the nature of the soul

[eclectica]

I believe that what we call the soul of a person is caused by all the activity that occurs in the brain. It all comes from physical processes that are so complicated that it is beyond our ability to reproduce them in a lab or to read someone's mind. Some day maybe in a 1000 years machines will be sophisticated enough to be able to know what is going on inside a person's mind.

I wonder what goes on in other people's minds. In their idle moments what are they thinking? I suspect that some people are more mentally active than others. In the minds of some there is a big "duhhh" droning away constantly. Do we think with actual words and a voice? When you read do you actually hear a voice reciting words inside of your head? Whose voice is it?

I would like to be able to tap into someone else's mind to see what it's like to be that person. I imagine it would be horribly shocking to be in someone else's shoes. Doing so would put an end to any objective Right and Wrong because every person justifies to himself what he is doing. One could not fully be someone else, even temporarily, because one would have to cast aside one's own identity in order to do so.

[Criminal_Sniper]

Nietzsche says there is no real "soul" as we believe it to be as all that the soul has in it is built from external factors in life
they are factored not permanent
buddhism says it is not permanent but will continue untill an end of suffering is reached when u reach enlightenment
now i guess with buddhism it could be said its pretty true because the only things that couls keep into the next rebirth would be some of karma
though it is an average over the past lives

my brains runs about 25-30% overactively
thats why i don't sleep well
a whole life of the soul conditioning itself to imperfect and then a eternity of perfection
we wont be comfortable straight away
would people freak out?
goota be a load of crap when it comes to this
but they would say the same they would wipe ur memory of these thinks
so is the soul the soul then?

[Dollar_Girl]

the soul is an interesting concept. Many times it is associated with a conscience or the concept of 'having a heart'. To 'have a soul' represents a depth in humanity, but perhaps an artifical depth. I think a soul is just a collective word we use to represent a mass of complicated and unexplainable brain activities ( as eclectica stated) that we then execute in our thinking and actions, and ultimately use to define ourselves. That is why ppl go to "find themselves" and go hiking in the himalayas or something... a soul searching journey, because they feel they lack soul and depth and they need to do something radical which they believe will allow them to regrain or find a renewed sense of themselves. That is why the concept of soul can sometimes be artificial, because ppl they have to go wonder through the streets of nepal or something to feed and nourish their soul, when infact they are just feeding the hunger for life exploration or desperatly trying to escape a part of themselves that they directly associate with their current location. You dont need to go to foreign land to nourish your soul and inspiration is always infront of you in poverty or riches. Your own land can be just as rewarding, but familiarity can discourage hunger for education and exploration. That is why i cant' name Australias history of prime ministers, but i can recite american presidents.

When i was studying artificial intelligence as it is now and possible progressions in the future, one of the concepts was wether or not A.I can have a conscience or a 'soul'. It would be interesting to re-create free will and resistance in an artifical being, because human intelligence and free-will can lose much of its importance and beauty.

Humans always hunger to understand and learn, but there is such a concept as 'knowing too much' which can lower morality and decrease the beauty of life, and ultimately doom anything sacred.

[Dollar_Girl]

Do we think with actual words and a voice? When you read do you actually hear a voice reciting words inside of your head? Whose voice is it?
.

u know, sometimes i wonder that too. Sometimes i like to sing a song in my head, but also attempt to read at the same time, or have other thoughts... like multi-thinking. Sometimes i think i have suceeded at creating mental background music AND thinking over the top about something else, but then i get confused and give up trying to figure it out.

[eclectica]

Most of the time there is a song playing in the background in my head. Right now there is one from one of my daughter's kid TV shows.

The few times I don't have music playing in my head, are odd moments. I recall after the trip back from Senegal last year having not music but the old vacuum cleaner / lawnmower sound of the engines of the 747 upon takeoff in my head for a while afterwards. I remember another time one morning not having any music in my head at all but instead "allahu akbar" in some angry voice being repeated over and over, which is Arabic for "god is great".

[Criminal_Sniper]

my head is always asking WHAT THE FUCK?
but its a voice with no voice
like no sound but i can hear it
learn to communicate with urself the little guy upstairs has the key

[Dollar_Girl]

i speak Slovak everyday, but my thoughts are in english mostly, but sometimes i have Slovak thoughts, but only when it comes to matters of my heart.

My mother speaks english everyday, but her thoughts are in Slovak.

I always wonder with ppl who speak a few languages... i wonder what language their thoughts are in... and wether the language alternates according to their mood or the situation.

[Dollar_Girl]

i saw shrek 2 today, when i saw the puss in boots on the 25metre screen, i recognised your avatar. The puss in boots, used the sympathy look as a tool for manipulation.

I didnt' really like shrek 2... i havnt' seen the first one yet.

A movie i really liked was Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind.

[Dollar_Girl]

to be honest, i dont think you know the difference.

i saw harry potter recently aswell...could they have chosen an uglier main character or what. What a great money making machine those harry potter movies are. What happens when Harry Potter gets too deep in puberty, will they replace him like they did james bond, when he got too old?

go hollywood, go!

[Dollar_Girl]

dude, i have far more interesting things to do... like sit here and scratch my arse when i feel an itch.

[Criminal_Sniper]

harry potter sucks
shrek sucks
thats up on the top most annoying movies of all time
I think Man On The Moon was pretty well done
Slovak eh $Girl? i kind of think German sometimes and sometimes English
some things i have never spoke of in German so if im talking to someone about those topics that is English speaking i think about those things in English
sometimes i don't know the english or the german is more fluent
some of my friends speak a little german around here
but knowing more than one or two languages makes u not realise so much
i find myself saying things in russian also especially when im with my russian friends
i want to learn Chinese and something like arabic or more spanish
though im already learning nowegian danish and swedish a little bit by bit
i don't really speak any languages not even english
not to the standard i would like anyway
in chinese u can speak fluently with a few hundred words our of 80,000 or so but u need to know 6,000 to read the newspaper
thats what i mean by speaking a language

[nicobie]

[QUOTE=Criminal_Sniper]harry potter sucks



WOW... check it out...WOW

[Criminal_Sniper]

where was the excitement in that?