Let's talk about Death

[IronWing]

As long as I don't have to battle doctors on the way out, I'm good.

 

[nickbits]

I am more or less looking forward to dying. I hope I have a heart attack while I'm out running, or at least something quick and unexpected. Only one male in my family made it past 70, so I'll probably die in my 60s or 50s.
No such thing as an afterlife and I think about it all the time.

 

[Smoblikat]

So, if you weren't already aware, one of these days your lights are going to go out. No, not the lamp in the living room; that goopy grey sponge in between your ears.

With this in mind, what are your thoughts? Do you even think about it at your age? How often do you think about it?

Do you ever think about the way it will all go down? Peacefully in your sleep? Blazing fireball of torture and agony before lights out?

And what do you think will happen afterwards? Cloudy paradise with trumpets and half naked angels? Oblivion? Spaghetti monsters?

Have you experienced death and somehow came back from it? Have you ever watched someone pass away?

Let me hear your mortal opinions on this subject.

I cant wait for death, life is far too much stress and anxiety for me and I seldom find it worth the effort.

I hope one day I just stop existing, no pain and no mess to clean up, I just want to disappear.

What happens afterwards is hopefully I get to exist in a realm of my own creation free of fear. But I have taken some "stuff" and seen what I truly believe death could be like, and its the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed. The whole experience is you coming to realize you are less than nothing compared to what actually exists, it is humiliating and exhilarating all at once. I just want a racetrack and a Datsun 240Z

 

[Newell Steamer]

I would like to go to sleep and then drift off. Or, just lay down and drift off. I would hate to be sick or a burden on anyone during my death.

After death,.. who knows? As much as I believe in God, if there is no life after death, then it's over. I mean, you can't die, see that there is nothing and be like WTF? You just don't exist/think anymore. You won't even experience darkness,.. you just no longer are, anything.

But, if there is something (heaven, higher consciousness, rebirth),... well, I'll know when I get there.

Everything up until that point, well, just live life. No point in thinking about the inevitable - it is best to enjoy everything leading up to it.

 

[Markbnj]

I'm philosophically very comfortable with being one of trillions of creatures that have been born, lived, and will eventually die.

 

[Jeff7]

Your brain contains a model of the world, including your surroundings and people you know, an organically-stored computer model of sorts. It's also continuously updated with new information. That's your memory and consciousness.

When you die, the brain stops processing new information, so consciousness is gone, and the inactive simulation quickly degrades as well as the neurons die.


So that's about it. You're dead and gone, and it's quite permanent. Entropy's like that.



Maybe at some point in the future they'll find a cure for the problem. It'd be tricky though, since it seems like it's something that's quite systemic. At some point, your cells stop trying to keep your body fully intact. Sort of like the sleep cycle, it's a system that (most) life on Earth happened to end up with as an answer to the problem of long-term survival. You can have very durable individual life forms, or have them constantly respawn fresh copies of themselves using available raw materials.

Maybe at some point we'll figure out how to directly recode DNA. We've all seen how grand we are at writing excellent computer software, so hopefully the first thing to write into DNA will be the ability to download updates from the Internet.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I am more or less looking forward to dying. I hope I have a heart attack while I'm out running, or at least something quick and unexpected. Only one male in my family made it past 70, so I'll probably die in my 60s or 50s.
No such thing as an afterlife and I think about it all the time.

None of the males in my family (grandfathers, dad) made it even close to 70. I'd like to think that since I wasn't a smoker and probably had better environmental factors in my favor that I might make it, but I am not kidding myself either -- at 44, I might have 20-25 years left barring some miraculous medical advances.

I think when you die, you basically just go to sleep and that's it. I don't believe in an afterlife though when I think of my relatives that have gone before me, I often hope I'm wrong.

Your brain contains a model of the world, including your surroundings and people you know, an organically-stored computer model of sorts. It's also continuously updated with new information. That's your memory and consciousness.

When you die, the brain stops processing new information, so consciousness is gone, and the inactive simulation quickly degrades as well as the neurons die.


So that's about it. You're dead and gone, and it's quite permanent. Entropy's like that.



Maybe at some point in the future they'll find a cure for the problem. It'd be tricky though, since it seems like it's something that's quite systemic. At some point, your cells stop trying to keep your body fully intact. Sort of like the sleep cycle, it's a system that (most) life on Earth happened to end up with as an answer to the problem of long-term survival. You can have very durable individual life forms, or have them constantly respawn fresh copies of themselves using available raw materials.

Maybe at some point we'll figure out how to directly recode DNA. We've all seen how grand we are at writing excellent computer software, so hopefully the first thing to write into DNA will be the ability to download updates from the Internet.

I do believe biological immortality will be technologically possible at some point and probably not too far off -- some say within 25-50 years, but I'll say within 200. That doesn't mean you still won't die due to accidents, diseases, crimes, etc, but it means aging will no longer occur and you could live practically forever.

 

[skyking]

As long as I don't have to battle doctors on the way out, I'm good.

They have paperwork to help with that. Don't put that off.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my father, not screaming in terror like his passengers.

 

[OverVolt]

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my father, not screaming in terror like his passengers.

That made me laugh

 

[moonbogg]

Worm food. Its my future.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

That would look totally rad painted on the side of a van.

 

[Mai72]

Just head on over to Live Leak and you can watch people die right on your computer!

If it's my time to go, I pray to god that I'm not on Live Leak.

 

[Mai72]

That would look totally rad painted on the side of a van.

Hell Yea.

Grim Reaper Services!

 

[smackababy]

Death is one of my favorite bands. Chuck Schuldiner is a pioneer. His death was a tragedy.

 

[slightlyhuman]

You cannot have death without life's contrast and vice versa.

My advice is continue to ponder about death, it leads to enlightenment. Literally the contents of an organ the size of a pea represents a paradigm shift in knowledge of your existence, your surroundings and yeah possibly the afterlife.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences
http://www.amazon.com/DMT-Molecule-R.../dp/0892819278

DMT The Spirit Molecule Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-9AHa9YXmM

i've exp'd with DMT before and let me tell you, it's some wild stuff.

i'm not religious but i'd be a liar if i said i didn't feel heavy spiritual awareness during the limited journey i had.

 

[Jeff7]

...
I do believe biological immortality will be technologically possible at some point and probably not too far off -- some say within 25-50 years, but I'll say within 200. That doesn't mean you still won't die due to accidents, diseases, crimes, etc, but it means aging will no longer occur and you could live practically forever.

I think it could be a long time.
This strikes me as something that happens at a very low level, something along the lines of migrating a 32-bit OS to 64-bit. You don't just change a global variable somewhere from 32 to 64 and call it a day.

It's a property inherent to a lot of life forms on this planet, down to some fairly simplistic ones. For gods sake, some insects' adult forms don't even have the ability to eat, so they are pretty thoroughly screwed from the start. That'd be a hell of a thing to try to fix.
- New feature: Digestive tract.
- Future: Opening to permit entry of food.

 

[Iron Woode]

Grampa: "Death stalks you at every turn!"

Lisa: "Grampa!"

Grampa: "Well, it does. Aaah! Death! There it is. Death!"

Lisa: "It's only Maggie."

Grampa: " Oh, yeah. You know, at my age, the mind starts playing tricks. So, aaah! Death!"

Lisa: "That's only the cat."

Grampa: "Oh. Aah! Death!"

Lisa: "That's Maggie again, Grampa."

Grampa: "Oh. Where were we? Death!"

:awe:

 

[amdhunter]

I'm just sad that when I die, the people who'll remember me most would be in a post in this forum with one sentence RIP amdhunter or similar note. I'll be happy to get a sticky thread.

I could die tomorrow and I can count on one penis how many people would actually give a crap.

 

[smackababy]

I'm just sad that when I die, the people who'll remember me most would be in a post in this forum with one sentence RIP amdhunter or similar note. I'll be happy to get a sticky thread.

I could die tomorrow and I can count on one penis how many people would actually give a crap.

Perhaps, if you spent less time posting on AT and more time doing something worthy of remembrance that wouldn't be the case? Only those that strive for greatness will obtain it.

 

[TwiceOver]

I'm just sad that when I die, the people who'll remember me most would be in a post in this forum with one sentence RIP amdhunter or similar note. I'll be happy to get a sticky thread.

I could die tomorrow and I can count on one penis how many people would actually give a crap.

The only thing that makes me sad is that my family will have to pay to do something with my body. Why can't we just "go out to pasture" or sign some paper that allows us to dig a hole and chuck our bodies in there. What a waste of money.

I originally had instructions that if possible, go in with another family and get me a 2-for-1 deal at the burn barrel, but then my mortician MIL said that mixing of cremains is illegal. WTF, mixing ashes is illegal.

Fuck this country and their ridiculous religious laws.

 

[smackababy]

The only thing that makes me sad is that my family will have to pay to do something with my body. Why can't we just "go out to pasture" or sign some paper that allows us to dig a hole and chuck our bodies in there. What a waste of money.

I originally had instructions that if possible, go in with another family and get me a 2-for-1 deal at the burn barrel, but then my mortician MIL said that mixing of cremains is illegal. WTF, mixing ashes is illegal.

Fuck this country and their ridiculous religious laws.

I can understand some of the laws with regards to body disposal. My wishes to just be tossed in a ditch seem rather unsanitary. Mixing of ashes being illegal just makes no sense though.

 

[TwiceOver]

I can understand some of the laws with regards to body disposal. My wishes to just be tossed in a ditch seem rather unsanitary. Mixing of ashes being illegal just makes no sense though.

Here's some other quick insights that she shared with me.

You can save a bunch of money by getting burned within 24 hours. This way the mortician doesn't have to embalm you. This saves a boatload of money.

When you get torched, there's a cardboard box option. I guess you have to be burned in something, take the cardboard box to save money.

 

[Mojoed]

I'm just sad that when I die, the people who'll remember me most would be in a post in this forum with one sentence RIP amdhunter or similar note. I'll be happy to get a sticky thread.

I could die tomorrow and I can count on one penis how many people would actually give a crap.

You don't know me from a hole in the wall as I sort of lurk here but I TOTALLY get your humor and have enjoyed your honesty and trolling for many years. You're not afraid to say things as they are and you don't care what people think of you... kind of like me I guess.

I would most definitely give a crap if you died!

OK I feel weird now, back to lurking! :whiste:

 

[StinkyPinky]

My mother died from a sudden and unexpected stroke just a month ago. She'd never been to a hospital in her life and then one Sunday morning she just collapsed and died the next day. She was unconscious for 99% of the time but she did communicate a bit on the sunday but by monday she was unresponsive.

So yeah, it is a bit on my mind at the moment. One minute you're hanging out the washing and the next minute you're on the ground dying. Her mother is still going strong at 97 so how long your parents live for doesn't always mean anything.

I have young kids so I do find death a bit scary, not for any personal reasons though. Personally there are times I am tired of life, but I have kids so I want to see them grown up with jobs etc before I kick the bucket.

As for death itself....I believe when you're dead you are dead. Lights out....exactly like it was before you were born. I'd like to believe in some afterlife but to me it doesn't seem possible and what you want does not always equate to reality no matter how much we wish it.