Do consider the reassignment of Atoms reincarnation?

[klimt]

what! its a generally accepted thing in scientific circles.

What makes you think it doesn't exist?

The key word is 'reassigned'. Atoms are 'recycled', or 'redistributed', but your choice of wording implies a design or intention, for which there is no evidence or suggestion whatsoever.

If you consider this reincarnation, then you must accept that rocks, carrots, water, feces, and slugs get reincarnated. If so, then we are just playing with words, I think.

 

[tkotom]

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?

I could really use a wish right now.

 

[Spoken]

as long as our 'essence of being' is simply material, then yes, it is. Nothing spiritual about, however.

 

[Lost]

Hey Lost. Don't be that guy, the guy that thinks "theory" is another word for "fairytale I made up".

I like mythology, I think it would be great to create a brand new one from scratch, with a modern twist. If it makes you happy, great. But there's no reason to compare it to scientific theories.

I won't, it was just a question is all.

 

[Lost]

Consider this.

Cells within your body, while you are alive, will die and be carried by your body to your kidneys. The kidneys will filter out the dead cells that were once you and place them into your bladder where you will eventually piss them out.

After pissing, the atoms that once were organized into your body's cells are reassigned into whatever. Perhaps a carbon atom that once was part of one of your cell membranes becomes part of the tree you urinated on. Have you been reincarnated as a tree?

Consider that the same tree is then cut down and processed into a paper product, for my own amusement we'll say toilet paper. Have you been reincarnated as toilet paper? What about the other atoms from your cells that didn't make it into the toilet paper? Perhaps a hydrogen atom that was once you is now part of the water cycle. Have you simultaneously been reincarnated as both toilet paper and the toilet water?

Let's not forget that you are still alive. We still have a large organization of atoms that we call you. Perhaps one day after eating some Mexican food your body decides it's time to begin the reincarnation process again. After making a hot mess in the toilet you grab a new roll of toilet paper you bought a week ago, and you wipe your filthy ass with it.

Little did you know but the piece of toilet paper you used contained that carbon atom that was once a part of your body many months ago. During the wipe that atom "made contact" (whatever that means) with the atoms that comprise it's former host. You literally hold the circle of life right there in your hand.

However after a moment of introspection you have a moment of clarity. You begin to realize that reincarnation is just a chunk of shit.

Quality read :icon_lol:

 

[John Stockton]

I prefer to use the term "recycled".

 

[Ramsey Dewey]

This is a fascinating thread for a lot of reasons.

I guess one question is where/how does consciousness arise or what specifically is it physically attached/related to during a lifetime.

This is the most important question regarding the matter.

My personal beliefs aside, there are currently 2 main opposing hypotheses in the scientific community regarding the origin and nature of consciousness.

The classical idea is that consciousness is stored in the tissues of the brain, or that it's generated by the electrical impulses running through the nerves.

In contrast, the hypothesis of "quantum consciousness" states in no uncertain terms that there is no scientific foundation for a belief that consciousness is contained within matter or generated through a biochemical process, but rather that consciousness exists independently of matter, somewhere out there beyond space/time as an extra-spacial entity.

That's a horrible oversimplification of both hypotheses, I know. OP, you should definitely read up on both of those ideas. Lots to think about. At least Google it for a quick summary because there's a whole lot of jargon to sift through.

As far as the idea of the atoms of one body being assimilated by a different body being considered "reincarnation"- well, that's definitely a different idea than what most people mean when they think of reincarnation.

However, if you believe that consciousness is ephemeral and perishes with the body upon death, then your proposed idea makes as much sense as anything else, including Steve Dougson's well-worded toilet paper analogy earlier in the thread. If that were the case, it would not matter matter if you were reconstituted as a shark, a tree, toilets paper, or all three at once, you wouldn't be aware of it.

On the other hand, if you believe that consciousness is permanently attached to or generated by the atoms that comprise your physical body, then Steve Dougson's analogy stands as a reasonable direct contradiction to that idea.

Transversely, if you believe that consciousness exists independently of the physical body and/or the atoms that comprise it, then regardless of which living things assimilate the atoms of your dead body, the consciousness will continue unaltered on a different plane of existence. Meaning the sharks, and trees, and rolls of toilet paper that have assimilated pieces of your corpse would clearly not be you either.

 

[Tachy]

I actually just reassigned a few atoms about 10 minutes ago

 

[footgod]

This was dealt with heavily in the series Big O in regards to who you are without memory

 

[minute bull]

What was that movie that said your cells replace themselves every seven years? Maybe slowly over each cycle the chemical reactions and synapses fire in slightly different ways. How else can I explain that I used to hate broccoli but now I love it? You ever have a passion that burned within you, but then years down the line upon reflection you wonder how you could have ever even liked such a thing? The seven year itch?

Moments of "life crises" tend to occur every seven years. Usually brought on by that instant of wonderment -- where do I fit in, in all of this? What if it's that moment when the very last old cell of you has given way to the You 2.0. Maybe a crisis is our internal reset button.

That's kind of like a reincarnation. In dog years.

 

[TheQu**]

No.

 

[Michaelangelo]

Women love hearing how you want to rearrange their atoms.