Problem dealing with death as an atheist

[diffidus]

This argument can be ramped up even more. Lets take a strictly scientific view: All human beings are made from atoms and these atoms are rather commomplace. In otherwords, there are no special carbon atoms in your body. If they were all replaced with some other carbon atoms it would have no effect on either the functioning of your body or your personality.

Now assume the special computer copies your body atom for atom and reconstructs a truly atomic clone of your body. Since every atom is the same, then the brain of the clone would be identical to your brain with every memory and sensation intact. Scientifically speaking this must be the same person as the original. But since, scientifically speaking, one person cannot be in two bodies at the same time, we are at a point of contradiction. One obvious explanation is that there exists another substance which, unlike the commonplace atoms, such as carbon, is in fact unique and cannot be copied. This would resolve the contradiction. Is this the basis of the belief in a human soul?

I would say that right at the moment of waking up, they are the same person. Not in the sense that they are one thing, but they are exactly the same, yes. The moment they wake up and start processing things around them in just the slightest different way, they become different. However, the base is still the same.

And yes, I believe that if I were to be cloned in that way, the clone would be the same person as I would be. Only through continued living and amssing different experiences we'd grow apart and become different persons.
The point is that the question 'what makes me ME' is not a scientific one, really. It is more philosofical. And that means that you'll get as many answers as there are people.

Diffidus:

This is strange! Suppose the computer disassembled your body atom for atom and then re-assembled ten versions of you atom for atom using a different pile of commonplace atoms. Which one is the original you?

On your argument, you might suppose that for an instance you exist in a state of being all ten copies. But then in the next instance, you find yourself conscious in one of the ten clones. This means that the probability of the original 'you' being in a given clone at the end of the process is one in 10 i.e. 0.1.

Now suppose we continue this thought experiment from the start and clone 100 versions of you. Now, for an instant you exist in all 100 versions but, in the next instant, you find your original self in clone number 36. This is odd! The probability of being in a copy has reduced to 0.01. It seems the probability of you actually becoming conscious in a clone depends upon the number of clones???. Even worse, what is this 'original you' that is jumping into a given clone??

The concept of a human soul, as a unique substance, explains these difficulties. No copy of 'you' can be made without this extra addition. Is this not what it feels like to be alive, to experience this world as a truly unique and special subjective existence? Is this why consciousness evades any scientific explanation?

I do not believe science has any obvious answers to these issues. But, recent theories, such as String Theory, suggest time and space may consist of eleven dimensions. The usual four space time dimensions and a further seven dimensions that are completely invisible to measurement. Is it possible that the universe is composed, not just of commonplace atoms such as carbon, but of unique substances that reside in dimensions that are outside our radar?

I agree that these questions are perplexing but I am far from ruling out the possibility that the soul exists and that it may, in fact, be the best explanation.