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Atheists/agnostics of Lemmy, do you believe in the existence of souls? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by azmalent@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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If you do, then what exactly defines a soul in your view?

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[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I like Douglas Hofstadter's concept of the soul as a self referential mechanism. His book: 'I am a strange loop' expands on this, which is a bit more spiritual (for lack of a better word) expansion of his ideas in Gödel, Escher Bach.

It also explains how your own loop incorporates and curates the memories of the people you love and how you're able to live, and see though their 'eyes' after they have died.

So the soul of others finds an explanation in yourself, and allows you to live in in other people's minds, without any super natural constructs.

[–] CeruleanRuin@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Always glad to find another student of Hofstadter in the wild. G.E.B. blew my mind wide open when I read it in my early 20s.

I Am a Strange Loop is a far more accessible distillation of some of the same ideas, but I recommend both to anyone who wants a better grasp on how something seemingly infinitely complex like a human mind can emerge from mere atoms dancing around one another - and how we are, in actual fact, greater than the meaty sum of our parts.