How do I get my philosophical ideas as well known as Pascals Wager?(Unique idea)

[Vesayen]

Dont know if I posted this on Apolyton, I dont think I did.

I rescently had an epiphamy, followed by some philosophical musings.....

How come idiots like Pascal get memorialized for stating something BLATANTLY obvious which EVERYONE thinks of at some point in their life for thousands of years(Pascal's wager pisses me off.....why is something so obvious named after some individual guy?).

Over the course of my life I have come up with some philosophical/religious ideas which I thought were unique, only later to learn they arent........everyone has come up with some invention they think is genius, then realize someone else already did it.......I was angry when I found out someone else already invented a grate to cover your gutters so they dont get clogged-that was my idea damnit! Kinda like that heh.

How do I get myself memorialized for what I THINK is a unique idea(if it is not, please point me to whatever person thought of this before me)

A little background on myself though: I was raised by Jewish parents in a somewhat strong Jewish community. I am well versed in most aspects of Judaism, I know Hebrew fluently and can quote the scripture with the best of them, I also know a lot about Christianity and Islam, having read the Christian Bible and the Koran respectively.

After my religious upbringing, what do I believe?

Science > all

I really doubt God is up there, but I am practitioner of Pascal's wager, which basically says "I'll be religious just in case God exists", and because I am accustomed to practicing it for all of my life.

I've always had a fear of death, I’m not sure if its been worse then others, but I realized my mortality at the age of 5 while watching transformers early Saturday morning, and much crying ensued....A fear of death has always been at the back of my mind all my life, but I had an epiphany, and I’m no longer that scared.

Lets take the Christian view of heaven, because it is one which is definentaly "nice", at least nicer then the Jewish afterlife, which little information is given on(you live nice for the sake of being nice and for the sake of the world, not for a reward at the end of life in Judaism, but that’s another topic.....). Lets also assume that EVERYONE goes to this heaven-this place where it is pleasurable and whatever you want it to be, forever.


A human mind has the concept of "time" down pretty well, we take note of it, we understand it, we make hypothetical situations about twins and rocketships on it......we measure it DAMN well.

ALL things are fleeting, and if the afterlife is one big blast of fun for eternity.......doesn’t all fun eventually wear off?

There are two routes you can go with this.

Either A. You simply never get bored of the "fun/love/emotional joy etc...." which means your "soul/mind" is being influenced by some outside force(say God), and isnt really "you", because "you" DO eventually get sick of every "pleasurable activity/experience" if exposed to it enough....you get sick of loved ones after extremely long exposure, and your favorite hobby does get boring if you do it long enough.

So EITHER your not "you", which is something I think is rather undesirable.....I like ME and my existence, I don’t want to be transformed into something else which just has fun for eternity but isn’t ME.

OR B.

You get sick of the "good experiences".

What does this leave you with?

Well in the afterlife, you don’t "die" or "end", it is by definition eternal.........so what happens after you get bored and sick of every "good Since you would have infinite time, you would EVENTUALLY, after a prolonged period of time, experience every possible thing conceivable long enough to get sick of it-granted this could take say, millions or billions, or a googol(1 followed by 100 zeroes), but it would happen EVENTUALLY.)" imaginable?

The time it took to reach the point where you have experienced every conceivable "good thing" would only be a fraction of your afterlife, as any finite number divided by infinity is rather small......so your left bored. However the boredom never ends......and you have no alternative. You are then left bored for eternity....does being bored of existence, and just SICK of it, FOREVER, with no way to end it sound appealing?

So you have 2 choices:

1. You cease to exist, as your mind has been modified in such a way so as to not get bored, and that isn’t you.........

OR

2. Your bored for eternity, eventually desperately wanting to end your existence, but with no way to do so.......

[Shi Huangdi]

I think in Pascal's day, more people cared about religious/philosophical ideas. I don't think many people are interested in philosophy right now. That could make it harder for people to become well known now.

[Dauphin]

A human mind has the concept of "time" down pretty well, we take note of it, we understand it, we make hypothetical situations about twins and rocketships on it......we measure it DAMN well.

We can measure it, but I don't know anyone who understands it.

So you have 2 choices:

1. You cease to exist, as your mind has been modified in such a way so as to not get bored, and that isn’t you.........

OR

2. Your bored for eternity, eventually desperately wanting to end your existence, but with no way to do so.......

Read Neitzsche? (I think it was him). He espoused the view of two options. Life/ the universe exists forever or life/ the universe ends. If the former we are eternally tormented as time repeats itself, if the latter then living is pointless.

[Vesayen]

DAMN YOU Neitzsche!!!!!

I thought I had a UNIQUE idea....is my idea any less valuable because I came up with it indipendantly, even though it was already thought of?

[Dauphin]

Not really, people probably thought of it before Nietzsche.

Descartes 'cogito ergo sum' has probably been thought up independently countless times before and after him too. Its probably the most common philosophical thought in some way shape or form.

[Starchild]

Pascal's wager is the wine in a box type of philosophy. Everyone partakes of it at one point but even my highschool philosophy class can rip it to shreds and offer better alternatives.

Honey, try the delightfully crisp Ontological Argument. How about a deep Free Will Defense Merlot?

[Sandman]

I don’t want to be transformed into something else which just has fun for eternity but isn’t ME

I don't buy that argument. You live your whole life changing into different people as you age, what's wrong with the afterlife being the same?

[Dauphin]

The problem with afterlife arguments is it assumes the afterlife is like the real world, except without the nasty stuff (or good stuff if you're in hell). I doubt that very much.

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by Big Crunch
The problem with afterlife arguments is it assumes the afterlife is like the real world, except without the nasty stuff (or good stuff if you're in hell). I doubt that very much.

The most common argument against this is something like that: "Well we dont know, it might be different there!"

BUT since we have no proof to the contrary, we should assume it is the same, or similar-and even if it is not, as long as "time"(speed being irelivant, time as cause-effect chains) exists, the point is valid.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Vesayen
The most common argument against this is something like that: "Well we dont know, it might be different there!"

BUT since we have no proof to the contrary, we should assume it is the same, or similar-and even if it is not, as long as "time"(speed being irelivant, time as cause-effect chains) exists, the point is valid.

Well the most logical assumption is that there is no afterlife at all. And if there is an afterlife, I'd rather have as few assumptions (preferably none) as possible - so I start from the position that it is unlikely to be like the physical world we know.

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by Big Crunch


Well the most logical assumption is that there is no afterlife at all. And if there is an afterlife, I'd rather have as few assumptions (preferably none) as possible - so I start from the position that it is unlikely to be like the physical world we know.

And thus why I think God proboably isnt there, this is just my own musing why it is proboably better that he isnt there.

If you start any discusion with no assumptions or postulates, then you have nothing to discuss, as nothing is based on anything except opinion, and in arguments of religion, the ever so annoying "faith".

[Caligastia]

Re: How do I get my philosophical ideas as well known as Pascals Wager?(Unique idea)

Originally posted by Vesayen
ALL things are fleeting, and if the afterlife is one big blast of fun for eternity.......doesn’t all fun eventually wear off?

This is where you go wrong. It's not just fun, fun and endless pleasure, it's a progression. You progress and learn about the various universes and their inhabitants. There are new senses to explore, you cannot possibly concieve of what awaits you.

[Ben Kenobi]

I thought I had a UNIQUE idea....is my idea any less valuable because I came up with it indipendantly, even though it was already thought of?

Vesayan, this is why you study philosophy BEFORE you come up with your ideas.

You can save yourself lots of time this way.

Generally, any idea you have come with, someone else has already thought of the idea, and others of how to refute.

[Vesayen]

Re: Re: How do I get my philosophical ideas as well known as Pascals Wager?(Unique idea)

Originally posted by Caligastia


This is where you go wrong. It's not just fun, fun and endless pleasure, it's a progression. You progress and learn about the various universes and their inhabitants. There are new senses to explore, you cannot possibly concieve of what awaits you.

However give infinite time, you will eventually experience everything, in every possible aspect, a (google^google) times.

[Dauphin]

Re: Re: Re: How do I get my philosophical ideas as well known as Pascals Wager?(Unique idea)

Originally posted by Vesayen


However give infinite time, you will eventually experience everything, in every possible aspect, a (google^google) times.

Why? What if there are an infinite number of things to experience? You may never reach the end of an infinite path despite an infinite amount of time to do so.