Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Schiavo's Dead, But The Discussion Isn't

I know that the Schiavo thing is old and tired, but there are new and very relevant developments in her story, and considering that this is an anti-afterlife blog, it would be immoral for me to not discuss these developments, so bear with me.

The autopsy for Terri was recently completed, and CNN posted an article about the autopsy results. Just to get this out of the way, they found no signs of trauma or abuse from her husband. But let's focus on the most important part of this entire autopsy. Medical examiner Jon Thogmartin had this to say:

"The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain. ... This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."


This quote, along with the videos that everyone has seen, should make the consciousness-material brain dependency perfectly clear. For the afterlife-believers out there, think about the implications of these circumstances.

Terri was a non-functional human being with a decomposed brain that weighed half the size of a normal adult brain. Her consciousness deteriorated in direct proportion to the material deterioration of her brain. So if there is an afterlife, what happened to her consciousness? Did certain parts of her cognitive ability just float away and wait around for the rest to follow? Do you think the parts of her consciousness without brain matter to support them were waiting in the spirit realm to be reunited with the remainder of her mind once her body fully expired?

Do you think that her memories, which have shown to be composed of material electronic impulses and neural connections inside the brain, could still have "existed" in some other realm even without material support, and then can somehow be reattached to the rest of her consciousness after her death?

No doubt, pretty much all the afterlife-believers would answer yes to these questions. Well, I think that this presents a bit of a problem. To insist that the consciousness is not dependent upon material support for existence is to deny that material conditions can affect it. Therefore, I contend that if the afterlife exists, and material conditions do not affect a consciousness, then Terri Schiavo should have retained all of her conscious capabilities regardless of the condition of her brain. I contend that those portions of her consciousness would never have left her and that Schiavo would have still had full use of her mental facilities and memories regardless of the degree of deterioration of her brain.

If the consciousness truly was not dependent upon a material brain for existence, then it would not be negatively affected by brain damage or deterioration. Therefore, these portions of her consciousness would never have separated from the rest of her mind in the first place.

I contend that the fact that she lost mental capabilities from the deterioration of her brain is proof that her consciousness is affected by her material brain and that it cannot exist without material support.

If the afterlife-believer were to accept falsifiability for their position, then it would have just been proven false in the previous paragraph. If an afterlife-believer, setting up an unfalsifiable version of the afterlife claim, can say that consciousness will exist without material support, then I can use their same argument to insist that my Windows XP operating system will continue to exist after I smash the hard drive into a million pieces. Neither of those arguments would be falsifiable if "immaterialism" is to be incorporated. But if a material, quantifiable standard is employed (detectability of brain waves or other electric signals) then both of those arguments would be proven false.

In previous blog entries, I have given examples of machines that can detect, measure, and interpret thoughts. These thoughts are purely material, they require specific components of a functional brain to exist, and each kind of thought is quantifiable and distinct from the other. In previous blog entries, I have also discussed the burden of proof. I have met the burden of proof regarding the material dependency of the brain. No afterlife-believer has met the burden of proof to support the contention that consciousness can exist without a brain (organic or synthetic).

My proposition (dependency on matter for consciousness) is falsifiable. I never argue against the afterlife with any unfalsifiable argument, for an unfalsifiable argument is no argument at all. Most of the afterlife-believers' arguments are not falsifiable (therefore defeating themselves), and when they are falsifiable, they get proven false very quickly thanks to the evidence I have presented in this blog.

Terry Schiavo's consciousness was dead years ago and this autopsy proves it. Terry Schiavo did not pass into any afterlife. Her consciousness is not eternal; it only existed as long as her brain was able to support it. Terri's consciousness did not exist before she was born, and it doesn't exist anymore now that she is dead.

There is no afterlife.

10 comments:

D said...

Just wait for the death-heads to spin this as a story of how the doctor was paid off, or some equally ridiculous explanation.

They can't do without their fantasies.

Delta said...

Yeah, the fact that the brain's functions depend on the material in the brain was one of the things that helped me distance myself from modern religious beliefs when I was younger. The soul is just such a silly, silly concept.

Anonymous said...

Don't you know anything? The liquified parts of her brain are waiting for her up in heaven! Any and all body parts she lost will be waiting. She will have piles and piles of old hair and fingernails waiting, along with a mound of flaked off skin cells. It is really quite obvious when you think about it. Her real, pre-PVS personality will be there too. Jesus was keeping it in a jar until she got there.

hashishan prophet said...

There is indeed an afterlife -- you are now warned!!! You will accept my dispensation one or another -- through LOVE or through HATE !

I can see your soul, and I know it is a righteous one. I have chosen you as a disciple for my new dispensation. My message is born of love, but it will not tolerate dismissal. Accept it or perish with the monkey-hordes!

IN THE BEGINNING, this planet was created with a certain destiny path in mind. Its creators (the "elohim," a group of vast, intelligent beings who combined forces to create this sector of reality) envisioned a rich environment where the planet's theme of "seeking harmony in diversity" could play out. However, there were other beings that saw an opportunity to insert themselves into the paradigm and eventually did so, so successfully that the original blueprint for the planet was essentially abrogated and converted to another agenda entirely.

The first of these deceivers was Yehoshua-ben-Panderer-ben-Satan, otherwise known as Jesus (the Monkey-) Christ; aka LUCIFER. We, Sara, We, Lyara, We, TED jesus christ, We are returned to this earth (Teegeeack) with a prophecy and a warning. Accept in charity, for your sake and others. God will cast down the deceivers and the deceived!

For the first time in a history of our civilization the Message of non-human intelligence is discovered. Here I will begin to acquaint you with this Message. It was left to us many thousand of years ago. ... Full decoding and understanding of the Message will require many years. The Message, in particular, this contains information on global catastrophe in the history of the Earth, revival of life after this catastrophe, with reasons and method of prediction of similar catastrophes.

I received this message from celestial visionaries from beyond Cassiopiea. I have the gift of telepathy and I CAN READ YOUR THOUGHTS!!!

In 2012 the next polar reversal will take place on earth. This means that the North Pole will be changed into the South Pole. Scientifically this can only be explained by the fact that the earth will start rotating in the opposite direction, together with a huge disaster of unknown proportions.

I am revealing to you the immense cataclysm that is going to torment the earth in the near future. It is presently assumed by most people and the general scientific world at large, that the rotation of the Earth is stable, however, this is not the case. The gruesome reports of the previous catastrophes should, hopefully, be clear to all.

The historical exploration of cosmology in previous books is founded on the translation of hieroglyphs, cracking of codes, unveiling of the magnetic reversal of the sun, study of old maps, decoding of astronomical clues, geological research, and the discovery of the most exciting archaeological find in modern times.
Considering these I came to the following conclusions:

1. With clock-like regularity, sudden reversals and pole shifts are natural to the Earth. The result is worldwide destruction, and is supported by paleo-magnetic evidence and early manuscripts.
2. The reversal of the poles is attributed to the harmonic cycle of the magnetic fields of the sun.
3. Polar reversals can be calculated precisely on the basis of the sunspot cycle theory or the magnetic field theory, which the Maya and the Old Egyptians were privy to. These secrets are contained in the Labyrinth of Hawara, a huge complex consisting of three thousand rooms.

I want to explain abundantly clearly that life after a polar reversal is nothing but horror, pure unimaginable horror. All securities you presently have at hand, like - amongst others - food, transport, and medicines, will have disappeared in one big blow, dissolved into nothingness. As will our complete civilization. It cannot be more horrifying than this; worse than the worst nightmare. More destructive than a nuclear war in which the entire global arsenal of nuclear weapons has been deployed in one blow. Are you grasping the facts?

The earth will be subjected to total destruction. It will be many times worse than my description. Terrible hunger, cold and pain, and more will rule your daily life: without hope of a quick recovery, because all knowledge and resources will have been completely destroyed. That will be the reality of your daily life after the forthcoming polar reversal. And it is in this scenario you will have to try to survive.

You have been warned. Your science and your monkey-god and your atheist-homosexuals will NOT save. Only by receiving the healing blessing upon your forehead of WE, Sara-Lara-Ted-jesus-christ, can you possibly avoid catastrophe!

Fictitious 'Jesus Christ' is itself a poisonous serpent you yourselves - clergymen, Pharisees, and secret societies - created a long time ago, more precisely 2000 and a few years ago and that is the most hideous lie existent on this Planet called Earth and only true and real cause of all evil existent on this planet. You yourselves and other Pharisees created this fairy-tale and fictitious character called by the ones deceived by you as 'Jesus Christ' and you are the main personages of the horror story: the bloodthirsty wolves hidden behind the bushes of your lies! To all of you who wear cassocks and to all those who handles a crosier and wears tiaras I give you my wise whip of despise and my sword of knowledge, understand you the metaphors: With this whip, made of wise words, I do whip you and with the sword of knowledge I firstly tread on the serpents bodies then I cut off the heads of the serpents itself with it. May my words of knowledge be echoed throughout all existent Universes and may it be heard by all humankind of Earth and by all human beings in all Universes! So be it!

Don't be sucked in by the lies!

YEHOSHUA-BEN-PANDERA (AKA: JESUS CHRIST) - THE ACCURSED ONE OF GOD AND THE MONKEY-CHRIST, MONKEY-GOD AND SUPERSTAR OF THE RAVENOUS HYENAS IN A SHEEP'S CLOTHING

The tricks, ruses and terrorism of Jesus H(ell's) Christ - Satan's soul mate

"If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God" (De 21:22 -23) I.e.: A MONKEY CHRIST IS HANGING ON THE CROSS!

Delta said...

It's also very sad about how they treated her poor husband. They demonized him for no reason. As if he wasn't going through enough already.

Aaron Kinney said...

hashishan prophet,

After reading your post and your blog, I have determined that you are crazy. I will leave your comment in my blog as evidence of what religious and afterlife beliefs do to peoples minds.

Hellbound Alleee said...

Aaron, this person has plagiarized from at least three websites, word for word. She/he/Ted Jesus Chrits God, or whoever, can't even come up with an original thought. Check out the comments on my blog for the websites.

Delta said...

Woah, that guy was being serious. I just thought it was a joke that wasn't funny. If he's serious that is really sad. It really makes you appreciate your own sanity all that much more.

Aaron Kinney said...

This is true delta.

Check out Hellbound Alleees comments section now. I provided a challenge to the hashish jesus.

Anonymous said...

Let's be hypothetical for a moment...Say there is a soul...The brain would act as a 'gateway' of sorts, or a tool through which the soul of a person can interact with our world...would it not be fitting that, as a brain is damaged or incapacitated, so too would the ability of the soul to communicate with this world?
Just some food for thought...