What if this is a possibility?

[Haveaniceday]

[FONT=&#23435]When we die, we instantly enter another universe in which everything is the same except we're alive. [/FONT]​

[FONT=&#23435]Even to the extent that a line of possible events is avoided to allow a person to live.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&#23435]E.g. A to a person's conscious lying on their death bed, something happens that allows them to get spontaneously better, hence while they die in their current universe, they feel they've never passed and merely got better.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&#23435]Could be the same with old age, maybe eventually the consciousness ends up in a universe where a 'cure' is found for old age etc.[/FONT]​

[FONT=&#23435]I've been almost killed dozens of times and thought about this very question.[/FONT]​

 

[Mitica100]

Hooray! We have our own TPF philosopher!

 

[musicaleCA]

More like our very own short-sighted...what's a good word..."thinker"...no no no...erm...hmmm....

 

[KmH]

Well, there are some constraints regarding conditions in any possible parallel universes.

This universe we live in was formed with some very narrow indices. Some cosmologist believe if any of just 6 natural parametyers were to be changed by a couple of percentage points, we wouldn't be here today.

That leads to the problem that there is no guarantee parallel universes have values anywhere near what our universe contains.

For me the question is even more basic.

What constitutes self-awareness.

Obviously, our brains need to be functioning to be self-aware. We perceive our universe with a set of eyes, ears and other internal and external sensors.

Our brains sort and filter all this information and even distort it to meet our expectations. Such is the nature of photography.

Our brains automatically make adjustments to keep light we expect to be white, look white, even though it has a decided orange (tungsten) or green (flourescent) tinge.

As it is we only 'see' a very, very small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. There is a lot more of our universe we cannot internally detect.

We know there is a realm much smaller than we can perceive, that doesn't work, physically, the way we expect but we are able to calculate and understand how that part of our universe works

When we die, so does our brain. What mechanism could perpetuate the sense of self-awareness. How would we see, hear and perceive in an afterlife?

That question begs another.

If self-awareness continues after death? How come we have no self-awareness from before birth?

 

[Josh66]

If self-awareness continues after death? How come we have no self-awareness from before birth?

How do you know you/we don't?

Maybe you just forgot?

What can you remember before the age of, say, 6?

I can only remember 2 things. One event at about 6 months old, another at around 2 years. The next thing I remember after that is kindergarten.

 

[KmH]

If self-awareness continues after death? How come we have no self-awareness from before birth?

How do you know you/we don't?

Maybe you just forgot?

What can you remember before the age of, say, 6?

I can only remember 2 things. One event at about 6 months old, another at around 2 years. The next thing I remember after that is kindergarten.

My point exactly. There's no way to maintain continuity so you wouldn't know after death either.

 

[JamesMason]

If self-awareness continues after death? How come we have no self-awareness from before birth?

How do you know you/we don't?

Maybe you just forgot?

What can you remember before the age of, say, 6?

I can only remember 2 things. One event at about 6 months old, another at around 2 years. The next thing I remember after that is kindergarten.

My point exactly. There's no way to maintain continuity so you wouldn't know after death either.

Which kinda makes it pointless. your memory makes you you. if you cant remember then you are someone else