Part 1:
As an atheist, I know my consciousness comes from a natural process.
My atoms became self aware.
If I die, my atoms will be buried,
then be drawn up by capillary action in the roots of plants.
My atoms will become part of plants.
Later, the plants will be eaten.
Over a long enough time frame, my atoms will be in a new person.
What if, by some chance, my atoms were all there in the new person,
and in the same order they are in now?
A rare occurance for sure,
but over all of infinity it could actually happen a large number of times.
Would that not be me again?
Its the same atoms in the same order, becoming self aware again.
But what if some of the atoms were arranged differently,
such that my hair was a slightly different color?
Is that me?
Maybe not exactly,
yet I didn't even notice the difference
until I looked in the mirror.
That scenario is more likely than every atom being in the same spot.
Example:
Let's say my car engine died, and I took it apart.
I send the pistons to one country to be cleaned,
sent the valves to another country, and so on.
When I put it all back together again, and start it up, is it still my car engine?
Taking it apart and reassembling it didn't change that.
Since all the pistons are identical to each other, it doesn't matter if I switched
the second one with the third one, when reassembling it;
and in the same manner,
every carbon atom is identical to every other carbon atom.
It doesn't matter if some of my carbon atoms are arranged differently in the
future, its still my atoms becoming self aware again,
and I won't even notice the difference.
Time:
It may take a long time before the atoms are reassembled
and reacquire awareness,
yet I will not be aware of the delay.
It's like I pass away, then wake up again as if no time had passed.
I wake up again as if life had never stopped.
Part 2:
Lets make it more interesting.
What if a larger number of my atoms in the future
were arranged differently?
This could happen a lot more often than in the earlier examples.
Now it's less like me, but it's still my atoms being self aware again,
even if my hair color is completely different,
and some of my atoms were misplaced along the way, so I weigh less now.
Maybe a few of somebody elses atoms are in there somewhere too.
If I get hungry, it will still feel the same as it does right now.
At what point are my atoms no longer "me" anymore? How many atoms must
be in an alternate location?
The answer is that it doesn't matter.
The reason is that everybody feels hunger, pain, or pleasure.
In the future, my atoms may be arranged as a male or female,
but they will still have that familiar feeling of being alive again.
So when my atoms reacquire the feeling of being alive,
they won't care if its the "old me" or the "new me",
they just want to eat and have fun.
If they (my atoms) wake up in a future food shortage, they will suffer,
whether or not my hair color is the same, or there
are any other differences.
Distinction:
There is a critical distinction that needs to be made here,
between consciousness (the feeling of being alive)
and memory (a bunch of boring facts like a name or what I had
for breakfast 5 years ago).
A person with amnesia doesn't stop caring about everything
just because the memories are gone. They still have feelings
of pain and pleasure.
The point here is that its necessary to concentrate on
the feeling of being alive, which the atoms will have in
the future; and not dwell on memories (or form).
Trust me, when somebody is starving in a food shortage,
the last thing they care about is
what their name was the last time their atoms
had consciousness.
Problems:
About 80% of the worlds population presently lives in poverty,
and there are a lot of other avoidable problems.
Many problems are likely to get worse in the future.
Food is not the only problem. Many people are having rather
dull lives, missing out on a huge amount of good times
they could be having.
There is a lot we can do about the future, I have found
out how to fix it.
Discussion:
Apparently one of the properties of atoms is that, under certain
conditions, they have the ability to have feelings,
whether feeling pain or pleasure.
I have experienced great pleasure, and
also a lot of suffering. I want my atoms to
avoid unnecessary suffering in the future, and not miss out on
the large amount of pleasure I could have.
The new me may be better than the old me, maybe its smarter, faster,
stronger than before. Or perhaps it will be worse.
Either way, the new me will still feel alive, and will want to
experience pleasure, just like the old me does right now.
If anybody doesn't "get" my meaning when I speak
of awareness, the feeling of being alive, etc,
as distinct from memory,
then I will need to try to explain it better; this is central to
everything.
Failing to fully understand this, means they would
consider the "new me" to be a different person that I should not
care about, whereas nothing could be further from importance.
The "new me" is still just as much me as I am now,
despite any differences,
its still my atoms and my feelings.
I could change my name right now, or wait for my atoms to
be reassembled and given a new name in the future.
I could get gender reassignment surgery now,
or wait for my future atoms to be arranged differently.
It's still "me".
Maybe not exactly me, but the "new me".
The point being that I still care about what happens to me,
regardless of whether we are talking about next week
when most everything is similar, or farther in the future when
my form and name are different.
Conclusion:
Our atoms will regain feelings in the future, just as
they already became aware this time.
Despite amnesia regarding previous awareness, due to
the way memories were stored and lost along the way,
they still feel alive just like they do right now.
But they will still feel great suffering with
the problems that are approaching.
We have one chance to fix the problems
before it becomes impractical.
Your work can tip the balance in favour of success, and it
can be as easy as telling people about this to help us
get started.
If you prefer not to discuss atoms and all that,
you can still help by referring people to the following
site that is working on fixing the problems.
This site has nothing to do with atoms, it is simply about
making sure no child starves ever again, and fixing the
economy so we can have a higher standard of living, etc.
There is only one realistic way to fix the problems,
that would actually work, and stay good,
at:
http://www.endworldsuffering.org
This site can also improve the present, not just the future.
Life could be a lot better than it is right now.
I would like to hear your comments.
If you prefer, you can email me:
moderator2@endworldsuffering.org
Disclaimer: Everything is my opinion, does not represent any
organization I may be associated with, etc.
FAQ:
Question:
Some people say its not the atoms, but the pattern of information
that becomes aware.
Answer:
So what? That pattern will be back again too.
In fact, since a carbon atom can be switched with any other carbon atom
without making any difference, my pattern will be back a much larger
number of times, since it wont matter which atoms are used to make the pattern.
Question:
Won't the universe end at some point?
Answer:
Not necessarily.
Our scientific model of the universe is incomplete.
There is a very good chance that the universe will go on forever,
and this is too great a chance to take. We need to fix the problems
as insurance in case we are stuck here forever.
Question:
Even if the universe lasts forever, won't the sun go out?
Answer:
Yes, but our atoms don't disappear. There are a number of ways
they could end up being used to form new planets and people again.
If part of the universe collapses into a big crunch, this could
form a new big bang.
I say part of the universe, because there
could be a lot more to it that we can't see because it's so
far away that its light hasn't reached us yet.
There could be multiple big bangs going on right now, in various
far away parts of the universe.
So our atoms may not be going away, ever.
And that is just one of a large number of possibilities.
Another thing to consider is that people will likely develop
spaceships, so we could end up travelling to those distant
parts of the universe in person.
References:
[Animals have human style endorphins. Page 110]
Title Taking animals seriously: mental life and moral status
Author David DeGrazia
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 1996
ISBN 0521567602, 9780521567602
[Infinity]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fate_of_the_universe
[Memory]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroanatomy_of_memory
[Photosynthesis]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis
[Protein cycle]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gateway/greenworld/recyclingrev1.shtml
[Free will isn't]
http://news.aaas.org/2011_annual_meeting/0225nature-nurture-in-antisocial-behavior.shtml
As an atheist, I know my consciousness comes from a natural process.
My atoms became self aware.
If I die, my atoms will be buried,
then be drawn up by capillary action in the roots of plants.
My atoms will become part of plants.
Later, the plants will be eaten.
Over a long enough time frame, my atoms will be in a new person.
What if, by some chance, my atoms were all there in the new person,
and in the same order they are in now?
A rare occurance for sure,
but over all of infinity it could actually happen a large number of times.
Would that not be me again?
Its the same atoms in the same order, becoming self aware again.
But what if some of the atoms were arranged differently,
such that my hair was a slightly different color?
Is that me?
Maybe not exactly,
yet I didn't even notice the difference
until I looked in the mirror.
That scenario is more likely than every atom being in the same spot.
Example:
Let's say my car engine died, and I took it apart.
I send the pistons to one country to be cleaned,
sent the valves to another country, and so on.
When I put it all back together again, and start it up, is it still my car engine?
Taking it apart and reassembling it didn't change that.
Since all the pistons are identical to each other, it doesn't matter if I switched
the second one with the third one, when reassembling it;
and in the same manner,
every carbon atom is identical to every other carbon atom.
It doesn't matter if some of my carbon atoms are arranged differently in the
future, its still my atoms becoming self aware again,
and I won't even notice the difference.
Time:
It may take a long time before the atoms are reassembled
and reacquire awareness,
yet I will not be aware of the delay.
It's like I pass away, then wake up again as if no time had passed.
I wake up again as if life had never stopped.
Part 2:
Lets make it more interesting.
What if a larger number of my atoms in the future
were arranged differently?
This could happen a lot more often than in the earlier examples.
Now it's less like me, but it's still my atoms being self aware again,
even if my hair color is completely different,
and some of my atoms were misplaced along the way, so I weigh less now.
Maybe a few of somebody elses atoms are in there somewhere too.
If I get hungry, it will still feel the same as it does right now.
At what point are my atoms no longer "me" anymore? How many atoms must
be in an alternate location?
The answer is that it doesn't matter.
The reason is that everybody feels hunger, pain, or pleasure.
In the future, my atoms may be arranged as a male or female,
but they will still have that familiar feeling of being alive again.
So when my atoms reacquire the feeling of being alive,
they won't care if its the "old me" or the "new me",
they just want to eat and have fun.
If they (my atoms) wake up in a future food shortage, they will suffer,
whether or not my hair color is the same, or there
are any other differences.
Distinction:
There is a critical distinction that needs to be made here,
between consciousness (the feeling of being alive)
and memory (a bunch of boring facts like a name or what I had
for breakfast 5 years ago).
A person with amnesia doesn't stop caring about everything
just because the memories are gone. They still have feelings
of pain and pleasure.
The point here is that its necessary to concentrate on
the feeling of being alive, which the atoms will have in
the future; and not dwell on memories (or form).
Trust me, when somebody is starving in a food shortage,
the last thing they care about is
what their name was the last time their atoms
had consciousness.
Problems:
About 80% of the worlds population presently lives in poverty,
and there are a lot of other avoidable problems.
Many problems are likely to get worse in the future.
Food is not the only problem. Many people are having rather
dull lives, missing out on a huge amount of good times
they could be having.
There is a lot we can do about the future, I have found
out how to fix it.
Discussion:
Apparently one of the properties of atoms is that, under certain
conditions, they have the ability to have feelings,
whether feeling pain or pleasure.
I have experienced great pleasure, and
also a lot of suffering. I want my atoms to
avoid unnecessary suffering in the future, and not miss out on
the large amount of pleasure I could have.
The new me may be better than the old me, maybe its smarter, faster,
stronger than before. Or perhaps it will be worse.
Either way, the new me will still feel alive, and will want to
experience pleasure, just like the old me does right now.
If anybody doesn't "get" my meaning when I speak
of awareness, the feeling of being alive, etc,
as distinct from memory,
then I will need to try to explain it better; this is central to
everything.
Failing to fully understand this, means they would
consider the "new me" to be a different person that I should not
care about, whereas nothing could be further from importance.
The "new me" is still just as much me as I am now,
despite any differences,
its still my atoms and my feelings.
I could change my name right now, or wait for my atoms to
be reassembled and given a new name in the future.
I could get gender reassignment surgery now,
or wait for my future atoms to be arranged differently.
It's still "me".
Maybe not exactly me, but the "new me".
The point being that I still care about what happens to me,
regardless of whether we are talking about next week
when most everything is similar, or farther in the future when
my form and name are different.
Conclusion:
Our atoms will regain feelings in the future, just as
they already became aware this time.
Despite amnesia regarding previous awareness, due to
the way memories were stored and lost along the way,
they still feel alive just like they do right now.
But they will still feel great suffering with
the problems that are approaching.
We have one chance to fix the problems
before it becomes impractical.
Your work can tip the balance in favour of success, and it
can be as easy as telling people about this to help us
get started.
If you prefer not to discuss atoms and all that,
you can still help by referring people to the following
site that is working on fixing the problems.
This site has nothing to do with atoms, it is simply about
making sure no child starves ever again, and fixing the
economy so we can have a higher standard of living, etc.
There is only one realistic way to fix the problems,
that would actually work, and stay good,
at:
http://www.endworldsuffering.org
This site can also improve the present, not just the future.
Life could be a lot better than it is right now.
I would like to hear your comments.
If you prefer, you can email me:
moderator2@endworldsuffering.org
Disclaimer: Everything is my opinion, does not represent any
organization I may be associated with, etc.
FAQ:
Question:
Some people say its not the atoms, but the pattern of information
that becomes aware.
Answer:
So what? That pattern will be back again too.
In fact, since a carbon atom can be switched with any other carbon atom
without making any difference, my pattern will be back a much larger
number of times, since it wont matter which atoms are used to make the pattern.
Question:
Won't the universe end at some point?
Answer:
Not necessarily.
Our scientific model of the universe is incomplete.
There is a very good chance that the universe will go on forever,
and this is too great a chance to take. We need to fix the problems
as insurance in case we are stuck here forever.
Question:
Even if the universe lasts forever, won't the sun go out?
Answer:
Yes, but our atoms don't disappear. There are a number of ways
they could end up being used to form new planets and people again.
If part of the universe collapses into a big crunch, this could
form a new big bang.
I say part of the universe, because there
could be a lot more to it that we can't see because it's so
far away that its light hasn't reached us yet.
There could be multiple big bangs going on right now, in various
far away parts of the universe.
So our atoms may not be going away, ever.
And that is just one of a large number of possibilities.
Another thing to consider is that people will likely develop
spaceships, so we could end up travelling to those distant
parts of the universe in person.
References:
[Animals have human style endorphins. Page 110]
Title Taking animals seriously: mental life and moral status
Author David DeGrazia
Publisher Cambridge University Press, 1996
ISBN 0521567602, 9780521567602
[Infinity]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fate_of_the_universe
[Memory]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroanatomy_of_memory
[Photosynthesis]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis
[Protein cycle]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gateway/greenworld/recyclingrev1.shtml
[Free will isn't]
http://news.aaas.org/2011_annual_meeting/0225nature-nurture-in-antisocial-behavior.shtml
