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Infact come to that, how do we know what we call life is actually being alive - other than knowing when others are dead - what frame of reference do we have or is death frame of reference enough?

Please those of a religious disposition or members of the Moral Coward Society i.e. those not supplying contact info for a possible counter-answer - please could you resist the temptation to answer.

You religious lot are supposed resist temptation anyway!
So don't do it - you hear!!!

Thank you in advance for your co-operation!

2007-03-23 12:37:38 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science Psychology

10 points will ONLY go to the answer which I deem to be as near to logical in structure as possible - so you religious lot have got absolutely no chance - no matter how many passages of the Bible, Koran or whatever you quote from - so don't bother trying!

2007-03-23 12:45:48 · update #1

But if I'm dead - I won't know that I can't breath - you're going to have to do better than that people - this is going to be a No Best Answer I can see that, if this is going to be the calibre of the answers!

2007-03-23 12:50:00 · update #2

No, nice try - but you can't go doing a Kobayashi Maru manouvre on me - you can't change the rules of the question.

Some people have been dead and come back to life - you know - these near-death experiences or people who HAVE died, that's to say their hearts have actually stopped or they've been said to have 'flatlined' - now they did stop breathing - they wern't conscious - so again I say - How do you know when you're dead?

Known logic please - not hypothetical logic - you're going to have to earn these 10 points!

2007-03-23 14:08:57 · update #3

11 answers

You know you are dead when you can't breathe anymore.

2007-03-23 12:46:58 · answer #1 · answered by The Count 7 · 0 1

I've never been dead, so I can only surmise....
I do believe in an existence after death.
I have had a living out-of-body experience. It was very strange and I didn't like it.
It was quite a brief experience. It is not a floating sensation, there is no sensation.
But there is a total awareness.
It is very strange to look down and see your body lying there.
There is a pulling both going out and coming back. Something like a vacuum but without any sensation.
Have you ever dreamed you were floating above your bed and then suddenly fell, but without really feeling it? It is exactly like that.
I wasn't dead, so I saw no light. I think I could have flown away, but I didn't want to.

2007-03-23 23:30:21 · answer #2 · answered by KnowItAll 3 · 0 1

This is solipsism.

Are you a product of your own imagination?

There is no frame of reference. Nothing is really knowable so you don't know if you are alive or dead, jumping from one Universe to another or even going to heaven if that's your cup of tea.

If I can't get a cigar (apologies to Mark Twain) I won't know I'm dead but I wont want to be alive.

2007-03-30 00:33:12 · answer #3 · answered by salubrious 3 · 0 0

It's a matter of paradigm and depends on what you refer to as "life".If following your passion and dreams fulfilled you then you would be still alive after you're clinically dead.Like Elvis lives(I apologise to the fans of the King who nevr acknowledged his passing)
Besides for all we care there are parallel universe(s)( mean it in the plural form)and we co -exist in our prevailing form in several other planes other than the one we can perceive as "our"world...
And finally, if "life "and "death "are just "frames of reference " we shud know we're dead when our hopes die ...our dreams are killed ..our joys murdered and our faith in our selves breathes it's last .

2007-03-31 13:33:52 · answer #4 · answered by doe_eyes 4 · 0 0

My answer to the first part of your question ("How do you know when you're dead?") is...you don't. You are no longer conscious. Your brain is no longer working, so you yourself CAN'T know if you're dead. Frankly, you can't "know" anything.

I think that we are all physically alive because in general, we are all breathing. Now, emotionally and spiritually being alive is another discussion altogether. But basic physical life, yes. I think we can refer to it as being alive if we can inhale and exhale. Even someone on life support can be considered alive because they are breathing, even though it is not on their own.

2007-03-23 19:53:20 · answer #5 · answered by M2 3 · 0 1

You won't. When all your brain waves have stopped your heart won't beat long and/or has already stopped. You want have the physical ability to know you are dead. It won't matter to you, but only to the love ones you have left behind.

2007-03-30 16:50:09 · answer #6 · answered by hazel a 3 · 0 1

you cannot "know" when you are dead. simple logic...knowing something means that you have to have a justified true belief, but when you are dead, you cannot have any beliefs, or be conscious to have any beliefs. you DO know when you are dying. you can feel it in your body and mind. you see your entire life in a matter of seconds. and that's it.

2007-03-30 13:33:09 · answer #7 · answered by realisminlife 2 · 0 0

You'll know when your mind and soul are no longer embodied in a human vessel.

2007-03-23 21:25:41 · answer #8 · answered by T Time 6 · 0 1

Does your computer know when it's turned off?

2007-03-31 17:41:40 · answer #9 · answered by philcya 2 · 0 0

When you are not alive.

2007-03-31 00:42:18 · answer #10 · answered by Zoivic.com 5 · 0 1

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