Secular means of reincarnation

[Jannabear]

I'm curious, If one of two things is true, either the universe lasts forever and don't result in heat death (Which is unlikely), or if big bang and big bounce is true (The universe will collapse in on itself and another big bang will happen, and this will continue to happen forever), if either of these is true, wouldn't you eventually come back to life, even if it took quintillions of years, you would be bound to come back into existence at some point.

[Shiranu]

A. Why would eternity bring you back to life?
B. Why would it be "you" and not just another incarnation of you? Why would the consciousness that is currently "you" be brought back?

[Jannabear]

A. Why would eternity bring you back to life?
B. Why would it be "you" and not just another incarnation of you? Why would the consciousness that is currently "you" be brought back?

The specific things that make up you, or most, would eventually come back into existence in a similar manner as to which you would exist, eventually.
Even if the odds of it specifically being you were 1/5345345345345345345345345345345344500000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
It would eventually happen.

[Shiranu]

The specific things that make up you, or most, would eventually come back into existence in a similar manner as to which you would exist, eventually.
Even if the odds of it specifically being you were 1/5345345345345345345345345345345344500000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
It would eventually happen.

There is still no scientific basis for why it would be "you" and not just an identical reconstruction of you.

[Solomon Zorn]

If "I" cease to exist, perception itself will still exist - someone will continue to call himself, "Me." Will another of those many "Me's" be "Me?" Maybe. But "I" will probably have a different identity with no memory of a past life.

[SGOS]

I'm not sure how the mechanics of reincarnation would create a you with memories of all your life's experiences.  Maybe another you that is 5 minutes old, with a blank slate of experience that is ready to become a new person.  But the "you" that you experience is simply born an empty vessel now holding a selected hodgepodge of life experiences, which you interpret as you.  I could wrap my head about a new empty vessel being born, but an empty vessel by definition has to be empty and ready to receive new input.  This requires that it not be you in your present state.  That's how it seems to me.

[Mr.Obvious]

I suppose it is conceivable that the cycle of death and birth of the universe would go on for eternity, you'd get your combination of you back an eternal amount of times. Though those you would not have any recollection of your current you.
Though if we follow that line, you'd also get an infinite amount of other you's with a specific psychoses that makes them think they remember your specific life as a previous one of theirs. But that still would not be a continuation of your awareness after death.

[Baruch]

Nietzsche already dealt with this in "eternal recurrence".  The whole universe repeats, not just you.  So not the same as reincarnation.

The other aspect is if karma is mechanical, not supernatural.  Then you recur as a different you each time, according to cause/effect.

Yet another aspect is the "transporter" dilemma.  If you were in a "transporter" accident, and there where two "you", not a "good vs bad you" from the Star Trek classic ... then which one is the real you?  What will happen is the experiences of the two "yous" will start to diverge as soon as you two re-materialize.  Sort of like identical twins, but you are identical from a adult starting point, not as embryos.

[Solomon Zorn]

Yet another aspect is the "transporter" dilemma.  If you were in a "transporter" accident, and there where two "you", not a "good vs bad you" from the Star Trek classic ... then which one is the real you?  What will happen is the experiences of the two "yous" will start to diverge as soon as you two re-materialize.  Sort of like identical twins, but you are identical from a adult starting point, not as embryos.

Actually Star Trek did the transporter accident again, in Star Trek: The Next Generation. It involved Lieutenant Riker being brought home/left behind at an alien planet. Years later, Commander Riker then finds his other self, whose life has been much more difficult, surviving by himself. No "good twin/evil twin" dilemma. They didn't get very metaphysical about the question either. They just kind-of accepted it, and moved along. And rather than kill him off, at the end, Lieutenant Riker goes off on his own.

[aitm]

Accepting that if the universe will/can/does be "re-created" through the bang collapse idea then I have no issue that at some time in the future our entire world as it is right now with all the bodies of the universe in exactly the same place could happen. However, so what? No one would know it. The only thing interesting about the idea that if the odds are complete random, than the chance is the same that it happens in the 4th series as it does in the quintillionth.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I don't really worry about what might or might not happen in a few trillion years from now.  I have a hard enough time worrying about where I left my lighter for my next smoke much less what might happen in the very very distant future.
OMG! OMG! OMG! Will my brand of cigarettes still be available 8 trillion years from now? 

[mauricio]

I'm curious, If one of two things is true, either the universe lasts forever and don't result in heat death (Which is unlikely), or if big bang and big bounce is true (The universe will collapse in on itself and another big bang will happen, and this will continue to happen forever), if either of these is true, wouldn't you eventually come back to life, even if it took quintillions of years, you would be bound to come back into existence at some point.

This is like the classic teleporter question. Will it be you after you are desintegrated and reassembled at a different location? I would lean towards nope it is just basically a copy that's convinced it succesfully teleported maintaining an illusion of conciousness continuinity, that's what my intuition tells me. Though there are interesting arguments about the nature of conciousness that would argue that this actually happens already during your live span various times and that teleportation would be no different. That idea freaks me out. You die everday you go to sleep...

[Baruch]

This is like the classic teleporter question. Will it be you after you are desintegrated and reassembled at a different location? I would lean towards nope it is just basically a copy that's convinced it succesfully teleported maintaining an illusion of conciousness continuinity, that's what my intuition tells me. Though there are interesting arguments about the nature of conciousness that would argue that this actually happens already during your live span various times and that teleportation would be no different. That idea freaks me out. You die everday you go to sleep...

A great comment!  According to Buddha, you are not only not the same person who wakes up each day after a death like deep sleep ... you aren't even the same person moment to moment.  Your persistent ego is an illusion, and a Buddhist would have no problem interpreting a transporter under normal or abnormal operation.  That doesn't mean that you don't exist, you simply don't exist in the way you naively think you do.  Buddhism isn't nihilism.  Birth and death, falling asleep and waking, living and dying ... are false dichotomies.

[Shiranu]

Though there are interesting arguments about the nature of conciousness that would argue that this actually happens already during your live span various times and that teleportation would be no different. That idea freaks me out. You die everday you go to sleep...

To me, this scares me simply in that the idea of reincarnation scares me and anything that makes it seem remotely plausible I do not like.

If karma was true, okay then reincarnation would be okay. But imagine you are reincarnated... if you are a human, the majority of human life sucks compared to mine. I do not want to come back as some starving kid in Africa or a sex slave or a sweat shop employee or in an abusive family. I don't want to be reborn in a country that stones homosexuals or lacks any type of schooling since you spend all day on the farm. And who says you will even be reincarnated as a human? Being an animal would suck even worse; imagine being born some of the creatures that have the spiders eat their way out of them, or a cow on a mass farm, or so on and so forth.

No, bar karma, fuck reincarnation. That shit is too scary.

[aitm]

No, bar karma, fuck reincarnation. That shit is too scary.

IT would only be "karma" if you were indeed aware of the entirety.