November 24th, 2018

It is possible that sometime in the future uploading of a person’s total brain contents in a computer will be accomplished. Since one’s awareness of one’s “self” is dependent upon one’s memory, if the copy of your brain content is perfect, the awareness would be exactly the same as yours and thus the “copy” would be absolutely convinced it is you, but then you look at the machine and you know it is not you, but a copy. After you die, the copy lives on and thinks it is you, but you are gone because you as a person can rely only on your living material brain, as is observed by the deterioration of awareness in Alzheimer’s patients. This, and other neuroscience research on brain injuries, and surgeries, is an undeniable fact.
 
To have full awareness in a supposed afterlife would require a copy in a medium other than that of a material brain. If one inherited an exact copy of the brain upon death, some people would be demented in the afterlife or would perhaps be a baby forever. A restoration of a brain that suffered from disease or brain injury, a mental disorder, mental deficiencies and immature brains, such as those found in babies, must be accomplished. If we assume that such restorations are possible, we will still end up with a copy and not be our “self.”


What conclusion can we draw considering the factual observations of what happens to awareness after the material brain dies and is destroyed?
 

1. Afterlife exists, and our awareness is copied into another non-material medium, exactly as it was at the time of death
2. Afterlife exists, and our awareness is restored to some uniform level so we can enjoy it as a healthy adult
3. Whether afterlife exists is a moot point, because a copy is not you anyway even if the copy is convinced it is you.
4. Other? Please explain.

 
Using Occam’s razor, what do you conclude?