this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Which part would you like a citation for? I am happy to provide.

Understandable. But the universe is flat, and therefore infinite. Somewhere out there you specifically just put your hand through that wall ๐Ÿ˜Š. An infinitesimally small probability is still guaranteed to happen an infinite number of times in an infinite universe. Especially if you believe the Many-Worlds Interpretation, which I do. Again, your own consciousness is proof of this. At the moment of creation, the chances of you specifically forming were basically zero, and yet here you are. You know that it's possible for you to form because you already have. If you can do it once, why not twice? You literally have all of time.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/degrees-of-freedom/httpblogsscientificamericancomdegrees-of-freedom20110731what-do-you-mean-the-universe-is-flat-part-ii/

https://www.astronomy.com/science/is-the-universe-infinite-or-finite-or-is-it-so-close-to-infinite-that-for-all-practical-purposes-it-is/

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Which part would you like a citation for? I am happy to provide.

The part I quoted: that "the universe formed itself and all matter, presumably from a state of non-being." I take particular issue with 1) the "formed itself" language, because it sounds a bit like you're referring to the universe as an entity that can act of its own accord, which I don't believe is correct, and 2) "presumably from a state of non-being," because it sounds like you believe science has actually established that there was likely a "state of non-being," when I don't know that a "state of non-being" is even something that makes any sense to discuss in a scientific manner. So if you had citations to corroborate the entire statement, that would be ideal.

Edit: and your second paragraph strays pretty far from the original topic of reincarnation. Yes, in a many-worlds interpretation of the cosmos, there are infinitely many copies of me, and an infinite number of them have put their hands through walls as if by magic. But this is pretty different from the commonly-accepted concept of reincarnation, in that you aren't saying that we are reborn again only when we die, but rather that we exist in infinitely many universes simultaneously.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sure, I can see how that could be confusing. I've updated my wording in that paragraph. Like I said, the specific mechanisms are not actually important in the reincarnation process. This is more of an appeal to the rational mind than an argument in favor of reincarnation. "You" exist right now. You didn't in the past. If you can come into being once (through any means) why can't it happen twice? I only mentioned the MWI and the flat universe because you brought up how unlikely it was for your specific atoms to reform yourself. Well, it's just as unlikely to happen again as it was for it to happen in the first place. The MWI guarantees that it will happen again, even if the universe isn't infinte.

My argument for reincarnation is:

Collective Unconsciousness + Hero's Journey + Ian Stevenson/Jim Tucker

All I'm saying is it happens. I don't know anything else.