Re:How Doctors Die (2013)
by pitspotter on Sunday April 04, 2021 @04:40AM
(#26687847)
What if we're in a simulation and getting to level 2 requires that one prefer consciousness not to cease upon death?
This just sounds like a version of Pascal's Wager.
Re:How Doctors Die (2013)
by pitspotter on Sunday April 04, 2021 @06:08PM
(#26693259)
Yes! It wasn't until I'd posted the question that I realised its aptness for today (Easter Sunday).
However I'm not saying people should believe in an afterlife. Rather I'm reflecting that not wanting there to be an afterlife could conceivably manifest as the flat belief that consciousness does not persist after death. And if I am the stupendous Creator running a simulation game for developing AGIs then, when it comes to selecting candidates for the next phase, the criterion of their wanting to persist might be the decisive one.
During a particularly horrific drug trip, I realized that this is very much not true. I thought I was stuck in an eternal state of suffering, of which there was no escape. The level of suffering was indescribable, and the thought that it was going to continue forever was unbearable.
Now, I'm not really afraid of death. It's just the complete cessation of consciousness. Not that different from a deep, dreamless sleep. Infinitely preferable to that unceasing hell I thought I was stuck in.