[ExI] The Soul

[BillK]

On Tue, 25 Aug 2020 at 07:53, Jason Resch via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> I've written up my ideas much more clearly here, if you are interested:
> https://alwaysasking.com/is-there-life-after-death/
>
> Jason
> _______________________________________________

There's a lot of information in that article!
But that doesn't mean it solves the problem of life after death.  :)

Reviewing ten theories of life after death gives the reader a lot of
content to deal with and reminds me of the Gish Gallop debating
technique. (Not intended to criticize the strength of your arguments).

Gish Gallop Definition:
The Gish gallop is a technique used during live debates that focuses
on overwhelming an opponent with as many arguments as possible,
without regard for accuracy or strength of the arguments. In debate
each point raised by the "Gish galloper" takes considerably more time
to refute or fact-check than it did to state in the first place.
-----------
In this case it means that to argue against your article may require
ten articles of similar length arguing against each theory in detail.
I don't think I'm up to making that effort!  :)

More generally, any argument that introduces infinities, whether of
time, space or universes, runs into the problem that it results in
claiming 'Well, in effect anything is possible'. That may be true, but
it is not really a constructive argument.

It reminds me of Zeno's Dichotomy paradox.
That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before
it arrives at the goal.
— as recounted by Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b10

Suppose Atalanta wishes to walk to the end of a path. Before she can
get there, she must get halfway there. Before she can get halfway
there, she must get a quarter of the way there. Before traveling a
quarter, she must travel one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth;
and so on.
This description requires one to complete an infinite number of tasks,
which Zeno maintains is an impossibility.

Modern mathematics now has the concept of a convergent series, where
the sum of the terms of an infinite sequence of numbers converges or
tends to a limit.

So our life may have infinite possibilities but it still tends to the
limit of death. Though if life extension becomes feasible it could be
a much longer life than at present.




BillK