Hey evenbob, I have a question for you.

You should look at EB's 'evidence'... there are plenty of reports there of people who were poor peasants ekeing out existences in former lives, with some going as far to give pretty good anecdoctal (and possibly doctored) evidence of areas they had never been to.

The presumption on this form of reincarnation (and one wonders where all the new souls come from) is that the mind loses it's memories from prior lives as you grow up, so there's no long term factual memory. I assume there's some sort of emotional/subconcious memory, other wise it really doesn't matter if it's true or not.... if there's no persistence, it's like a recycled bottle... even if it was once a coke bottle, if it's now holding my glass of beer, and you can't tell, does it matter?

I think if somebody manages to dissect two healthy brains and put two halves successfully together and keep it alive we should get some interesting answers.

C'mon mad scientists.

Quote: rxwine

I think if somebody manages to dissect two healthy brains and put two halves successfully together and keep it alive we should get some interesting answers.

Such as: "How easily can someone be convicted of a double homicide?"

Quote: Nareed

Such as: "How easily can someone be convicted of a double homicide?"

You know very well mad scientists don't get caught until the end of the story after they've been successful. If you can call whatever it is, successful. As far as they're concerned it usually is, until the villagers with torches show up.

I haven't seen EB so certain about something since the outcome of the Obama/Romney election.

Oi Yoi Yoi youz guys are killing my thread!

Quote: Wizard

I haven't seen EB so certain about something since the outcome of the Obama/Romney election.

Not even the certainty of being able to predict coin flips with better than a 50/50 record? Or being able to tell the difference between a real RNG and a computer generated RNG?

He's a typical internet tough guy. Anyone calls out his own BS, it's always the other people who are too dumb to understand their genius.

Quote: pew

Oi Yoi Yoi youz guys are killing my thread!

And you know, it's quite allowable that you can say you have evidence for something occurring without know the mechanics of the how... that's what science does. We have lots of evidence for the Big Bang, but don't know how it started. We have plenty for evolution and the development of conciousness, but only ideas on the how of abogenesis. The latter I expect will have some pretty firm theories and even possibly a single overall theory by the time I die of old age.

Not that I believe in reincarnation, mind.

Quote: TheCesspit

And you know, it's quite allowable that you can say you have evidence for something occurring without know the mechanics of the how... that's what science does. We have lots of evidence for the Big Bang, but don't know how it started. We have plenty for evolution and the development of conciousness, but only ideas on the how of abogenesis. The latter I expect will have some pretty firm theories and even possibly a single overall theory by the time I die of old age.

Not that I believe in reincarnation, mind.

The idea of consciousness in a materialistic universe is another problematic concept in the same way "what gets reincarnated" is. Some materialist apologists go so far as to deny that consciousness even exists. When you look at it in humans as opposed to (other) animals it becomes even more difficult to reconcile.

The issue I have with ghosts or any extra-sensory phenomena like a "soul" waiting to enter another body is the fact that they must be bound to the laws of gravity and have mass and therefore would be detectable. And if they have such little mass then they would be subject to air currents and would fail to keep a cohesive mass.

In the case of no mass, we have to remember that the earth is spinning and the earth is moving around the sun at a certain rate. Without mass, the force of gravity would not be working on you and you would just fly off this planet. And if it is just energy, that too would be detectable.

This from a guy who believes in God. My point is that if you are going to believe in one supernatural phenomena which violates any laws of physics then you *should* be open to believing others or, at least, not dumping on another's beliefs.