Anyway, what should I expect entering into the field of philosophy? — Shawn

That you won't find a job upon graduation. If you are borrowing money to fund your education, this could become a significant problem for decades to come. Law school might be a related opportunity which could address this issue.

Also, philosophy and money don't really mix too well. Say you reach the level of professor and have 3 kids you wish to get in to college, and a spouse who depends upon your income etc. How do you then publicly say or write anything which is not approved by the group consensus of the academic community you are a part of?

As just one example, academia is currently obsessed with diversity. If you were to present a counter argument, because that is what real philosophers are supposed to do, you could soon find yourself in deep career trouble, even if you clearly state that you are merely presenting an argument.

Not trying to rain on your parade, and please know, my own career confusion was profound beyond description. So I can relate. But philosophy as a business? Gotta vote no on that one.

If we have alien stuff, then it follows that interstellar travel is possible — RogueAI

"Aliens" may be future human archaeologists, not so alien after all. Intelligent creatures from other dimensions of our local reality another possibility. More alien, but still local.

I think what Buddhism teaches is 'the limits of knowledge' as a mode of understanding. — Wayfarer

If you know, does any aspect of Buddhism continue further down that road to also teach the limits of understanding?

Not a good idea for a thread IMO. — jgill

I was gonna disagree, but then I started reading the thread...

I actually had a dream yesterday afternoon where I was Ted Bundy and someone was asking me to explain my behavior. I told them that the next time they have dinner, look down at your plate, and you will likely find the answer.

So death, as a void of all living qualities must neither be a particularly bad or good experience. It's likely not even an experience at all. In this sense death is akin to a "dreamless sleep" which most would argue is a relatively fine and comfortable state of being. — Benj96

Given that we don't have proof of a single human being ever having visited death and returned to file a report, all theories about death seem best greeted with a sense of humor.

So where is the boundary between that part of us which never dies and that which does? — Benj96

Your question would seem to assume that boundaries are real. What if they are instead only convenient conceptual inventions of the human mind?

You have perhaps just put your finger on why the God question is so eternally confounding.

Our minds naturally try to conceive of God as a thing, and then we proceed to try to define that thing. We argue endlessly over the definition of this "thing".

Such arguments will inevitably be pointless if God is not a thing, but instead the everything. As you point out, definitions, by their very nature, are not applicable to everything. And so even the word God becomes suspect, because as a noun it implies a thing, some phenomena separate from other phenomena.

And so we are left with nothing. Which as it turns out, just happens to be the most accurate description of everything.

How do we know if we are nice people? — Benj96

In everyday life niceness is typically defined by the degree to which we support whatever story someone has about themselves.