How did we get control of the body we are in?

[Flipswix]

So you have a body, soul and an undetermined third factor? There is no proof suggesting we have a soul, so why start throwing even more things into the mix that have no evidence?

I do not belive in such thing as a soul, with soul I just (also) mean to describe the awareness and control of a body.

[meheez]

If you are talking about consciousness, than the question of how we are aware and give certain qualities to our surroundings hasn't been asnwered yet by anyone. You could just take on the point of view that every conscious experience you have is just a result of brain activity. Meaning i am aware because my brain is aware. It is just wired that way.

[Spectral]

I do not belive in such thing as a soul, with soul I just (also) mean to describe the awareness and control of a body.

I really don't know why you think "awareness" is some sort of thing that's separate from the actual body.

[Kalis]

I do not belive in such thing as a soul, with soul I just (also) mean to describe the awareness and control of a body.

There is no separation between your body and what controls it, or makes you aware of it. What makes you think there is?

[viper823]

Take 2 different people. They are who they are because of genetics/environment true. But why is it that I am seeing and experiencing the world through the eyes of person A, while everything else appears external. Why am I not seeing the world through person B instead? I think this is what you are kind of asking, right? Unfortunately I don't think there is an answer. It is difficult to even put the question in words.

[Deleted]

I do not belive in such thing as a soul, with soul I just (also) mean to describe the awareness and control of a body.

When you die, everything ends. Your point of view ends. There is no Universe, as there is no you. "You" will not pop back up into awareness, ever. "You" are no more.

Incidentally, this is what happens every time the crew of the Enterprise use their transporter. It's a suicide machine. The person being transported gets atomized and thus ends, the data gets transported, not the matter, and the data is used to create a person from a schematic. That person of course thinks he or she is the person who went into the transporter, but they're obviously not.

[Tychus]

To sum up:
How come we are bound/aware in the body we are in?

You aren't in your body, you are your body.

[WarpKnight]

Incidentally, this is what happens every time the crew of the Enterprise use their transporter. It's a suicide machine. The person being transported gets atomized and thus ends, the data gets transported, not the matter, and the data is used to create a person from a schematic. That person of course thinks he or she is the person who went into the transporter, but they're obviously not.

"Obviously"?

There are few certainties with these things, and for these questions we may never have the answers.

[Deleted]

I completely agree. But let's define 'me' as a combination of this. I am now aware in this body. This awareness is created by what you explained. Somehow, that is now me. But couldn't that just happen again after I die, me (in that moment someone else, but meaning the controller of that body) becoming aware.

Awareness is a product of your body and brain. Awareness is a manifestation of the information that your brain has collected throughout your life. Awareness isn't something that works outside of your brain, your brain makes awareness possible through collecting and deciphering information. So...

When you die your brain stops getting oxygen and it too will die. A few minutes after your death you and your brain will be completely dead, no function at all will remain at this point. A few hours after that you and your brain will start to decay. When your brain is fully decayed all the information stored in it will be gone forever, including the information that makes you, you.

To be a bit scify-y: I'm sure at one point we can collect all the information your brain has stored and simulate it inside a computer. For all intents and purposes that simulation would be you. That's as close to an out of body experience as you can get.

[Flipswix]

Awareness is a product of your body and brain. Awareness is a manifestation of the information that your brain has collected throughout your life. Awareness isn't something that works outside of your brain, your brain makes awareness possible through collecting and deciphering information. So...

When you die your brain stops getting oxygen and it too will die. A few minutes after your death you and your brain will be completely dead, no function at all will remain at this point. A few hours after that you and your brain will start to decay. When your brain is fully decayed all the information stored in it will be gone forever, including the information that makes you, you.

This is how I see it too. But what I'm thinking is that after that has happened, just like you were born out of a combination of processes and are now the 'you', couldn't that just happen again?

I really don't know why you think "awareness" is some sort of thing that's separate from the actual body.

I am not thinking it is something seperate from the body you are in. I think it is caused by the body you are in. I just think that it could happen again.

[Deleted]

"Obviously"?

There are few certainties with these things, and for these questions we may never have the answers.

Yeah, well, that's why we look to science. And yes, obviously.

[Mayhem]

Actually, I seem to be thinking exaclty the opposite. I do think the 'soul' to describe it like that is just part of the person. But the person along with it's awareness seems to have been created out of nothing. So why can't that happen again with 'me' being aware with a new 'soul' in a new body after I die.

so actually you´re not even sure what you´re thinking? should start with that one first and then try to formulate some questions

you can´t say i don´t think a soul exists but ask at the same time how did i get control of this body and soul, what is this i you´re talking about? it obviously has no memories, so if you gained control of another body and soul (why you even mention soul is beyond me) you wouldn´t know that you´ve been in control of another body prior to this new one because every information stored was within the other body

now there are signs that dna from your parents and therefor your ancestors carry information other than just how to build a more or less functioning human plus bacteria or viri could probably carry information with them, but that´s nothing you´d be aware of, because it´s not a sudden realisation of said information

[Statix]

You seem to be thinking of some sort of essence of a person or soul as being separate from their physical body. There's no evidence for this being the case. The person is their brain and neural networks.

Ascension. Quite interesting. Solving this would make eternal life possible. I am convinced that I am my brain. So, placing my brain in another body should allow me to use that body. Transfering my brainwaves into a computer, would that work? Placing that computer in the head of an android body, would I be able to live forever? Would I still be alive? How would you define life?

Meh. And we end with death. Knowing that someday I'll die and I'll just be gone is the worst thought possible.

[Adam Jensen]

Because I clicked RACE > HUMAN, CLASS > GEEK and clicked PLAY! I'm currently lvl 28

I'm still trying to figure out how to log out and reroll.

[Imnick]

This is how I see it too. But what I'm thinking is that after that has happened, just like you were born out of a combination of processes and are now the 'you', couldn't that just happen again?

Where do you think other people come from?
What you are describing is the process of life, of course it has happened again.
All these people replying to you are the process of it happening again.

It happens again all the time, but the procut of it is not one that could recognisably be described as "you" because the electrical and chemical signals carving its brain are completely different.

[Deleted]

This is how I see it too. But what I'm thinking is that after that has happened, just like you were born out of a combination of processes and are now the 'you', couldn't that just happen again?

I think we need to define what "You" means in order to answer this question satisfactory.

"You" is a continuous work in progress. The awareness and the version of "you" that exist today will not exist tomorrow and tomorrows version will not exist the day after that etc. Your sense of self changes all the time as you collect and discard information/experiences. The information that you collect and discard also depend on the genetic make-up of your cells and brain which is inherited by both your parents which in turn was inherited by their 4 parents and so on and so on until the beginning of life itself. Therefor another "you" cannot have existed in the past and cannot exist once more in the future. You exist in the now and that is the only time YOU will ever exist.

[Rastas]

I totally get your point, Flipswix, because sometimes I've been wondering the exact same thing. Words aren't really all that good at describing it :/

We can never really know, I guess, because that's something you only get to find out after you're, well, dead. That's why I always lump this sort of thoughts to where I put everything concerning religion, a box labelled 'you'll never know until it's no use'.

Have you tried taking it a step further? What if this "awareness of self" has been traveling through the ages just to wonder this thought during every single lifetime, only to find and lose the answer in the while between death and another birth?

[Flipswix]

I totally get your point, Flipswix, because sometimes I've been wondering the exact same thing. Words aren't really all that good at describing it :/

We can never really know, I guess, because that's something you only get to find out after you're, well, dead. That's why I always lump this sort of thoughts to where I put everything concerning religion, a box labelled 'you'll never know until it's no use'.

Have you tried taking it a step further? What if this "awareness of self" has been traveling through the ages just to wonder this thought during every single lifetime, only to find and lose the answer in the while between death and another birth?

Glad someone finally gets my point! And yes it is very hard to put it down in words.
I think there should be a way to find out though, at least a bit of the question. And that would be by determining how one's body/person/whatever you like to call it is determined to have it's awareness. I just don't know how to describe it properly.

[Tychus]

"You" is a continuous work in progress. The awareness and the version of "you" that exist today will not exist tomorrow and tomorrows version will not exist the day after that etc. Your sense of self changes all the time as you collect and discard information/experiences.

This sounds similar to how Locke describes self/personal identity as a holistic product of consciousness operating over time. (Or so I recall.)

[Pony Soldier]

This is funny I have been asking this EXACT same question to myself for a couple of years now. I just didn't know how to form it into a question I could ask someone else. Yeah, I agree, it is quite a mindfuck when you think deep about it. This is exactly what makes me almost believe in reincarnation. When we die. is that it? Just endless nothingness? Or do we "take control" of another body without being aware of our previous one. This also gets me thinking of another mindfuck that I have also been thinking about for a long time. Lets just say this is true, that when we die we "reincarnate" into someone else, could we have also lived in the past? If so how far? We could've been living in the medieval times or even as far as cavemen era and it could've kept repeating over time(1000s, 1100s, 1200s, 1300s, 1400s, 1500s, etc.) to the body that we're in now. Not only that but could it be possible that we could "reincarnate" into animals? Or hell, even aliens? Before we were us right now could we have been part of an alien civilization from a different planet? It my sound crazy stupid at first but when you take in all that other stuff into account then it becomes worth thinking about.

I probably sound like a lunatic now.