u/Hip_III

This post is about consciousness and NDEs. If you want a summary of the typical set of events that occur during an NDE, you might like to read this post, which succinctly describes them.

People who have had an NDE usually report and believe that their disembodied consciousness or soul departed their body, and visited a heavenly reality beyond Earth. 

They report that the NDE world has very different characteristics compared to the material world. For one thing, time behaves differently: there is no linear time in the heavenly sphere, and events tend to occur in parallel. They say Heaven is not exactly timeless; there is a sort of time, but it is not standard earthly linear time, and multiple things happen at once.

As an example of this non-linear time, it is common to have a full life review during an NDE, where every event in your life is examined. However, this review does not occur in temporal order; rather, every life event is examined simultaneously in parallel. Your whole life is reviewed in a flash of parallel processing.

The various unusual characteristics of the NDE realm make people who have had an NDE believe that they have died and gone to a most wonderful heavenly place which is distinct from regular earthly reality. Even former atheists may become convinced of this.

There is no pain or suffering in the heavenly sphere; everything is perfect, blissful, and euphoric. So most people do not want to return to Earth, because they are so happy in the heavenly realm.

Now, of course, the sceptics will have none of that, and claim that the entire NDE is a dream, hallucination, or some other altered state of consciousness that occurs in the physical brain. They argue that the individual's consciousness did not leave their body and travel to some other dimension; but rather, the whole experience was generated by the brain under low oxygen conditions (many NDEs occur when the heart stops for several minutes, or there is some other blockage of oxygen to the brain).

And of course, nobody can prove this either way.

But then, when you think about it, does it really matter? From the point of view of the person experiencing the NDE phenomenon that occurs as you die, they are enjoying a most beautiful, blissful, euphoric reality. They are in paradise, and because time does not flow linearly in this rapturous wonderland, there is no limit to how long they can stay.

So I am thinking: there is no doubt that the NDE phenomenon exists; it has been reported by thousands, if not millions, of people, and as far back as antiquity. Thus, even if it is generated by the physical brain, that does not make it any less of a paradise. 

And even if your deceased brain might only be able to generate this NDE reality for a short time (eg a few days or weeks) before the brain physically deteriorates and ceases to function, because the NDE reality has timeless qualities, a few days of Earth time may correspond to a near eternal life in the NDE realm.

So it seems to me that, assuming everyone has an NDE after dying, we are all guaranteed an eternal life in paradise - even if that paradise is generated by the brain. 

This post is about consciousness and NDEs. If you are not familiar with the typical set of events that occur during an NDE, you might like to read this post, which succinctly describes them.

People who have had an NDE usually report and believe that their disembodied consciousness departed their body, and visited a heavenly reality beyond Earth. 

They report that the NDE world has very different characteristics compared to the material world. For one thing, time behaves differently: there is no linear time in the heavenly sphere, and events tend to occur in parallel. They say Heaven is not exactly timeless; there is a sort of time, but it is not standard earthly linear time, and multiple things happen at once.

As an example of this non-linear time, it is common to have a full life review during an NDE, where every event in your life is examined. However, this review does not occur in temporal order; rather, every life event is examined simultaneously in parallel. Your whole life is reviewed in a flash of parallel processing.

The various unusual characteristics of the NDE realm make people who have had an NDE believe that they have died and gone to a most wonderful heavenly place which is distinct from regular earthly reality. Even former atheists may become convinced of this.

There is no pain or suffering in the heavenly; everything is perfect, blissful, and euphoric. So most people do not want to return to Earth, because they are so happy in the heavenly realm.

Now, of course, the sceptics will have none of that, and claim that the entire NDE is a dream, hallucination, or some other altered state of consciousness that occurs in the physical brain. They argue that the individual's consciousness did not leave their body and travel to some other dimension; but rather, the whole experience was generated by the brain under low oxygen conditions (many NDEs occur when the heart stops for several minutes, or there is some other blockage of oxygen to the brain).

And of course, nobody can prove this either way.

But then, when you think about it, does it really matter? From the point of view of the person experiencing the NDE phenomenon that occurs as you die, they are enjoying a most beautiful, blissful, euphoric reality. They are in paradise, and because time does not flow linearly in this rapturous wonderland, there is no limit to how long they can stay.

So I am thinking: there is no doubt that the NDE phenomenon exists; it has been reported by thousands, if not millions, of people, and as far back as antiquity. Thus, even if it is generated by the physical brain, that does not make it any less of a paradise. 

And even if your deceased brain might only be able to generate this NDE reality for a short time (eg a few days or weeks) before the brain physically deteriorates and ceases to function, because the NDE reality has timeless qualities, a few days of Earth time may correspond to a near eternal life in the NDE realm.

So it seems to me that assuming everyone has an NDE after dying, we are all guaranteed an eternal life in paradise - even if that paradise is generated by the brain. 

Note: My previous post on this subject was removed by the mods, because it was construed as complaining. So in this post, I am trying to avoid anything that looks like complaining.

I have found some Reddit sub-forums have moderators who will instantly ban you on your first post on their forum for no good reason. I will give you an example shortly.

So if you are like me and have a wide range of interests, and like to post on hundreds of different Reddit forums, after a few years, as your Reddit account builds up more and more bans, the account becomes rather restricted in terms of where you can post.

Thus my proposal is that on Reddit, bans should not be permanent, but only have a certain duration, like say 3 months or 6 months. That way, if you happen to be banned for no good reason, your account is not permanently restricted by the ban.

Here is an example of a ban I recently received for no good reason. I came across some information that might help prevent the development of myopia from near work (near work such as reading books or staring at computer screens). As I software developer myself, I believe my myopia was made a lot worse during my 20s from spending all day gazing at computer screens as part of my job.

So I thought this myopia prevention idea might be valuable to other software developers, and made a post about it on the Reddit C++ software language sub-forum. The result was that my thread got deleted, and I was instantly banned. That to me seems like a ban for no good reason. (However, I am not complaining, I am just giving this an example of how bans can occur for no good reason). So now if I have any C++ questions, I cannot post on that forum, because my Reddit account is permanently restricted from posting there.

I have had many similar bans like this, for no good reason. It's one thing to have your thread deleted because mods believe it is not appropriate for their forum, but it is quite another when they also instantly ban you from the forum as well, often on your very first post on the forum.

Anyone passionate about the evolution and advancement of humanity will have an interest in the way our society has progressed over the millennia. How our philosophical and political ideas have developed. How science, technology, and medicine have advanced to transform the world. And how these steps forward have (generally) improved human existence and reduced suffering.  

All those great milestones in human history: the mastery of fire, the agricultural revolution, the development of writing, the creation of ships to sail the seas and explore distant lands, the invention of democracy, the printing press to spread knowledge far and wide, the scientific enlightenment, the industrial revolution and the material advancement it brought us, the discovery and utilisation of electricity, the extraordinary achievement of putting man on the Moon, the computer revolution, and the information revolution. 

When I read the list of humanity's achievements and advancements, arising from the indefatigable human spirit and the passionate striving of our ancestors, it makes me proud to be human. This is the great human project, in which we all play our roles.  

Humanity will I believe continue to strive forward, eventually making the world a much better place, and reducing the considerable suffering we still endure today from mental and physical diseases, from poverty, and other ills.

But when we read reports from people returning from NDEs, describing what they saw and heard in Heaven, very little is said about the great human project. The primary message from Heaven seems to be that love is the most important thing on Earth. That, of course, is a profound message that we should all take heed of, a message as important today as it has ever been. But Heaven seems to have very little to say about the great human project. It makes no commentary about the way humans strive forward to try to create a greater world, and provides no advice as to whether the directions we are going in are right or wrong.

As someone who believes in the great human project, and who wants to see humanity evolve and advance to greater and more civilised heights, I find this silence from Heaven somewhat perplexing. I am saddened that Heaven shows little interest in a project which for me is deeply important.

The great human minds of history have always looked to see how they can make the world better, and how they can evolve humanity; it is the nature of the human spirit to strive for higher levels of existence.

Yet there seems to be a disconnect between Heaven and Earth as far as the great human project is concerned. Here on Earth, many care a lot about this project; but Heaven hardly ever refers to it. 

One of the downsides I find with many (though not all) Reddit forums is that they seem to attract people who are negative or cynical naysayers, rather than attracting the can-do enthusiastic creative or visionary types.

This means that when you want to discuss any creative idea, concept, theory or hypothesis, you rarely are able to connect with other creative minds who might share your enthusiasm, and contribute to your idea with further constructive thoughts or suggestions. Instead you are often showered with negative or cynical comments from the naysayers.

I am just wondering why the naysayers greatly outnumber the enthusiastic creative types on Reddit.

Is this because humanity in general consists of more naysayers than enthusiastic can-do people? So then Reddit just reflects the nature of humanity? Or is there something about Reddit that disproportionately attracts the naysayers?

Or perhaps is it because the enthusiastic can-do people are usually too busy working to make the world a better place to post on Reddit?

Invariably, when you see some smartphone video footage of a news event on TV news, the video was taken with the phone in portrait rather than landscape orientation. This means the TV station has to fill in the left and right sides of the TV screen with some blurry imagery, and the viewer gets a less than satisfactory view of the news event.

I always make a point of taking my smartphone videos in the more natural landscape orientation; but most people seem to use portrait orientation, presumably because they find it easier to hold the phone vertically in their hand; holding the phone horizontally is not quite as easy.

It would not be practicable to educate the public into taking videos in landscape orientation when the material is newsworthy, but if phone and camera manufacturers made a camera sensor that was square rather than rectangular, this would effectively record both portrait and landscape orientation at the same time, and TV stations could then extract a landscape orientation video from a smartphone recording for broadcasting on TV.

Of course, a square sensor would require more storage device space on the phone, as the videos would be a bit larger. But it would solve the problem of portrait orientation videos on TV.

Have any camera and smartphone manufacturers thought about this?

Invariably, when you see some smartphone video footage of a news event on TV news, the video was taken with the phone in portrait rather than landscape orientation. This means the TV station has to fill in the left and right sides of the TV screen with some blurry imagery, and the viewer gets a less than satisfactory view of the news event.

I always make a point of taking my smartphone videos in the more natural landscape orientation; but most people seem to use portrait orientation, presumably because they find it easier to hold the phone vertically in their hand; holding the phone horizontally is not quite as easy.

It would not be practicable to educate the public into taking videos in landscape orientation when the material is newsworthy, but if phone and camera manufacturers made a camera sensor that was square rather than rectangular, this would effectively record both portrait and landscape orientation at the same time, and TV stations could then extract a landscape orientation video from a smartphone recording for broadcasting on TV.

Of course, a square sensor would require more storage device space on the phone, as the videos would be a bit larger. But it would solve the problem of portrait orientation videos on TV.

Have any camera and smartphone manufacturers thought about this?

Invariably, when you see some smartphone video footage of a news event on TV news, the video was taken with the phone in portrait rather than landscape orientation. This means the TV station has to fill in the left and right sides of the TV screen with some blurry imagery, and the viewer gets a less than satisfactory view of the news event.

I always make a point of taking my smartphone videos in the more natural landscape orientation; but most people seem to use portrait orientation, presumably because they find it easier to hold the phone vertically in their hand; holding the phone horizontally is not quite as easy.

It would not be practicable to educate the public into taking videos in landscape orientation when the material is newsworthy, but if phone and camera manufacturers made a camera sensor that was square rather than rectangular, this would effectively record both portrait and landscape orientation at the same time, and TV stations could then extract a landscape orientation video from a smartphone recording for broadcasting on TV.

Of course, a square sensor would require more storage device space on the phone, as the videos would be a bit larger. But it would solve the problem of portrait orientation videos on TV.

Have any camera and smartphone manufacturers thought about this?

My idea is that the video, when replayed, would by default be displayed in the format it was taken. So if it was taken in portrait format, for example, it would be displayed as portrait during playback. But because the square camera sensor means that video also recorded extra information, ie, the scenery on the left and right side of the portrait format, it could be converted to a landscape format by the user.

This approach would be useful for influencers who use their phones to record events, so that a video recorded with the phone held in the more convenient portrait mode could later be displayed as landscape on computer screens.

And it would be good for regular users who might record some event, and later want to view that event on their computer or TV in landscape orientation.