Atheism and afterlife

[SGOS]

There is no evidence that a god exists and the concept makes no sense. I know that "I" exist. It makes sense to me that the conditions that lead to the creation of "I" could happen again.

I've wondered about this exact same thing.  Is there a chance that all the atoms and molecules will realign themselves to recreate my sentience again in the future?  Would I remember my old self from the previous alignment?  Why not have two identical alignments coexisting, so that two of me exist at the same time?  However, I don't think there are any observable conditions that support these speculations.

I've heard chemists make a claim that everything in us is chemical, including our thoughts and memories, but I think that is somewhat of an over reaching claim.  To be sure, thoughts and memories depend on chemicals (atoms and molecules), but the little we know about sentience doesn't go so far as to claim that a specific alignment of atoms and molecules always results in a specific memory.  We just don't know how this works.

Because "I" has existed once it makes more likely that "I" could exist again, as opposed to a god which has never existed. The fact that intelligent life has evolved once in the universe makes it more likely that it could evolve again as opposed to a universe where intelligent life has never existed. I'm not confident "I" will exist again but it seems more likely than a god.

It might be possible, although infinitely unlikely, that your exact body, including all of your DNA, could be accidently reproduced to produce a remarkable duplicate.  In fact, this alignment would certainly include the capability of sentience, but it can't be the same sentience that makes the "you" that you are aware of.

Your sentience is dependent on DNA, but DNA or special alignments of things don't represent all the thoughts and memories accumulated from your personal lifetime experiences, none of which have anything to do with the makeup of your DNA.  Your DNA can get passed on.  Identical DNA chains could even remutate in a separate line of DNA from another human branch, but your experiences aren't stored in your DNA, only the ability to have experiences.

The most important part of the "you" that makes you "you" (experiences) are formed and stored in ways we don't yet understand, but you won't find them in your DNA or some specific alignment of atoms and molecules.

For me, I don't see that a realignment resulting in an afterlife makes more sense than the existence of a god.  Both are beyond our reach of knowing.

[GSOgymrat]

SGOS, it is similar to the classic teleporter thought experiment:

Suppose there exists a teleportation device such that when you enter it, it simultaneously destroys the atoms composing your body and recreates them at some other location.  You can enter a teleporter here on Earth, for example, and from your viewpoint you will instantly be on Mars if you chose to have your body reconstituted there.  Let us accept this premise for the purposes of this thought experiment.

Now, suppose the teleporter is altered in the following fashion: your original body is still destroyed atom by atom, but instead of reconstituting ONE copy of your body in another location, it now instantaneously reconstitutes TWO copies in two different locations, say Mars and the Moon.  You step into the Earth teleporter, and two duplicates of you walk out; one on Mars and one on the Moon.  Each will claim to be you and will have the exact same memories, personalities, and body as you did.  More importantly, each will have equal validity to claim to be you from an outside perspective.

But let us examine this process from the subjective perspective of your personal experience: you walk into the Earth teleporter, experiencing the sight of the incredible machine and feeling your toes move against the interior surface of your boots.  But what will your subjective experience be like AFTER you press the button to teleport yourself into the two duplicate copies?  Will your experience suddenly shift to Mars, leaving the Moon version of you a fraudulent impostor who merely pretends to be you?  Will your experience suddenly shift to the Moon instead, and a similar imposter will instantaneously appear on the Moon?  Or will your consciousness become split into two, leaving you to simultaneously experience both Moon events and Mars events?  Or will something entirely different occur?

[GSOgymrat]

For me, I don't see that a realignment resulting in an afterlife makes more sense than the existence of a god.  Both are beyond our reach of knowing.

The great thing about the question of an afterlife is everyone will eventually learn the answer.

[stromboli]

The argument as I see it is about consciousness, not what physical body we wear. If we are a collection of molecules that defines us as alive and conscious apart from our physical bodies, we are still alive if we are aware of ourselves no matter what our shape or body is. Science fiction has long postulated the concept of inserting a human brain- more accurately our consciousness- into a computer simulation or mechanical body. We could just as well be alive in the matrix as in a genuine physical form.

the jury is still out as to whether the universe is a hologram or some form of projection. We might exist three dimensionally only in a gigantic mainframe run by godlike beings. Just as likely we might be an experiment, a panspermia of implanted living material on a planet deemed suitable for life to emerge. We could in theory be living on a microscope slide being viewed by higher beings.

Philip Jose Farmer's "Riverworld" series explored the idea that humans could be recreated in a future time from some anima that defines us (our soul) and implanted in a physical body like the one we wear now. Not my particular belief, but it would be cool to be resurrected in a slightly better body with all the knowledge we acquired in life on earth. Imagine getting to kick Hitler in the nuts in real time. 

[SGOS]

The great thing about the question of an afterlife is everyone will eventually learn the answer.

There is also another possible outcome:  No one will ever learn the answer, or for that matter, be aware of the question.

[SGOS]

SGOS, it is similar to the classic teleporter thought experiment:

Suppose there exists a teleportation device such that when you enter it, it simultaneously destroys the atoms composing your body and recreates them at some other location....

I assume there can be no memory of any previous existence, unless thoughts can be reconstructed as well as physical qualities.  Star Trek, and the Matrix tells us this is possible, and even explains the reconstruction of matter, but doesn't address concepts like the soul, if one is religious, or sentience for us soul-less atheists.

Of course just because it can't be explained does not mean it's not possible, but from where I sit, at this time, it doesn't make any more sense than the existence of a god.  It's just unknowable.

I am a bit thrown by your argument, "I know I've been created once, so why not twice?"  This suggests a greater likelihood of you twice, than the re-creation of a god, which unlike you, cannot be proven to have existed even once.  It's still all dependent on unknowable characteristics of physical matter and sentience or perhaps the assumption that the two are similar in nature. 

[aitm]

IF one accepts and believes that we are indeed a mere collection of atoms no different in the grand scheme of things than a tree or a mushroom, then we have to grant the "afterlife" to any living thing…..but why stop at living things? At what point do we ascertain that the universe grants one atom a "second" existence but not another?

Consciousness? Oh pray tell me you can read the "consciousness" of other living creatures or even the inanimate.

[josephpalazzo]

The great thing about the question of an afterlife is everyone will eventually learn the answer.

Once your brain is dead, how can it learn anything?

[stromboli]

Once your brain is dead, how can it learn anything?

[josephpalazzo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GPg1UR66go