I dread that it might be like my usual (nightly) sleep paralysis, except it will be the one time I don't wake up...
Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
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Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#32I have that inner emotion, when thinking about death. It makes me very uneasy. When We die, if there is nothing coming, how is it to not exist? I mean, what is it like? Pure black and emptyness? I then comfort myself into thinking, in the end it comes down to energy. Like being part of that endless stream of energy that became matter and probably will return to energy somewhere in infinty. Or do we maybe just restart…
Philip Larkin:
And specious stuff that says "No rational being
Can fear a thing it will not feel", not seeing
That this is what we fear—no sight, no sound,
No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,
Nothing to love or link with,
The anaesthetic from which none come round.Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#33I have that inner emotion, when thinking about death. It makes me very uneasy. When We die, if there is nothing coming, how is it to not exist? I mean, what is it like? Pure black and emptyness? I then comfort myself into thinking, in the end it comes down to energy. Like being part of that endless stream of energy that became matter and probably will return to energy somewhere in infinty. Or do we maybe just restart…
I've seen this answered as "Do you remember what was like before you were born? Being dead is the same thing".
It couldn't be pure black and emptiness, for example, because we no longer exist to experience it.
Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#34I have that inner emotion, when thinking about death. It makes me very uneasy. When We die, if there is nothing coming, how is it to not exist? I mean, what is it like? Pure black and emptyness? I then comfort myself into thinking, in the end it comes down to energy. Like being part of that endless stream of energy that became matter and probably will return to energy somewhere in infinty. Or do we maybe just restart…
Pretty sure its a lot like how it was before you were born
Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#35I dread that it might be like my usual (nightly) sleep paralysis, except it will be the one time I don't wake up...
Used to get sleep paralysis a lot as a kid/teenager. Definitely not fun. I haven't had an episode in a long time, fortunately.
Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#36I have that inner emotion, when thinking about death. It makes me very uneasy. When We die, if there is nothing coming, how is it to not exist? I mean, what is it like? Pure black and emptyness? I then comfort myself into thinking, in the end it comes down to energy. Like being part of that endless stream of energy that became matter and probably will return to energy somewhere in infinty. Or do we maybe just restart…
What's it like to be asleep and not dreaming?
Imagine is screaming at or slapping the dead was all it took to bring them back to life.
Einstein: "I told you I was done with physics! Let me rest in peace already!"
Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#37I have that inner emotion, when thinking about death. It makes me very uneasy. When We die, if there is nothing coming, how is it to not exist? I mean, what is it like? Pure black and emptyness? I then comfort myself into thinking, in the end it comes down to energy. Like being part of that endless stream of energy that became matter and probably will return to energy somewhere in infinty. Or do we maybe just restart…
You can't describe non-existence in phenomenological or psychological terms because existence is required for experience (unless you believe in "souls"). The body will exist, but the neural activity that underlies experience will be absent.
edit: another user commented and said this was "logically unsound 20th century positivism". Let me direct you to this quote ca 300BC from Epicurus:
> Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not.
Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#38This corresponds with what I've read previously about brain activity following clinical death. What appears to be the case is that the brain continues to work for a period after the heart stops and a last breath is taken. So what that might mean is that if one is with a person who has just died, a relative or friend, there is still a moment, just a moment, to say good bye and I love you. And it is comforting to know…
Beautifully said, reminds me of "All these years, all these memories, there was you. You pulled me through time." from the fountain.
I'm rewatching Midnight Mass on Netflix with my wife. They have some very powerful monologues on death. This is one that occurred to me just now, when two characters are discussing what they believe happens after death:
"When I die, my body stops functioning. Five minutes later, my brain cells start dying. But in the meantime, in between, maybe my brain releases a flood of DMT – the psychedelic drug released when we dream – so I dream. I dream bigger than I have ever dreamed before because it’s all of it. Just the last dump of DMT all at once, and my neurons are firing and I’m seeing this firework display of memories and imagination.
My mind’s rifling through the memories, long and short term, and the dreams mix with the memories. And it’s a curtain call. One last great dream as my mind empties the fuckin’ missile silos, and then I stop.
My brain activity ceases and there is nothing left of me.
No pain, no memory, no awareness that I ever was.
That I ever hurt someone.
That I ever killed someone.
Everything is as it was before me.
All of the other little things that make me up – the microbes and bacterium and the billion other little things that live on my eyelashes and in my hair and in my mouth and on my skin and in my gut and everywhere else, they just keep on living and eating. And I’m serving a purpose. I’m feeding life and I’m broken apart and all the littlest pieces of me are just recycled and I’m billions of other places. And my atoms are in plants and bugs and animals, and I am like the stars that are in the sky. There one moment and then just scattered across the goddamn cosmos.”
https://adrianvstheworld.com/2021/10/05/midnight-mass-and-th...
And, another moving monologue, this one's a spoiler so heads up: https://www.reddit.com/r/HauntingOfHillHouse/comments/pxw74y...
Either way, this show hit me unexpectedly. One of my favorite "deep watches" in a long time.
Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#39I have that inner emotion, when thinking about death. It makes me very uneasy. When We die, if there is nothing coming, how is it to not exist? I mean, what is it like? Pure black and emptyness? I then comfort myself into thinking, in the end it comes down to energy. Like being part of that endless stream of energy that became matter and probably will return to energy somewhere in infinty. Or do we maybe just restart…
Philip Larkin: And specious stuff that says "No rational being Can fear a thing it will not feel", not seeing That this is what we fear—no sight, no sound, No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with, Nothing to love or link with, The anaesthetic from which none come round.
Aubade, 1977
Re: Neuroscientists have recorded the activity of a dying human brain
#40This corresponds with what I've read previously about brain activity following clinical death. What appears to be the case is that the brain continues to work for a period after the heart stops and a last breath is taken. So what that might mean is that if one is with a person who has just died, a relative or friend, there is still a moment, just a moment, to say good bye and I love you. And it is comforting to know…
The brain might very well be in a weird state at that moment. In that case, it would be best if it is unconscious. Comfort is not high on nature's agenda.