How would the world react to proof of life/no life after death?

[Aragorn]

There's a Netflix movie starring Robert Redford called The Discovery where life after death is proven, and it results in a ton of suicides, even though no one knows exactly what that afterlife entails. I felt like the movie was high in concept but very poor in execution and quite lifeless (no pun intended) for the direction it chose to go in.

But it still made me wonder, how would humanity respond if it was factually proven that...

There is life after death and it involves God.

There is life after death but there's no God.

There is life after death and Religion A got it right while all the other religions are wrong.

There is no life after death.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

More good deeds for some people, more alcohol and drugs for others.

 

[Butters]

I haven’t seen the movie, but I imagine that if the afterlife was a fact, and there was no condemnation for ending your life, a lot of people would opt out, but others would be empowered to live better, faster, bigger, more. Knowing that the ultimate price was within their budget.

Life would be reduced to a game, one with multiple lives. I suppose.

 

[MacLeod]

The impacts of no life after death would likely vary from country to country as the belief in an afterlife is often tied to a religion and some countries are more religious than others

 

[Tosk]

1. If they conclusively proved that a certain thing happened after death, there would still be millions of people who refuse to believe it.

2. Either way, suicides would skyrocket. If heaven was real many would want to get there quicker, if heaven did not exist many would kill themselves to avoid the empty feeling they suddenly felt.

 

[RunningValkyrie]

I'm not a religious person but I grew up with a lot of highly religious people. I was raised as a mormon even though I wasn't ever able to believe in god. Because, for me, religion is too irrational.
However, if some of the highly religious people I grew up with had proof of no life after death I think they might fall into a life crisis. If their belief system was disproved their life goals would be invalid. They would have to find something else to give their lives meaning and goals to adhere their lives by.

Edit: However, The highly religious people I grew up with always say that faith doesn't have to be proven, which might mean that they might keep on believing anyway. They might actually believe that the proof of no life would be an act of the devil; an attempt to lure humans astray from the true path.

 

[STR]

Edit: However, The highly religious people I grew up with always say that faith doesn't have to be proven, which might mean that they might keep on believing anyway. They might actually believe that the proof of no life would be an act of the devil; an attempt to lure humans astray from the true path.

Precisely this. If the 21st century has taught us anything, it's that (at least, a lot of) people don't believe what's true because it is a fact. Truth is what and individual accepts, and that acceptance can be based on facts, convenience, or how the answers fit into one's constructed self image, or social identity.

If the after life is proven tomorrow, the world will keep going much as it did 50 years ago when such things were accepted as fact.

If the afterlife is disproven, things will continue much as they do today, with the one true god (the almighty dollar) ruling unopposed. Even the faithful, which will reject a lack of afterlife just as it rejects evolution, will continue on a materialistic/legalistic path to power.

If a specific afterlife is proven and others disproven, expect some amount of denial, some conversion, and a lot of the same ills that haunt the world today. Young men will still die in wars, women in childbirth, children from preventable diseases, and the poor fr starvation. The powerful will justify their bounty and others scarcity as they always have.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

An afterlife being proven would change people's perception of risk, certainly. I like Butters' comparison to a video game. Losing a life would not be seen as something quite so terrible, just a setback. People would make fewer pleasure for health tradeoffs.

Murder trials might be very different. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you, is murder really a crime? All he really did was relocate the victim to eternal paradise. Granted, he did it against his will, and for that he should pay, but the punishment should be more lenient to fit the crime."

I disagree that accepting it as fact is the same thing as knowing as fact. Even when people were more religious, no matter how certain you were, you weren't quite finally certain.

If the afterlife were disproven, I think it'd change people's behavior a lot less than if it were proven. The difference between being 0% sure and 99.9% sure is much smaller than the difference between being 99.9% sure and 100% sure. Religious people who have no identity outside their beliefs will have deep crises but then probably gravitate to some other absolute belief system that does not include an afterlife. Other people will behave more or less the same.

More people choose their beliefs around their feelings, instead of choosing feelings around their beliefs. Take away the beliefs, they'll find other beliefs to fit their feelings.

 

[RunningValkyrie]

There is life after death and Religion A got it right while all the other religions are wrong.

People would still be able to refuse to conform to Religion A even if that would mean not going to heaven so people as a collective wouldn't lose our free will. But if an individual wanted to go to heaven that individual would have to conform to the religion's set of rules or face the consequences. That might reduce such a person's free will.

Would living your life according to Religion A, mainly to gain access to heaven, still get you into heaven? Most religions have a god who needs much confirmation from humans. Perhaps the stakes for getting in would only be for the most devout and not for all who followed the rules.

Religious zealots from other religions that had been disproved might refuse to accept it and act out. Religious Zealots from Religion A might get more active and perhaps aggressive as they would feel that it was their right since they have confirmation that they believed in the right dogma all along.

But as a whole I agree that life probably would go on mostly as it does now.

 

[Discofan]

...
2. Either way, suicides would skyrocket. If heaven was real many would want to get there quicker, if heaven did not exist many would kill themselves to avoid the empty feeling they suddenly felt.

I wonder why they don't kill themselves then. They seem intent on killing themselves either way.


I for one, know the relative nature of proofs and would continue to live my life to the fullest as I do now, just in case.

 

[Tosk]

I wonder why they don't kill themselves then. They seem intent on killing themselves either way.

There are two groups being described.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

I might sound like an idiot but I would never believe it if it I was told there was no life after death. There’s no amount of worldly proof that could change what I believe.

 

[RunningValkyrie]

I might sound like an idiot but I would never believe it if it I was told there was no life after death. There’s no amount of worldly proof that could change what I believe.

Depending on one’s viewpoint my belief could just as well be viewed as idiotic. Either viewpoint is equally valid. I’m not able to believe in god even though I have given it my best shot. I have prayed, gone to church, read the bible and asked for guidance but to no avail. I think that I pertain to a character type who just can’t believe in god without proof. I think that religion is irrational but that’s just an opinion. It doesn’t mean that my opinion is the correct one.

 

[BillJ]

People would still be major dicks. They would just have different reasons behind it.

 

[RandyS]

I would run out the clock here, then resume my daily routine in the next life.
I would also look up my grandparents and see if grandpa did what he told me he was gonna do. He said that after he died, he was gonna explore Heaven, going off in search of the perfect sandwich.

 

[Amaris]

I'd probably feel quite a bit of relief, knowing the answer to the question of whether or not a form of existence continues (or doesn't) after we die. That said, there would still be people to feed and shelter, sick to heal, and a lot more work to make this world, the one we're in now, better for everyone. So for me, not a whole lot would change.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

Depending on one’s viewpoint my belief could just as well be viewed as idiotic. Either viewpoint is equally valid. I’m not able to believe in god even though I have given it my best shot. I have prayed, gone to church, read the bible and asked for guidance but to no avail. I think that I pertain to a character type who just can’t believe in god without proof. I think that religion is irrational but that’s just an opinion. It doesn’t mean that my opinion is the correct one.

I’m sorry you were never able to connect to God. Believing is definitely difficult. I hope you are still able to find peace in some type of faith. <3

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I'm not very religious but knowing some of the people in my life who are now dead, I can't help but to think that they didn't just end. I'm hoping they're out there somewhere having a great time.

 

[RunningValkyrie]

I’m sorry you were never able to connect to God. Believing is definitely difficult. I hope you are still able to find peace in some type of faith. <3

I believe that everything in the universe is connected in a cycle where our consciousness, matter from our bodies and everything else in the universe dissolve and are reused and put together into new things when dying. That belief gives me a sense of meaningfulness for the world and the universe. I don’t believe in god but I do believe in science.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I certainly hope there is life after death, but I believe in science and have seen no evidence to make me believe we outlive our bodies. Just lack of proof to the contrary. It seems unlikely.

I don’t think suicides would increase. Maybe people who are severely depressed would be pushed over the edge, but at most it’d be a one time spike.