Stuck in an Infinite Void

[SneakySecrets]

Has anyone ever thought about what it would be like to be your disembodied consciousness floating in an infinite black void, forever with no hope of escaping?

I don’t think our brains are even capable of comprehending exactly how awful that would be.

When I was a little kid I’d stay awake in bed all night trying to imagine how it would feel to be in that situation. 

Would you rather go to the endless void or to hell?  At least in Hell there’s some demons to shoot the shit with even if they’re violating your peepee hole with a soldering iron in a sea of boiling bile and blood.

[addie pray]

we are all going to the endless void. prepare yourself accordingly.

[the_dangery_bois]

Speak for yourselves, I’m not going to anywhere.

I’m staying here and becoming a spooky ass ghost.

[4LOM]

Without inputs/sensations and no need for outputs/behavior, my thinking would stop and I’d float the endless nothing in a perfect state of enlightenment.

That said, I’ll take hell

[j....soy.....]

The floating part sounds nice….

[botefdunn]

The floating part sounds nice….

agreed. Take out the fomo and that sounds fine. I think I used to get anxious at the thought of infinity, now I get anxious at the prospect of anxiety.

[Síota]

Solitary confinement is close enough. I'll take hell, cheers.

[mrselfdestruct]

Has anyone ever thought about what it would be like to be your disembodied consciousness floating in an infinite black void, forever with no hope of escaping?

I don’t think our brains are even capable of comprehending exactly how awful that would be.

When I was a little kid I’d stay awake in bed all night trying to imagine how it would feel to be in that situation. 

Would you rather go to the endless void or to hell?  At least in Hell there’s some demons to shoot the shit with even if they’re violating your peepee hole with a soldering iron in a sea of boiling bile and blood.

i like the all tomorrows pfp. this sounds like the worst thing the Qu could do to humans if they tried revolting.

[pugmaster]

My choice is contingent upon the presence or absence of eggnog. Since hell would screw it up (e.g., too much or too little eggnog), I have to go with the floating in space for eternity. This choice is tentative. I'll need to think more on this topic.

[Blind Fisherman]

I find comfort in the idea of drifting endlessly in the void. It has to be better than the human experience. This shit sucks.

[skippersoldballs]

As long as it isn’t cold how bad it could be

[RCB3]

I grew up in an Evangelical home and when people talked about eternity in heaven as an amazing thing, I'd start trying to think about what eternity is like with no end, and I'd have a panic attack where my stomach would drop like on a roller coaster.

[Jebediah]

I watched a episode of black mirror where the void was a punishment for this dude although he was able to bring a girl with him last minute. Would you bring someone with if you could or take your void in solitude?

[SneakySecrets]

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Has anyone ever thought about what it would be like to be your disembodied consciousness floating in an infinite black void, forever with no hope of escaping?

I don’t think our brains are even capable of comprehending exactly how awful that would be.

When I was a little kid I’d stay awake in bed all night trying to imagine how it would feel to be in that situation. 

Would you rather go to the endless void or to hell?  At least in Hell there’s some demons to shoot the shit with even if they’re violating your peepee hole with a soldering iron in a sea of boiling bile and blood.

[close]

i like the all tomorrows pfp. this sounds like the worst thing the Qu could do to humans if they tried revolting.

^I see you have excellent taste.  I’m a few beers away from making an All Tomorrows thread so I can tell everyone my fan theories 🤓

[Frank and Fred]

I grew up in an Evangelical home and when people talked about eternity in heaven as an amazing thing, I'd start trying to think about what eternity is like with no end, and I'd have a panic attack where my stomach would drop like on a roller coaster.

Catholic here... (well not anymore of course) and same shit. Eternity was and remains terrifying. Caused me no end of anxiety when I was a pre-pubescent kid.

[j....soy.....]

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The floating part sounds nice….

[close]

agreed. Take out the fomo and that sounds fine. I think I used to get anxious at the thought of infinity, now I get anxious at the prospect of anxiety.

It could be because I can’t swim…..

Disembodied consciousness seems advanced no?  My body is falling apart….this is sounding better by the minute.  Or like a float spa…..

[SneakySecrets]

Expand Quote

I grew up in an Evangelical home and when people talked about eternity in heaven as an amazing thing, I'd start trying to think about what eternity is like with no end, and I'd have a panic attack where my stomach would drop like on a roller coaster.

[close]

Catholic here... (well not anymore of course) and same shit. Eternity was and remains terrifying. Caused me no end of anxiety when I was a pre-pubescent kid.

I love Catholics in general.

[Uh Oh]

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I grew up in an Evangelical home and when people talked about eternity in heaven as an amazing thing, I'd start trying to think about what eternity is like with no end, and I'd have a panic attack where my stomach would drop like on a roller coaster.

[close]

Catholic here... (well not anymore of course) and same shit. Eternity was and remains terrifying. Caused me no end of anxiety when I was a pre-pubescent kid.

[close]

I love Catholics in general.

A Cathoholic.

[ToySanta]

Expand Quote

I grew up in an Evangelical home and when people talked about eternity in heaven as an amazing thing, I'd start trying to think about what eternity is like with no end, and I'd have a panic attack where my stomach would drop like on a roller coaster.

[close]

Catholic here... (well not anymore of course) and same shit. Eternity was and remains terrifying. Caused me no end of anxiety when I was a pre-pubescent kid.

Especially as an introvert, the church made heaven sound like one big hangout and no one could agree on whether or not we’d need sleep. Just endless socializing. The whole thing remains a waking nightmare.

[ToySanta]

I prefer to be too hot over too cold, in general, so possibly hell.

Under the influence of my current season of depression, if the void offered me a degree of nihilism/cynicism/unfeeling, I could be into that. But if it’s anything like Get Out.. hell.

[Newphone]

I wanna live on an abstract plain

[SneakySecrets]

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I grew up in an Evangelical home and when people talked about eternity in heaven as an amazing thing, I'd start trying to think about what eternity is like with no end, and I'd have a panic attack where my stomach would drop like on a roller coaster.

[close]

Catholic here... (well not anymore of course) and same shit. Eternity was and remains terrifying. Caused me no end of anxiety when I was a pre-pubescent kid.

[close]

Especially as an introvert, the church made heaven sound like one big hangout and no one could agree on whether or not we’d need sleep. Just endless socializing. The whole thing remains a waking nightmare.

Haha, I know what you mean. 

But wouldn’t you think that in a place like Heaven, you’d be, hopefully, on a little bit of an elevated plane of existence where everyone’s (for lack of a better term) superego has been diminished due to an inexhaustible supply of material resources and time…to the point that souls can freely congregate as they see fit, and an introvert staring into a pond by him or herself would be just as valid a use of time as anything else.

But you’ve caused me to think a new thought: If Heaven is populated by our human souls (and hopefully those of our earthly pets), wouldn’t it be subject to the same forces of human nature that apply here on earth? 

With nothing to do, an ever-increasing population (good people keep dying after all), and an infinite amount of time and resources, we’d for sure fuck it up.  It’s so incompatible with human nature that the best and most noble of us, with enough time and lack of selection pressure could produce seemingly anything.


My guess is something resembling an endless self-constructed Gulag ruled by 3 or 4 souls that hate themselves. 

[Clone1984]

I've done time in solitary before. Sometimes felt more lonely as a free man. I'm open minded enough to listen but though it may not be a popular opinion these days or ever, I believe my savior lives. [Insert Kirk timecode quotes here]

[ThatIsNotCricket]

But wouldn’t you think that in a place like Heaven, you’d be, hopefully, on a little bit of an elevated plane of existence where everyone’s (for lack of a better term) superego has been diminished due to an inexhaustible supply of material resources and time…to the point that souls can freely congregate as they see fit, and an introvert staring into a pond by him or herself would be just as valid a use of time as anything else.

But you’ve caused me to think a new thought: If Heaven is populated by our human souls (and hopefully those of our earthly pets), wouldn’t it be subject to the same forces of human nature that apply here on earth? 

With nothing to do, an ever-increasing population (good people keep dying after all), and an infinite amount of time and resources, we’d for sure fuck it up.  It’s so incompatible with human nature that the best and most noble of us, with enough time and lack of selection pressure could produce seemingly anything.

In all seriousness, you're actually touching here on a central point in 'This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom' by Martin Hägglund: without finite time and resources no conception of value (useful to humanity) can ever exist. The religious notion of eternal life and capitalism's notion of transcendental value are two sides of the same coin, for example, that do precisely that. Instead, the key to human freedom lies in a (collective) recognition of, and engagement with, our finite existence in a finite world (enter: democratic socialism).

The title maybe makes it sound like cheap self-help trash from an airport bookstore, and my summary maybe makes it sound like inaccessible and ultimately vacuous academic posturing, but it's a really extraordinary piece of work, and a good read at that.

(I think there's a version of this book with an even shittier title as well; something like 'Why Mortality Sets Us Free'.)

Anyway, I'd take the risk with my disembodied consciousness floating in space, hoping that the lack of stimulation of my brain gives me a warm, colourful, happy psychosis, before eventually shrinking to the size of a peanut and remaining conscious only in the broadest definition possible. Plus, I really really don't want anyone touching my pee hole, not even if Hell uses clean, slightly moist, warm q-tips.

[mrselfdestruct]

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Expand Quote

Has anyone ever thought about what it would be like to be your disembodied consciousness floating in an infinite black void, forever with no hope of escaping?

I don’t think our brains are even capable of comprehending exactly how awful that would be.

When I was a little kid I’d stay awake in bed all night trying to imagine how it would feel to be in that situation. 

Would you rather go to the endless void or to hell?  At least in Hell there’s some demons to shoot the shit with even if they’re violating your peepee hole with a soldering iron in a sea of boiling bile and blood.

[close]

i like the all tomorrows pfp. this sounds like the worst thing the Qu could do to humans if they tried revolting.

[close]

^I see you have excellent taste.  I’m a few beers away from making an All Tomorrows thread so I can tell everyone my fan theories 🤓

make thread!!!

[RichardBarkley]

I've done time in solitary before. Sometimes felt more lonely as a free man. I'm open minded enough to listen but though it may not be a popular opinion these days or ever, I believe my savior lives. [Insert Kirk timecode quotes here]

How bad was it

[Newphone]

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I've done time in solitary before. Sometimes felt more lonely as a free man. I'm open minded enough to listen but though it may not be a popular opinion these days or ever, I believe my savior lives. [Insert Kirk timecode quotes here]

[close]

How bad was it

Sounds pretty bad

[BurgerCop]

Things can get pretty wild in your brain when subjected to total darkness and isolation.
You'd lose all touch with reality and be living in a madness induced hallucinated fantasy world within a day or two.

Participants said they experienced “perceptual disturbances, paranoia, and anhedonia” (inability to feel pleasure) after just 15 minutes of sensory deprivation. This supports a theory made over 50 years ago that symptoms of psychosis can be induced by sensory starvation.


https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1468060/1/Mason_439379.pdf

[let’s go home]

Speak for yourselves, I’m not going to anywhere.

I’m staying here and becoming a spooky ass ghost.

Pfft how unoriginal.

[Clone1984]

It's considered inhumane by most medical professionals. So yeah. Either way. Fortunate to be here