Reincarnation and the Multiverse – with no gods, souls, woo, or any of that crap

[danb017]

9. No worries

I disagree that a clone of you constructed from identical atoms is necessarily you. In this thought experiment, let's say you and I construct identical clones of you out of identical particles. These clones will all be individual, different people, and none of them will be you because you already exist. We can construct as many as we want, provided we have the materials.

If we first disperse your atoms, then replace you with a clone, that clone might be you, but it could be any of an infinite number of individuals appearing in our first experiment.

This is why perhaps, once we don't exist, any combination of atoms that produces consciousness has a non-zero chance to be us. So we may find ourselves on another planet as some exotic alien of a different species.

This also means that we don't have to worry about an eternal recurrence, repeatedly living out the same life, since who a consciousness is does not depend on the special arrangement of atoms.