Simplified theory of conciousness
Major-premise:
There is a 50% chance that your consciousness is immortal.
Minor-premise A:
There is a 50% chance that time is infinite.
There are two possibilities: that time ends or that it continues infinitely. If you accept that we cannot prove either and must therefore assign a 50% probability for each then you accept this premise.
Minor-premise B:
Your consciousness is substrate, space and time independent.
Sub-premise i:
Substrate independence.
If you accept that your consciousness can be copied onto a different substrate without losing integrity then you accept this premise.
Sub-premise ii:
Space independence.
If you accept that you are constantly moving through space without your consciousness losing integrity then you accept this premise.
Sub-premise iii:
Time independence.
Thought experiment: Imagine that your brain is frozen with every proton and electron held perfectly in place for a million years and then unfrozen again. You would resume thinking and not feel that any time had passed at all. If you accept that this consciousness would still be you then you accept this premise.
Thought experiment: Imagine that your brain is frozen and then all of the atoms are scattered to the corners of the galaxy before being brought back, arranged exactly as they were before and then unfrozen. You would resume thinking and not feel that any time had passed at all. If you accept that this consciousness would still be you then you accept minor-premise B.
If time is finite then our consciousness cannot be immortal.
If time is infinite then every possible combination of matter and energy would eventually occur and re-occur infinitely. Therefore, your consciousness would be recreated at some point in the future. If you accept the minor-premises then you accept that this recreation would be you and that the major premise is true: that there is a 50% chance that your consciousness is immortal.
There is a 50% chance that your consciousness is immortal.
Minor-premise A:
There is a 50% chance that time is infinite.
There are two possibilities: that time ends or that it continues infinitely. If you accept that we cannot prove either and must therefore assign a 50% probability for each then you accept this premise.
Minor-premise B:
Your consciousness is substrate, space and time independent.
Sub-premise i:
Substrate independence.
If you accept that your consciousness can be copied onto a different substrate without losing integrity then you accept this premise.
Sub-premise ii:
Space independence.
If you accept that you are constantly moving through space without your consciousness losing integrity then you accept this premise.
Sub-premise iii:
Time independence.
Thought experiment: Imagine that your brain is frozen with every proton and electron held perfectly in place for a million years and then unfrozen again. You would resume thinking and not feel that any time had passed at all. If you accept that this consciousness would still be you then you accept this premise.
Thought experiment: Imagine that your brain is frozen and then all of the atoms are scattered to the corners of the galaxy before being brought back, arranged exactly as they were before and then unfrozen. You would resume thinking and not feel that any time had passed at all. If you accept that this consciousness would still be you then you accept minor-premise B.
If time is finite then our consciousness cannot be immortal.
If time is infinite then every possible combination of matter and energy would eventually occur and re-occur infinitely. Therefore, your consciousness would be recreated at some point in the future. If you accept the minor-premises then you accept that this recreation would be you and that the major premise is true: that there is a 50% chance that your consciousness is immortal.
Comments
Regarding the defense of gapism, it's one thing to say a consciousness is nonexistent for a period of time and for it to be recreated at some point in the future. It is entirely different for a physical being constituting a consciousness to be frozen for a period of time. This is not gapism as the consciousness still exists, in one sense or another, over the period of time. This should disprove this specific support for the time-independence premise of your argument in that the consciousness still exists in time, it is just "frozen". Though not acting in a significant way on an individual or the physical world, it still persists.
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