Where Do We Go After We Die?

Humans have wanted to know what happens after death for as long as we were able to formulate a thought. We found answers for ourselves which we compiled into the various religious text that are still being taught today. I've never really liked the answers the various religions gives to that question because a lot of it isn't based on anything tangible or that can be measured.

Where do we go after we die?

When we're alive, we're able to hear, feel, see, smell... but, after we die, we change into the state we were in before we were born which doesn't have any of these bodily characteristics. We are part of this Universe regardless of the state that we're in but our interaction with the Universe, when we no longer exist as a person, will not only be different but incomprehensible to the living.

The Christians Heavens is said to be a place where we'll meet everyone that was meaningful to us but everyone that was meaningful to our bodily self remains in the memory/brain of the decaying body. The state we were in before we were born can't be referred to as a person and neither is the state we will be after we die because what is referred to as a "person" remains here.

Sometimes, when we sleep, we don't have any dreams. Everything is black and we feel, see, are nothing. This, at least in my mind, is how death will be.

Am I scared to die?

We're naturally afraid of the unknown and death is unknown to us but when we die we won't have the ability to feel afraid, or anything else, anymore.

A.I. will complicate things...

I think that once Artificial Intelligence becomes common place the question of where we go after we die will have a different meaning. Where would an A.I. mind go when it's shut off? Religious folks will be quick to point out that A.I. doesn't have a soul they, therefore, don't have an afterlife but once A.I. becomes so good that we can differentiate them from human minds are we, finally, going to conclude that the difference between mechanical and biological death isn't that different.

In the end...

In the end, nobody knows for sure what will happen after we die but I think that if we focus on what we know of our physical body we can find some plausible answers that make more sense than reincarnation or heaven/hell theories. Some people have had near death experiences where they "saw" angels or a glimpse of a heaven/hell but then the question becomes "which version of heaven/hell did you see?" as many religions not only have different heavens/hells (some have none) but also have different requirements on how to get there. Did they see the Christian heaven or one of the 7 heavens mentioned in Islam? Considering that they're still alive can we truly say they were dead or did they simply have a near death experience? Were the images they saw something that they wanted to see?

One thing is for sure is that we're alive now and we should live our life the best that we can.