Is life after death a possibility?

[QED]

A sub-debate started up in this topic about the best arguments for atheism With respect to keeping that debate on-track I have continued this theme in a separate thread. It started when I asked the following:

"Do [you] think there is life after death harvey1? I don't. A big part of life for me is the history in my brain called memory. I know this is physical because when damaged by a stroke, I lost some of it. Our memories define us - they are there as the basis for the formulation of our current opinions. They give us our reference for how we feel right now -- are we happier or sadder, in more or less discomfort. Without the history of music you've appreciated in the past, you are unable to appreciate new music in the same genre (a real eye-opener for me, but it instantly explains why some people can become engrossed in certain genres that seem utterly outlandish to others -- each new small, deviation is acceptable in it's own way to the aficionado but the sum total creates an insurmountable edifice to anyone lacking the history of the aficionado).

SO when I die completely, my memories will too and thus I know that there will be no life after death for me."

As I understand it harvey1 presented the possibility of quantum teleportation as being one mechanism we might know of already as being potentially capable of transferring the vital information that makes up a "me". While this might just possibly permit the transfer of certain states of memory it led me to wonder the following:

if your brain is damaged at some stage in life (maybe 10 years before your death, maybe 10 minutes) then at what point is all the vital information transferred?

Well, I have no way of knowing that. However, if I can offer a speculation, I would say that "you" are the final state of "you" at the moment of death, and at that point you are "resurrected" at Measurement Day (or Judgement Day) and then you are healed of whatever infirmities that are present, perhaps with a transformed "body." I'm only speculating of course.

I think this answer reveals an insurmountable problem with the concept of a desirable or meaningful afterlife: I have described how vital a role our memories play in defining our being. The destruction of neurons can map one-to-one with the destruction of information (memory) so "who we are" at a given time is contingent on our functional memory. Given that we can become re-defined through targeted damage means we can change -- maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. So which copy of us will reside in heaven? Our "final state" is likely to be one characterized by massive disruption (on both emotional and mechanical levels!) notice that previous back-ups" of us might well prove to be incompatible if we build a "new life" after such an accident.

Note that it helps to have the perspective of one who has "lost" part of his "soul" (as some would have it, others might more reasonably call it personality or identity) through mere mechanical means. I have no doubt that our defining qualities are bound to our physiology and this can change over time. No cutting and pasting that I can imagine could reconstruct the true essence of an individual.

[QED]

BeHereNow produced an interesting quote from the bible (emboldened by me here) in another topic:

I believe the Bible has something to say about a persistence of personal identity after earthly life. In Matthew we read what Jesus said: Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.’ Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Now I’m sure this might mean many things.
I do not take it to be about sexuality, being married or not.
I take it to mean that in heaven we have a different personal identity than we have on earth. We become like the angels of God. Old Testament angels at that, since within this context Jesus is discussing OT. Angels are described as “children of God”, so we might expect them to be a little divine, concerned of Godly things, and not bothered by personal wants such as mere mortals. A woman who in earthly life had seven husbands, in heaven will have no husband, and not miss any of the seven. Surely this signals a massive shift of personality and personal identity. Not just a shift, but a cessation of the earthly identity. The woman/angel may or may not be aware she even had seven husbands.

So when you say “when I die completely, my memories will too and thus I know that there will be no life after death for me." , I take you to mean that there is no persistence of your personality or personal identity beyond mortal life. As I have shown above, this can be expressd Biblically. The Christian can expect rewards in heaven, but not a continuation of personal identity. Some might say what good is the former without the latter, but that would be another issue.

So according to Jesus, there will be no quantum teleportation resulting in an exact reconstruction of our minds as has been suggested. A very different existence seems to be on offer instead. Now that is interesting. Presumably people will have faith enough to assume that "it will all work out for the best" but it must be realised that we have been told quite clearly here that our earthly investments will be lost in heaven.

[harvey1]

So according to Jesus, there will be no quantum teleportation resulting in an exact reconstruction of our minds as has been suggested. A very different existence seems to be on offer instead. Now that is interesting. Presumably people will have faith enough to assume that "it will all work out for the best" but it must be realised that we have been told quite clearly here that our earthly investments will be lost in heaven.

Quantum teleportation is only an example of how life after death can enter into the realm of scientific understanding. For example, if after death we discovered that God used quantum teleportation, we'd all hit our head with our hand and say, "of course!". If we found out that we're all wavefunctions that tunnel through to a new reality, then that one might be harder to understand, but still conceivable. And, we're still primitive creatures, our understanding is still also primitive.