Even if you were a human your memories would still be in your previous brain. I see no reason to assume you’d remember anything from your previous life unless you believe there’s a “soul” that carries your memories rather than your brain.
I assume that belief in reincarnation requires belief in something like a soul to be reincarnated
I remember though. A big whale ate me.
Speedrunning death again? So, how was it? Did you get to top 500?
What if it includes the entire universe and the chances of being a human, on Earth, are just super incredibly slim?
All these memes about wanting to die: You could have been a chunk of ice orbiting Saturn, but you lucked into the single greatest thing the universe has to offer, sentient life.
How do we know sentience is the greatest? It could be peaceful just orbiting.
You wouldn’t know you’re alive though or even exist. You would just be.
Sounds like heaven to me, most of my troubles come from knowing what my situation is and how powerless I am.
Well now hold on…sometimes NOT knowing how bad you’re fucked is even worse!
For example…
tackles Squigglez to the ground, handcuffs them to the wall, and puts a hood over their face
See? Now you’re fucked, but the hood over your face makes it so you can’t see what I’m preparing, or how fucked you are!
Maybe I’m about to give you a ham dinner, or mabe I’m going to steal your kidneys. Who’s to say?
chainsaw revving
Now hold still…this is only going to hurt a lot.
Death is the option here. 🤷🏻♂️
Even if it’s just Earth, if we assume there is a degree of randomness in species assignment then you’ve got decent odds of reincarnating as an ant:
We conservatively estimate total abundance of ground-dwelling ants at over 3 × 1015 and estimate the number of all ants on Earth to be almost 20 × 1015 individuals. 1
And of course, massively high odds of being a bacteria. There are probably ~40 trillion bacteria living just in your body right now:
They estimate that the range of bacterial cells goes from about 30 to 50 trillion in each individual. 2
Now add the ocean. Yeah, we all spend billions of years coming back as bacteria
I mean that can explain a lot. I’ve always been a creature of great inertia, more like a tectonic plate than a human being
I always admire your name
And the same to you, good sir!
You could take refuge in the fact that you must have been a very good plankton to make it all the way to human in a single cycle.
But human existence is suffering. Buddhism teaches that if you do incredibly well, you’ll be reborn as a being with a worry-free life. Being a plankton sounds exactly like that.
IMO human existence, with all its benefits, is waaaaay below plankton.
Interesting thought, but I’ll take thought over what’s basically water-grass.
I’ve tried thought. I’d like to go with plankton for a while now, thanks.
Thoughts and prayers. I hope you get your wish.
I wanna be a lobster
Homie led the plankton revolt of 1831479QT, and ushered in a golden age of cooperation and peace between the sea Lords and planktonions, so that only the old, sick, and recently deceased plankton would fuel the hunger of the overlords, and doesn’t even remember
Damn, I didn’t realize plankton had it so hard. Makes sense that it would be krill or be krilled.
He was a good christian plancton.
Then wouldn’t he have gone to plankton heaven?
I lean in favor of open individualism these days, so yes, I was, am, and will continue to be plankton for as long as plankton continues to exist. And to be extra cliche, I am also you, and you, and you, and you, and I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together.
Sounds like thr Advaita Vedanta concept of Brahman which is described in Dharmic religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
Always fascinating to see Eastern spirituality’s influence on philosophy.
Let’s assume that reincarnation is real for all living things, and that you get reincarnated the moment you die. And you get to do it a lot.
Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mosquito. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Amoeba. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mouse. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. HUMAN!!! Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mosquito. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria.
Wait a minute, I fucked up, viruses aren’t technically alive. Too bad, your soul is in it until it gets destroyed cause I’m not changing my original comment. You’ll just have to wait it out, then you can go back to being probably-but-not-always bacteria.
These odds aren’t promising either.
No, they aren’t. With the number of bacteria that have lived over the course of life on Earth, compared to the number of non-bacterial life forms over that time, I would guess that the vast majority of organisms alive now have never been anything other than a bacteria.
I guess it would explain why everyone can fucking eat me.
Pretty sure that’s because humans are simply at the top of the food chain and can eat pretty much any other animal, including other humans.
In unrelated news: Would you like to come to my
Donnerdinner party?I use the name Donner to make restaurant reservations just to hear them say, “Donner, Party of four”
The ghost of Jeffery Dahmer has entered the chat.
Technically it’s true. There’s a high chance bits and pieces of you have been used in other life several times, though you were more likely parts of plants than other creatures.
And when you die, you’ll be reused again. Nature has always been like that.
not just “alive” things but “dead” things too. the “dead” multivitamin i took this morning is absorbed into my “living” cells now. the air we breath has been inhaled and exhaled countless times for eons. loose hair and dead skin cells become dust and soil again.
the universe is an ocean, and we are a wave. we’re made of stardust and dinosaur farts.
Nothing goes to waste, but god-botherers and smelly hippies want to make something stupid out of it
Thats an interesting take. Figure between sapient lifetimes there would likely be many on sentient lives and your last sentient life would just be a garble by the time you got a new one. Makes me wonder taking the idea that universe is just sorta sentience rearranged and you could then be rocks or beaches or such to. Its like life is a grade school play.
That’s part of the whole mythology
You have no idea about your previous incarnation, it’s a way to try to manipulate people into being good which (as with all religions) relies on choosing stupid leaps of faith
No mythology, contrivances, or manipulation are necessary. Even from a completely secular perspective, some form of rebirth is arguably more likely than simply non-existence after death. Things like karma are unnecessary. If rebirth is real, even one driven entirely by naturalistic processes, then the state of the world is enough to make us ask what kind of world we want to be born into next. The more suffering there is in the world, the more likely it is you will be reborn as something that will suffer.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Rebirth more likely…?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Why would non-existence be more likely?
You’re the one making the claim
A stupid one at that
The burden of proof lies with you.
It’s not just about manipulating people into being good. It also gives great comfort to everyone who believes because if anything bad happens to someone, it’s because they deserved it.
Oh yeah, it (again, with all religions) gives people licence to be cunts
So I deserved my back injury and subsequent 7-stitch wound upon returning to work? Perhaps I’m just a bad construction worker in this life.
It’s like a trope that people coming off of long medical leave in the construction field will injure themselves in the first week. I’m a meme.
If you believe in karma/reincarnation then it’s your fault!
woah
Guess I was a bad plankton :(
Does my previous life have any effect on my current life? If no, then if I don’t even remember, the fuck do I care?
