Quote from: Moloch on April 05, 2016, 06:30:33 PM

The fact that the memory is stored in the area where your brain stores memories instead of where your brain stores make-believe fantasy doesn't mean it's real/legitimate in any way whatsoever

Hey, I don't think you comprehend the Thonnard paper at all! You should quote the text that backs up your point, even if it is not this particular paper. I am mostly interested in discussing with OP his claim that our awareness came from nothing and will return to nothing.

Another interest of mine is:
Does this Helmet really duplicate ALL of the salient elements of NDE, including the phenomenological characteristics that identify it as a valid memory (see Thonnard's paper)?
Could you tell me where the God Helmet experience fits on the Greyson scale? I am talking about NDE, but I can tell that Shermer is talking about OBE, so I am not interested in the video unless I know that the experience scores high on the Greyson scale.

As far as the evidence goes, you should read it all and only then can you make valid conclusions based on knowledge; you won't get this knowledge by having faith in Randi's claim that all mediums are frauds and using the existence of his Prize as the evidence.

The OP made this claim:
"Your awareness comes from nothing and returns to nothing."
And also this one:
"We simpl[y] emerged on a random universe with laws that allowed for this to happen".

But these claims can be refuted with empirical methods.

Actually, simple mechanism cant yield the brain, and there is plenty of evidence that proves this. I quoted four points by Stuart Hammerroff.

If atheists like the OP are so certain that awareness comes from nothing, why don't they have any idea about how awareness actually got here?

Quote from: Kurt Gödel

I dont think the brain came in the Darwinian manner. In fact, it is disprovable. Simple mechanism cant yield the brain. I think the basic elements of the universe are simple. Life force is a primitive element of the universe and it obeys certain laws of action. These laws are not simple, and they are not mechanical.