Comments on: Reincarnating Again http://jewmanist.com/2006/07/24/reincarnating-again/ Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:51:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: me http://jewmanist.com/2006/07/24/reincarnating-again/comment-page-1/#comment-2208 me Tue, 03 Oct 2006 01:56:00 +0000 http://jewmanist.wordpress.com/2006/07/24/reincarnating-again/#comment-2208 Actually, the belief that 'there are more people alive today than have ever died' is simply not true. If we assume that the average lifespan throughout history was between 40 and 50 years (and for much of history it was actually a lot less - like 30), and if we also assume that humanity (homo sapiens) has been around for 100,000 years (a conservative estimate to say the least), plus taking into consideration estimates by historians and demographers that the earth in 1820 had one billion people, in 1920 2 billion and so on, then take into consideration that the current population is just over 6 billion (don't have an exact figure, but then again who does?) - well, anyway, my point is that this has all been worked out, and as it turns out the number of people who are calculated to have died thus far exceeds the number who are alive today (by a very wide margin). Which makes perfect sense when you think about it, because even the people who were alive just as recently as the year 1900 are all dead now (with a few rare exceptions of course). The population in 1900 was approximately 1.8 to 2 billion, so there you already have one quarter of the current figure. The world total a couple of generations or so before this (let's say between 1830 and 1850) would have been about 1.4 to 1.5 billion, and they (the vast majority anyway) would have been dead by 1900 - remember life expectancies were MUCH lower than it is today - about 50 years if you were lucky in 1850.<br/>All of this is beside the point anyway if it is reincarnation that you are trying to discredit, because (and this must be really obvious to anyone who has seriously thought about it), if we assume that reincarnation is real (and I'm not saying that it is), then logic would necessarily dictate that there are many individuals who are in their very first incarnation. That is, they have never lived before, this is their first life. After all, the process has to begin somewhere, at some point in time. So this 'technical problem' is nothing of the sort, it is an imaginary problem. Actually, the belief that ‘there are more people alive today than have ever died’ is simply not true. If we assume that the average lifespan throughout history was between 40 and 50 years (and for much of history it was actually a lot less – like 30), and if we also assume that humanity (homo sapiens) has been around for 100,000 years (a conservative estimate to say the least), plus taking into consideration estimates by historians and demographers that the earth in 1820 had one billion people, in 1920 2 billion and so on, then take into consideration that the current population is just over 6 billion (don’t have an exact figure, but then again who does?) – well, anyway, my point is that this has all been worked out, and as it turns out the number of people who are calculated to have died thus far exceeds the number who are alive today (by a very wide margin). Which makes perfect sense when you think about it, because even the people who were alive just as recently as the year 1900 are all dead now (with a few rare exceptions of course). The population in 1900 was approximately 1.8 to 2 billion, so there you already have one quarter of the current figure. The world total a couple of generations or so before this (let’s say between 1830 and 1850) would have been about 1.4 to 1.5 billion, and they (the vast majority anyway) would have been dead by 1900 – remember life expectancies were MUCH lower than it is today – about 50 years if you were lucky in 1850.
All of this is beside the point anyway if it is reincarnation that you are trying to discredit, because (and this must be really obvious to anyone who has seriously thought about it), if we assume that reincarnation is real (and I’m not saying that it is), then logic would necessarily dictate that there are many individuals who are in their very first incarnation. That is, they have never lived before, this is their first life. After all, the process has to begin somewhere, at some point in time. So this ‘technical problem’ is nothing of the sort, it is an imaginary problem.

]]> By: Aaron Kinney http://jewmanist.com/2006/07/24/reincarnating-again/comment-page-1/#comment-2207 Aaron Kinney Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:30:00 +0000 http://jewmanist.wordpress.com/2006/07/24/reincarnating-again/#comment-2207 One of the technical problems with reincarnation is that there are more people alive today than have ever died. :-O One of the technical problems with reincarnation is that there are more people alive today than have ever died. :-O

]]> By: vjack http://jewmanist.com/2006/07/24/reincarnating-again/comment-page-1/#comment-2206 vjack Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:24:00 +0000 http://jewmanist.wordpress.com/2006/07/24/reincarnating-again/#comment-2206 I manage the directory of atheist blogs over at Atheism Online - http://atheismonline.com/tiki-page.php?pageName=Welcome<br/><br/>You should add yours to the directory. It might help you get some additional readers. We are always looking for good atheist-oriented blogs. I manage the directory of atheist blogs over at Atheism Online – http://atheismonline.com/tiki-page.php?pageName=Welcome

You should add yours to the directory. It might help you get some additional readers. We are always looking for good atheist-oriented blogs.

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