[ExI] Weighing the Soul

[William Flynn Wallace]

There is no information unless it is stored, right?  In our brains that
means physical changes occur when information is stored, and potentially it
can be studied scientifically.

When a PC stores information it changes the positive/negative aspects of
the hard drive (tape, whatever), and so is a physical thing, able to be
measured and dealt with scientifically.

Soul, you say, is nonphysical, in contradiction to Descartes and some
others and will never be measured or part of science.  So why don't we quit
using it?  If you can't define it, if you can't measure, it simply does not
exist to a physical monist like me, and so is just nonsense, like magic,
witchcraft and many others that have mostly passed into history.

And it just feels wrong for atheists (naturalists) to talk about souls as
if they exist in some way.  The only way they exist is in the beliefs of
some people, and that is certainly no proof of the existence of anything.

bill w


On Sun, Sep 23, 2018 at 11:12 AM, John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 19, 2018 at 4:09 PM William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > *C'mon - it is scientifically impossible to measure anything
>> nonphysical, right?  So if you can't study it, it ain't science! *
>>
>
> Your right of course, but (and I've said all this before)
> I think
> information is as close as you can get to the traditional concept of the
> soul and still remain within the scientific method. Consider the
> similarities:
> The soul is non material and so is
> information. It's difficult to pin down a unique physical location for the
> soul, and the same is true for information. The soul is the essential, must
> have, part of consciousness, exactly the same situation is true for
> information. The soul is immortal and potentially so is information.
>
> But there are important differences too. A soul is unique but information
> can be duplicated. The soul is and will always remain unfathomable, but
> information is understandable, in fact information is the ONLY thing that
> is understandable. Information unambiguously exists, I don't think anyone
> would deny that, but even if the soul exists it will never be proven
> scientifically.
>
>
>  John K Clark
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>
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