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the rabbit hole

The problem

despite all our technological advances, there are issues that seem to be getting worse and not better - mainly mental illness, inequality, stress, destruction of the environment, chronic unhappiness, etc.

The reason for the problem

Science is able to explain the world around us, but we have taken assumptions used to describe the world around us and tried to apply them to consciousness and reality, which doesn't work.

scientism -

Scientism is the unquestioned belief that the mechanistic, materialistic worldview – which works well for technology – can provide us with a complete explanation of everything.

Examples of things science cannot yet describe:

  • what happened before the big bang?
  • how is consciousness created by the brain?
  • why does positive repel negative
  • what is gravity
  • how were the parameters for quantum forces etc established in a way that allows for life?
  • quantum mechanics and quantum entanglement
  • dark matter - which makes up a huge proportion of the observed universe

We need a new paradigm of reality, a paradigm that makes reality FUN again.

people who have fun are more successful, happier, and innovative

they take calculated risks, they take care of themselves, they change the world.

What makes a video game fun?

there is risk and challenge, but there is a purpose to it - an end goal

you don't losing so seriously when it's a game as opposed to real life; and thus, are more likely to try new things and enjoy the process

failure is just a chance to try again

Humans who treat life as a video game are happier and more successful.

This implies that life does function as a sort of game or simulation

As we will see, there is a lot of evidence to suggest this

The materialist worldview causes us to see reality in a flawed way with paradoxical results

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The materialist world view is based on an incomplete understanding of science

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Some analogies of the "flaws" created by the materialist worldview
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The opposite of the materialist worldview is viewing consciousness as primary

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this implies that consciousness came first, before matter
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Why it's important to answer the question?

We should realize that when people still believe that death is the end of everything we are, including our consciousness, they will give their energy only towards the temporary and material aspects of their life. Their lives will be just about competition and about making more money. In their short-sightedness they will forget how we are interconnected with each other and with nature. They will forget to reflect on the future of our planet, where our children and our grandchildren will have to live and survive. To quote Dag Hammerskjöld (1905-1961): ’Our ideas about death define how we live our life.’

the null hypothesis - conscious might continue after death

the Null hypothesis we currently have is that consciousness ends after death. We believe that consciousness is being produced by the brain, and therefore, after death of the physical body, consciousness should end.

We all know that memory may be obliterated by an injury to the brain... In view of such familiar facts, it seems scarcely probable that the mind survives the total destruction of brain structure... [that] occurs at death. It is not rational arguments, but emotions, that cause belief in a future life.

  • Bertrand Russell, Why I am not a Christian (Routledge Classics, Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition), (p. 44).

This remains an unconfirmed hypothesis, and should not be accepted at face value.

television analogy of consciousness

The main reason for the belief that consciousness is being produced by the brain is that if you destroy a portion of the brain, the consciousness of the individual is diminished. We can even point to specific deficits that occur if we destroy specific portions of the brain.But this is does not imply that consciousness is being produced by the brain. If a television is broadcasting a news program, and you destroy the television so you can no longer see or hear the news anchor, this does not imply that the news anchor was inside the television and is now dead. Rather, the television is a receiver of a signal that then allows you to interact with the contents of that signal. Likewise the brain may be a receiver of consciousness, something through consciousness can interact or express itself. If you take away the receiver, the signal, and the origin of the signal, remain intact. An artist uses paintbrushes to produce paintings. If you take away the paintbrush and give him crayons, the quality of the art produced may be different, but you have not destroyed or limited the artist himself. Take away all the artist's coloring tools, and the artist remains, ready to take up any other instruments that may be available

The idea that it ends after death is an assumption, and a dangerous one at that. We are not talking about heaven or hell here, just the idea that consciousness continues.

Type I error - falsely believing consciousness ends when it does persist is very dangerous, far more dangerous than falsely believing consciousness persists when it does not (Type II error)

make-public

Referenced in

the rabbit hole