For all o'you atheists out there...

[fackfackfack]

Religion encloses your mind in a box

I completely and totally agree with this statement. It maps out your life, and your history, and your future, instead of letting it be discovered. Discovery is one of the most amazing things in this life, so why would you want to have it locked away because of religion? We evolved over years, to be what we are today. There is no "God" necessary for this.



It's as simple as this:

"I think, therefore I am."
-Rene Descartes.

[Hardcore Newbie]

I don't think there will ever be perfect artificial consciousness, but artificial intelligence is getting more complex every day. Personally, I would be very afraid of something made of metal that has the same free will as a human *remembers the movie i-Robot * and the possibility that it would have the same desire to be free as, well, enslaved people did/do. Besides that I don't think humans will ever understand and map out the brain well enough to recreate it out of electrical circuits, the brain is much more than just a massive electric circuit: it grows and becomes more complex by itself all the time. It would be very interesting, and controversial I'm sure, to see it happen but I don't think it will, at least not in our generation's life time.

I think the exact opposite. I think sooner or later a consciousness will never die, people will live forever via the internet, and copies of themselves as well, just incase one dies via a hardware failure. And I think by that point, an artificially created conscious (ie, not just brain replica, but a brain built from scratch) would have enough intelligence to know that it needs more space to store information and would add it, building expansion slots and such. But to think they'd use metal is absurd, any money that the hard drives of the future are completely organic. Imagine using a computer hooked up to a living brain-like hard drive.

Scary shit :P

[themanwhoinventedmeh]

What if time isn't just a duration, but something more? Does this change the idea of a spontaneous development of existence?

Also... I am surprised a lot of you describe many things as 'is'... which is subjective. An objective fact is a collective agreement(isn't that subjective?)... and a lot of people agreed that the earth was flat.... for a while.

Maybe accepting something like ... 'GOD EXISTS!' or 'GOD DOESN'T EXIST!' or 'this is what I've observed, so I am satisfied with this theory...' could be taking everything way too seriously, and being very stubborn, example... how many of you can recite the current accepted laws of quantum mechanics off the top of your head? NOT ME! and it is a very relevant thing to our existence, although we have no exact 100% proven theory for it!

What I am saying is that maybe we should just follow our hearts... explore our world and one day the universe and.. well... basically live in awe of your existence and the fact you are aware of it every moment and try enjoying it without living in fear of not explaining it.

Peace

[Bigshotcl]

All I can say is, im Catholic, and I definitely believe in a higher power.

However I don't believe that you have to be a perfect little saint for God to love you. It's my opinion that if your a good person with love in your heart and you do the right thing, you'll be fine. I don't think God cares if you have a beer or smoke a joint. Just mantain a connection with him and be a good person, and he'll make your life wonderful. He has for me so far.

That's just my humble opinion though. :rastasmoke:

[Billy Preston]

All I can say is, im Catholic, and I definitely believe in a higher power.

However I don't believe that you have to be a perfect little saint for God to love you. It's my opinion that if your a good person with love in your heart and you do the right thing, you'll be fine. I don't think God cares if you have a beer or smoke a joint. Just mantain a connection with him and be a good person, and he'll make your life wonderful. He has for me so far.

That's just my humble opinion though. :rastasmoke:

Word!

I don't agree with you in the slightest but I like that you believe it and expressed it in the way that you did with no ulterior motive.

[4twentE]

I believe the answer to the first question is no. To be an expression of the universe, by all definition we would have to come from within the universe.

Reaper666 summed up the atomic theory part alright as far as what I know about it. Then you throw some cooperative cell cluster theory, which is very easy to believe and proove on several levels, on top of that. And add my own statement that order is only what we observe then define it as. That's probably actually part of another theory, but throw it in there anyway. Then it's easy to say we could have come from something other than an intelligent creator.

[afghooey]

I believe the answer to the first question is no. To be an expression of the universe, by all definition we would have to come from within the universe.

Maybe I should have worded that differently, but that's exactly what I meant. That if we didn't come from outside (as in, put here by an outside force), then we must have come OUT of the universe from within. Like when an apple comes out of a tree, it's a further expression of the tree itself.