Do we have a soul? - General

The only thing I would consider a soul is the collection of signals in your neural tissue, so your soul stops existing when your neurons stop working.

[QUOTE=Noble;35035516]That's proof of hallucinations, not souls. Only if we can consider unicorns as evidence for the soul too[/QUOTE] Hey now, Unicorns are amazing creatures. How dare you deny them their obvious existance!

I don't believe in the existence of a soul. However, I do believe in reincarnation. Mainly because I believe that self-conciousness can be described as 'something' that is. Now, as physics will tell you, there is no such thing as 'nothing'. In my view, I believe that it is physically impossible for someone to not exist. In one way or another, someone exists and is aware of time, space and the things around them. I suppose it helps me feel more relaxed about death. I'm quite scared of death, and can't begin to grasp the concept of not existing, so maybe it's just a defense my brain makes up. But in any case, it helps me feel more happy.

Why don't they scan the brain activity of a person who.. dies? [editline]8th March 2012[/editline] Regarding that video

[QUOTE=Kybalt;35033537]easily discredited by the fact that your brain trips on a helluva shit load of DMT when you have a near death experience. and there is absolutely 0 evidence for ghosts other than "i was alone in the dark and my brain started convincing me i might be hearing things and it was real spooky".[/QUOTE] That you trip on DMT in your final moments is still a debated topic, though mostly debunked :) [editline]8th March 2012[/editline] Such substances(tryptamines) however has been actively used by humans since probably always and could very well be the stem of many of the spiritual doctrines our society is practising today.

[QUOTE=Virtanen;35034420]No, but we have a mind.[/QUOTE] Isn't that a soul? I think our definition of soul would fit very well with what we do know as the mind. Of course, we would have no 'soul' when we die, as it is, in some way, causally related to the body (although, not the phenomenal body), but our mind is [I]distinct[/I] (although not separated) than our phenomenal body.

we have mind, not the soul. And mind is Immortal, because it is made of alot of thoughts. And in the brain thoughts only mean consequences of electrons. And electrons are made of electromagnetism, and everybody knows that electromagnet wave cant dissappear, it's amplitude is just reducing, and it is spreading to universe. So it means our mind is spreading to universe, when our brain is alive, like a radio station. But after we die, it brain cant make new electrowaves, and our mind is living and spreading with what we thought when our brain was alive.

[QUOTE=Kastro;35052070]we have mind, not the soul. And mind is Immortal, because it is made of alot of thoughts. And in the brain thoughts only mean consequences of electrons. And electrons are made of electromagnetism, and everybody knows that electromagnet wave cant dissappear, it's amplitude is just reducing, and it is spreading to universe. So it means our mind is spreading to universe, when our brain is alive, like a radio station. But after we die, it brain cant make new electrowaves, and our mind is living and spreading with what we thought when our brain was alive.[/QUOTE] Is this a new pseudoscience?

[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;35048305]I don't believe in the existence of a soul. However, I do believe in reincarnation.[/quote] never go full retard [quote]Mainly because I believe that self-conciousness can be described as 'something' that is.[/quote] this is about as meaningless as you can get [quote]Now, as physics will tell you, there is no such thing as 'nothing'. In my view, I believe that it is physically impossible for someone to not exist. In one way or another, someone exists and is aware of time, space and the things around them.[/quote] this would lead you to postulate that every single possible mind exists in the same universe, and by extension, every single thing you must also realise that a substantial number of those minds are in indescribable agony and suffering [quote]I suppose it helps me feel more relaxed about death. I'm quite scared of death, and can't begin to grasp the concept of not existing, so maybe it's just a defense my brain makes up. But in any case, it helps me feel more happy.[/QUOTE] if the torture of more than a googleplex raised to the power of graham's number people makes you feel happy you're a terrible person [editline]8th March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Kastro;35052070]we have mind, not the soul. And mind is Immortal, because it is made of alot of thoughts. And in the brain thoughts only mean consequences of electrons. And electrons are made of electromagnetism, and everybody knows that electromagnet wave cant dissappear, it's amplitude is just reducing, and it is spreading to universe. So it means our mind is spreading to universe, when our brain is alive, like a radio station. But after we die, it brain cant make new electrowaves, and our mind is living and spreading with what we thought when our brain was alive.[/QUOTE] no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no o no no no no no no no nonoon

[QUOTE=MBB;35045268][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYEZOMb4VlE[/media][/QUOTE] The same channel has a video explaining why evolution via natural selection is wrong. I wouldn't count that as a very trustworthy source. [editline]8th March 2012[/editline] And even if the DMT case is debunked, there are still a variety of things that could be going on in the brain

[QUOTE=demoniclemon;35045794]The only thing I would consider a soul is the collection of signals in your neural tissue, so your soul stops existing when your neurons stop working.[/QUOTE] That's not what a soul is by definition. The soul is supposed to be the part of the human that "never dies", separating us from animals and the such. The idea is that people have a part of themselves that never ceases to exist, so a soul (if there is one) will not stop to exist once your neurons stop working.

Where would the soul come from? Where would it be stored? Wouldn't the spiritual realm be overpopulated by souls?

I believe human beings and all other animals in the world have what you could consider to be a soul... There are twines that bind each person to there close family or friends. Being with the same people everyday, you will start. Noticing you and the other being have similar thoughts, say things at the same time etc. philotic. Connections are what binds us all by what you may call the "soul"

From what I've seen, we are nothing more than biological organisms. Alltough I find it really fascinating how we evolved to our social structure. From my personal experiences recently; I've found that special someone, and I do notice how my brain reacts when I'm near her. Something that is our primoral need to find a life partner to share our continuity with can feel so complex yet at the same time it feels like chainreaction of triggers.

Okay. Lets stop saying "the mind is our soul!!" because that isn't what we're discussing. What we're discussing is if we have, in the traditional sense, essence of our being. The answer to that is obviously no and this discussion is silly.

Define the term "soul".

[QUOTE=elowin;35065078]Define the term "soul".[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=OP]A soul can be defined as something seperate from the body, that the soul is simply 'a ghost in the machine' and our bodies are just vehicles that transport it around.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=NicoleEmilid;35065127][/QUOTE] That's a pretty vague definition, though.

That is because the soul doesn't exist and you can't describe something that has no basis to reality.

[QUOTE=NicoleEmilid;35066231]That is because the soul doesn't exist and you can't describe something that has no basis to reality.[/QUOTE] sure you can

[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;35066374]sure you can[/QUOTE] Describing a soul is like describing a new color. There's nothing equivalent to a soul, nothing even similar.

[QUOTE=NicoleEmilid;35066231]That is because the soul doesn't exist and you can't describe something that has no basis to reality.[/QUOTE] There are less vague definitions of things like psionic powers and magic. So yeah, i guess you could pretty much just say that there is no way it could exist, or atleast no way to define it, which is close to being the same thing, in a strange sciency way.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;35052797]Is this a new pseudoscience?[/QUOTE] It is just my view about mind(soul).

No we don't have one. It's like asking if god exists, surely it doesn't.

[QUOTE=NicoleEmilid;35066424]Describing a soul is like describing a new color. There's nothing equivalent to a soul, nothing even similar.[/QUOTE] I was replying to this bit in particular, sorry if that wasn't clear: [quote]you can't describe something that has no basis to reality.[/quote]

To be fair, no valid conclusion can ever be made in this discussion until we know what the human consciousness is and it's involvement with the brain. So far research trying to map the functions of the brain have drawn underwhelming conclusions and we so far know very little of how the brain works, except for basic mechanisms for nervous signal transmissions and the general areas that have heightened activities when carrying out specific tasks.

[QUOTE=sintwins;35068667]To be fair, no valid conclusion can ever be made in this discussion until we know what the human consciousness is and it's involvement with the brain.[/quote] no we don't need to even go that far. the soul as a legit hypothesis died as soon as the first documented link between a change in the physical brain produces systematically different thoughts, no matter how general. people think that souls are plausible because they don't think through the ramifications of what the universe would actually look like if there were souls [quote]So far research trying to map the functions of the brain have drawn underwhelming conclusions and we so far know very little of how the brain works, except for basic mechanisms for nervous signal transmissions and the general areas that have heightened activities when carrying out specific tasks.[/QUOTE] actually we know a staggering amount about how the brain functions, and we're learning more every day. just because we don't understand something perfectly doesn't mean we can't make useful inferences.

If the "soul" exists in some alternate, unperceptive, yet still connected form. It is, for certain, nothing like the you that you know. The you that you know is 100% undoubtedly your brain's handiwork. Your physical brain defines the you that you know and love. So if the soul exists, fine, but who cares?

[QUOTE=Vodkavia;35075276]Our consciousness is fully capable of existing without a soul.[/QUOTE] Actually there is no 'straight up' evidence for that claim.

[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;35033577]The human brain functions with electrical impulses and stuff, and when we die I like to think that these electrical impulses still exist, kinda like radiowaves. You can't pick them up with equipment, but they exist, and they have our memories and our mind in it, and it floats away and stuff. It's a silly thought, but it's the most logical thing I can think of that resembles a "soul".[/QUOTE] Yeah but the problem is it's not even slightly logic whatsoever. I believe in a soul in the sense that there is a collection of qualities we all share that are innately human, I don't believe in a spiritual soul in the sense that we all have a god given soul or that sort of lark, just that there is an innate human quality we all share and that to me is the soul. Also for your theory the most logical solution for a soul or an afterlife is that as you die your brain panics and tries to find a solution to what it sees as a problem and as such it slows your perception of time, the brain is then flooded with DMT (maybe, we're still not sure about this yet) so your perception of time has slowed to a crawl and your tripping all the balls, this is what we commonly attribute near death experiences to.