re: What Do You Think Happens After Death?

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we were 'dead' for billions of years

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How do you know this?

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but we time skipped all of it,

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And this.

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you're making my point though. we were 'dead' for billions of years, but we time skipped all of it, and from our own experience/perspective, instantly emerged into this life form. this, happening again and again is probably all there is to it.

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Now you're getting philosophical and we must define what "self" means. Who are you and how do you define being you? If I make a machine that can output perfect copies of an object and I make a perfect copy of you (down to every atom) is it still "you?" Scientists would probably say yes, but some philosophers might not.

What I am getting at is how do we know "you" are being reincarnated? Most certainly your atoms will not emerge again in their same exact state.

Or will they? This is a question Ludwig Boltzmann tackled back in the 1800's. He postulated something called "Boltzmann brains" which is a phenomenon that emerges out of the laws of thermodynamics. Basically he said that if you wait long enough, atoms will randomly come together and form a human brain. Who is that human brain? If the atoms in the brain are arranged identically to your brain, then it could be "you" emerging spontaneously. Kind of an unsettling concept.

Before you get your hopes up, the universe will not last long enough for this to happen. We only have about 5-10 billion years left before most stars burn out.