today there are indeed Jews and Jewish sects (denominations, whatever they are called) that believe both ways. What is agreed upon is that the Torah/OT doesn't really say a lot on Heaven/the afterlife.

Jewish Beliefs on the Afterlife - ReligionFacts
Jewish Views of the Afterlife - The Afterlife in Judaism

If we cannot verify the message then it cannot be accepted as true. All claims are false by default until proven true.

Actually all claims are suspect until proven true. I could tell everyone in 500 BC earth that the earth was round, but I would not be able to prove it. The claim is true, but based upon the knowledge and tech of the time, it could not be proven and would then at least be suspect to the people of the time

But it's true, there really is no after life.
There is only life, and change.
What we commonly call life is not the centerpoint of your existance. Its just a phase.

How do you know there is no afterlife?

I think he's playing a semantics game, although I will note that sometimes semantics are important. I believe that he means that what we call death is a transition point/period and that what we call after-life is another stage of life. Basically we are going from caterpillar to butterfly.

 

[maquiscat]

Then it would follow that nothing we ever do or experience has the slightest meaning or relevance, and any concept of morality would be absurd.

Not true, however I will agree that it would depend upon one's worldview. Many hold great meaning and relevance in the idea that they leave the world a better place even if they themselves do not go on to any sort of afterlife. Morality would still be there. Even athiests have morals, just not as many as some religious. Actually some religious don't have as many as some extremely religious.

 

[Andalublue]

She was laughing a little about the stubbornness of Jewish people of fame in the Bible, and made the remark that they would just keep doing things over and over again, that they weren't supposed to.

How unlike modern men they were!

 

[Oftencold]

Not true, however I will agree that it would depend upon one's worldview. Many hold great meaning and relevance in the idea that they leave the world a better place even if they themselves do not go on to any sort of afterlife. Morality would still be there. Even athiests have morals, just not as many as some religious. Actually some religious don't have as many as some extremely religious.

Nope. Without an infinite framework and context, you and all other life is just a thin slick film on the surface of a rocky planet, and none of your art, philosophy, learning, accomplishments, loves, hates births or deaths are anything more than a mild agitation in that effluvia. Soon to be gone as though it had never been.

By the way, Atheists may have ethics, but they don't have true morals. Ethics are rules, generally cultural. True morality though, assumes a transcendent framework of right and wrong, good and evil, that can't exist in a machine universe. In such a framework murdering a child is no more weighted by morality than kindness to the sick. Both are just miniscule and utterly transitory currents in the biological slime that will coat the planet for a little while.

Searing, lingering pain and the pleasure of a caress are both empty chemical phenomena is such a framework, about which we have no need to concern ourselves, for there is no need, there is not even an "us," in any meaningful way. Meaning itself is a delusion experienced by naturally evolved software in such a model, and has no more validity than a computer program running to produce results about which no one will ever care.

I know many incorrect people will disagree.

 

[lizzie]

How unlike modern men they were!

And oh, how much some of us can identify! :lol:

 

[Quag]

Nope. Without an infinite framework and context, you and all other life in just a thin slick film on the surface of a rocky planet, and none of your art, philosophy, learning, accomplishments, loves, hates births or deaths are anything more than a mild agitation in that effluvia. Soon to be gone as though it had never been.

By the way, Atheists may have ethics, but they don't have true morals. Ethics are rules, generally cultural. True morality though, assumes a transcendent framework of right and wrong, good and evil, that can't exist in a machine universe. In such a framework murdering a child is no more weighted by morality than kindness to the sick. Both are just miniscule and utterly transitory currents in the biological slime that will coat the planet for a little while.

Searing, lingering pain and the pleasure of a caress are both empty chemical phenomena is such a framework, about which we have no need to concern ourselves, for there is no need, there is not even an "us," in any meaningful way. Meaning itself in a delusion experienced by natural evolved software in such a model, and has no more validity than a computer program running to produce results about which no one will ever care.

I know many incorrect people will disagree.

Absolute rubbish. If you only have morals because you fear punishment and seek reward then you have NO morals.