I imagine theists and atheists may have different thoughts on the subject of death itself. What I mean by death is the cessation of "mind" forever--you can say soul or just the body. However you think it means to not exist. Is this bad or good? Let's assume you can control when you want to die, 10k years, 1 million, tomorrow, etc, so there are no answers like "well I don't want to die in 40 years". At some point do you think you would want to eventually not exist or what?

I think eternal life without the option of not being able to exist is likely horrific, regardless of circumstance. Maybe more of SMP question I dunno.

Death creates life's illusion of motion. Without it...what unimaginable stillness!

I can't begin to fathom the idea, much less evaluate its worth.

Edit - "[S]pace and time, space versus time, time-twisted space, space as time, time as space---and space breaking away from time, in the final tragic triumph of human cogitation: I am because I die." (Nabokov; Ada, or Ardor.)

Even if God does not exist, I am destined to exist forever.

What do you base this on?

edit: If you mean something that I think you might re-read the question. I am talking about your "mind" here. Do you think your "mind" will exist forever? It seems obviously false given that your body can be alive and have no awareness whatsoever of its surroundings. No "mind".

death is an unneccesary event

Interesting article. I didn't mean *that* kind of death though. Most of us probably agree that living much longer would be better than our current state--to regenerate our bodies, like these jellyfish. Say you are capable of doing the same thing, say your life could not end unless you decided to end it. Would it be better to have the choice to end it at some point or to be blessed/doomed to go on forever?

I would choose to live forever, but would like to keep the option of killing myself available. If you were immune to aging can you imagine all the wisdom and knowledge you would accumulate over the course of 500,000 years?

I agree with option to kill self but live indefinitely otherwise. Between living out our current state (average 78 years or whatever it is) and existing forever without the option of ever not existing I think maybe the former would be best.

ok, so i missed the point of the op because i think jellyfish are cool.
Anyway, yeah i agree with you.

Socrates said that the greatest of all blessings is Death. My interpretation of this is that one should live life to the fullest. Use the Golden Rule to guide you in your day to day doings and spread peace and love.

However I beleive that once your'e gone, that's it. It's a shame that ones memories and experiences and store of knowledge/wisdom have to go to. But then one can always teach the young what they know. But sometimes the youth don't listen til it's too late. As for body, atoms will be recycled by nature in some way. So it's reassuring that we'll will contribute to the ongoing universe. Take care.

PS Check out Radiohead's video 'Just' (see it at Youtube) And tell me what it is that makes everyone keel over. I have an idea. (Sorry for the hijack Vix.)

The last time I got into some discussion on the whole "afterlife" and god issue this is what I said when my uncle, who is a huge evangelical, asked me something like "well where do you go when you die?". It's a really strange question. I've seen dead bodies. They don't "go" anywhere. We bury them and they decompose and go on for the rest of the universe in some capacity. Hilariously his reply was "yes they turn to dust like the bible says will happen!" I laughed.

Why is the mind/body issue so difficult for people? You are not something other than your body. There is no ghost in the machine. It is just incomprehensible that their mind will ever go to waste. I don't know why though. It seems OBVIOUS right?


edit: Oh, right. These questions came to me while I was watching a course on the philosophy of death online. It's fairly interesting. I watched all of the lectures over the past month. Here: http://academicearth.org/courses/death

Pretty cool how much free resources on every topic is out there online imo.

Death might be kinda nice. Everything is temporary, there's a lot of comfort in that. The reason I wouldn't want to choose a time to die is simple, so far my quality of life has consistently improved over time. I think I might be able to keep that up for at least a few centuries, and then I'd be living in bliss. Maybe I'd choose to fade out at a certain time, but I don't have any idea when that time might be so I wouldn't want to choose it in advance. However, if I had to choose I'd probably just go with 1,000 years, maybe 500, if I had to choose. Much more than that and things could get nasty if it doesn't work out.

One should choose "life" over "death" even if one should lose his/her life.

I'm honestly not sure but I'd love to hear what you think.

Ecclesiastes 9:5-6,10 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

In the grave the dead have no: knowledge, wisdom, reward memory, love, hatred, envy, portion, work, or device.

"The memory if them is forgotten" does not mean that the people who are alive forget them but that they "the dead" have no memory, no conscience in death, no awareness......

The dead can not tell you information. they have no knowledge, the dead can not tell you about some new idea, there is no device in the grave, the dead can not tell you they love you, there is no love, hate, or envy in the grave, the dead can not come back for revenge, there is no hate or jealousy in the grave, the dead can not earn redemption, there is no work in the grave and there are no rewards.




Pletho

That depends on who dies.

Death is neither good nor bad. It's a part of life.

Hmmm, this thread badly needs a pole

"Is death good or bad?

yes

no"

can you pls add that if you have that ability madnak?

anyways, im voting no. death is neutral, it is neither good nor bad. it cannot be anything cause it is nothing.

Neither.

What do you mean neither? I don't mean being dead. I am asking if it would be good or bad to continue to exist or not. Neither doesn't sound like much of an answer.

How can you BE dead?

Well reality is how it is. I don't have much desire in going into fictitious conditions.

I'll go against the flow and answer "both".

And since you ask for reasons here they are:

Death creates a natural obstacle that directly or indirectly creates competition, advancement, excitement, violence, philosophy, curiosity, tradition just to name a few. All things that I appreciate in some form or another (violence in regards to a few sports and movies/tv shows). This makes it good.

Death also creates a natural obstacle that directly or indirectly creates sorrow, loss, fear, horror, mental disorders, loss of talents just to name a few. All things that I do not like in some form or another. This makes it bad.

Ofcourse how things would be like without death is impossible for me to answer, so both the question and any answer is pretty much moot.

I was going to correct the "being dead" part but you know what I mean. Not being alive. If you are saying you don't know what it means to not be alive then let's say "dreamless sleep forever" because surely you have some idea what this is like.

It is a fictitious condition right now. At some point in the future it could be possible to not die, right? Imagine you live in this era. Not difficult imo.

It is believed by some (e.g., religious mystics) that the soul temporarily parts from the body during sleep and goes even further away during dreams, as if to suggest that our consciousness is the soul experiencing the physical world.

Beautiful