Yep I'm going there. So before i begin, i have to ask are you ready? Are you sat comfortably? Are you ready to be offended? Have you got one of those inflatable donut seats to sit on to ease the butthurt following this mytake? Do ya? Fantastic. Keep on reading.
So to start off with this take what exactly IS scientific Materialism? Well unlike regular materialism where you place a higher value on physical things such as money, cars fancy jewelry and all that, scientific materialism is this very held belief that everything around is made out of nothing more then matter, and this by extension insinuated a lot of other things.
Such as matter being unconscious, When we die we simply cease to be, that we're basically zombies and free will is an illusion. Just a very mechanical view of the world. And when i first heard this concept years ago, i immediately knew it was just a load of bull. I couldn't properly explain it at the time, i just instinctively knew it didn't sound right at all, and the more i looked into it the less it made sense to me.
Things like near death experiences, Reincarnation studies and the positive aspects of herbal remedies as opposed to prescription drugs, Biocentrism and Morphic resonance, most strict materialists will just write it off as being delusions of beings of lesser intelligence, or placebos at best and massive ripoffs at worse or just brand it as scientific woo as an attempt to discredit it, despite having no real evidence to claim that this is wrong.
But i think the biggest stepping block, the one thing that keeps materialism from ever truly taking off is the consciousness or the hard problem. and this leads to all the other aspects as no one who has been a strict materialist has ever been able to explain consciousness in a way which coincides with the materialist world view, and you will have many that will be like "oh its true...we just haven't figured out how yet." Well telling us consciousness is material and you'll tell us how that is at an unspecified date isn't very scientific is it? You're basically telling us that it's the truth and not to question it and you get super pissy and defensive when we do......sounds familiar doesn't it?
Anyway the point where is it?......oh here it is. The funny thing about all of this is that, many adherents to materialism are basically jumping ship with many of them realizing it just doesn't hold up against scrutiny. Many of them well respected in the scientific community a lot of them have been disavowed and even branded (Ironically enough) as heretics. As a result of this many people are adopting the viewpoint of panpsychism which to the dismay of many strict materialists is effectively a re-branding of animism. The idea that everything and anything has a consciousness, an essence and yes, even a soul.
This is something that has been under the radar for years, and its only just been recently realized over the past couple of years. But now even more damning, the idea that everything from spoons to stones have a consciousness is gaining academic credibility.
And if you don't believe me just look at these articles.
https://bigthink.com/aeon-ideas/panpsychism-is-crazy-but-its-also-most-probably-true
https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/why-panpsychism-is-the-jedi-philosophy:Yeah this one is actually serious i just added it here because of how awesome it is to think that we could eventually have force powers.
If you think that this all sounds like New-age/Eastern Mumbo Jumbo, and to an extent it kind of is. But that's what makes it so exciting. Various Eastern and pagan religions and beliefs generally have panpsychism or animism as a baseline, and it is so exciting to see modern day science actually propping these faiths up rather then tearing them down like so many would like it to do.
Science isn't tearing down religion, its empowering it(Well certain ones anyway), Materialism isn't spreading, its on the decline. Science has been stuck in a dead end for years and now it looks like this mentality shift will finally give it the edge it needs to make new progress....I only pray that those who refuse to accept this won't go full fundamentalist and kill anyone who dares to oppose the view point of materialism.
What Girls & Guys Said
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1Opinion
-I'd like to see real evidence that Reincarnation studies, herbal medicines and near death experiences can only be explained by supernatural ideas.
-Science has a long way to go on figuring out what consciousness actually is. And even then, your explanation isn't even a full one. What is the soul? What evidence is there that actually supports the existence of a soul? How do we see or measure a soul? These are questions with answers that vary heavily between religions/belief systems. Besides, materialism could answer the question by saying that the brain is like the hardware of a computer, and consciousness is the software. The brain at it's core would just produce a bunch of electrical pulses, but when interpreted and processed they become something a lot bigger. Bear in mind that this is just speculation on my part, and doesn't have any bearing in actual science, because this question is (for now) a philosophical one.
-Science hasn't been stuck on a dead end for years. There has been countless amazing discoveries and theroies postulated about the world. Just look at the amazing work Nobel winners do, for example. And it doesn't even come close to stopping there. Maybe science can't explain consciousness yet, but that's mainly because we don't have the tools required to crack into the brain and analyse it properly yet. Once we do, I can guarentee that the problem of consciousness can and will be solved.
this
You completely missed the point, its not that Reincarnation, herbal remedies and NDE can't be explained by science. Its that those who claim to be on the side of science will generally just write it off as nonsense without any evidence to claim that it is false woo.
See the problem with that explanation is that of hardware and software then one has to ask... where does the data go when you die? If you know anything about computers data doesn't just vanish.
Perhaps i wasn't clear on that, i was saying that modern day science seems stuck in a box and looking at it only from a view of materialism, and its nice to see more and more prominent people in the scientific community breaking out of that box.
-And why can't they?
-Could well be still stored in your brain, and "decay" over time like your body (i. e. be turned into energy used by bateria/scavengers etc. and heat energy).
-I mean not all scientists are materialists. When it comes to philosophy you'll find a large range of ideas among scientists. Some even believe there is grounds for us to exist in a simulation.
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Ok that last one i don't quite get. Because correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the idea that we live in a computer simulation just as ludicrous as believing in a god? Cause that's like an entirely different can of worms. Or is the idea that we are in a simulation ok because it isn't associated with religion?
We can make it one matrixism! IF you're good your data gets recycled and used for future ai's if you were bad then you get sent to the recycle bin and deleted. Funny.
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