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Randall, your points are well taken. But I fail to see how we can rule continuation of consciousness and sense of self either in or out. I would say, as much for the sake of argument as anything, that the wildcard in our speculations is the seemingly infinite nature of time and the fate of information in the universe itself. Nor do we have a good operational definition of personal identity. Except to say it seems defined by our memories internally, and by our history in interaction with the world outside of our biological selves, externally.

A stab at a scientific definition of conscious identity is that we are composed of memories evolving over time which coalesce in a poorly understood set of neurological moments we perceive as "now". This seems to imply sense of self not as a fixed quantity, so much as an ongoing process of information processing possessed of a meta-processing capability that is emergent consciousness. I am not the same person I was twenty, or even one year ago. But by virtue of an ongoing consolidation of memories and external actions, a certain continuity is preserved.

Memories are a type of information. We can then (maybe ?) logically ask a question quantified in physics as to whether information is always in some form conserved. Of course, infinite conservation of information in the universe does not necessarily equate to infinite conservation of consciousness. But I think the question of where information comprising the essential "I", or even a collective "we" might go after physical death is a legitimate one.

<blockquote data-quote="boomerang" data-source="post: 240514" data-attributes="member: 3872">Randall,&nbsp; your points are well taken.&nbsp; But I fail to see how we can&nbsp; rule continuation of consciousness and sense of self either in or out.&nbsp; I would say, as much for the sake of argument as anything,&nbsp; that the wildcard in our speculations is the seemingly infinite nature of time and the fate of information in the universe itself.&nbsp; Nor do we have a good&nbsp; operational definition of personal identity.&nbsp; Except to say it seems defined by our memories internally, and by our history in interaction with the&nbsp; world outside of our biological selves,&nbsp; externally. A stab at a scientific definition of conscious identity is that we are composed of&nbsp; memories evolving over time which coalesce in a poorly understood set of neurological moments we perceive as &quot;now&quot;.&nbsp; This seems to imply sense of self&nbsp; not as a fixed quantity, so much as an ongoing process of information processing possessed of a meta-processing capability that is emergent consciousness. I am not the same person I was twenty, or even one year ago.&nbsp; But by virtue of an ongoing consolidation of&nbsp; memories and external actions, a certain continuity is preserved.Memories are a type of information. We can then (maybe ?) logically ask a question quantified&nbsp; in physics as to whether information is always in some form conserved. Of course, infinite conservation of information in the universe does not necessarily equate to infinite conservation of consciousness.&nbsp; But I think the question of where information comprising the essential &quot;I&quot;, or even a collective&nbsp; &quot;we&quot; might go after physical death is a legitimate one.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="boomerang, post: 240514, member: 3872"] Randall, your points are well taken. But I fail to see how we can rule continuation of consciousness and sense of self either in or out. I would say, as much for the sake of argument as anything, that the wildcard in our speculations is the seemingly infinite nature of time and the fate of information in the universe itself. Nor do we have a good operational definition of personal identity. Except to say it seems defined by our memories internally, and by our history in interaction with the world outside of our biological selves, externally. A stab at a scientific definition of conscious identity is that we are composed of memories evolving over time which coalesce in a poorly understood set of neurological moments we perceive as "now". This seems to imply sense of self not as a fixed quantity, so much as an ongoing process of information processing possessed of a meta-processing capability that is emergent consciousness. I am not the same person I was twenty, or even one year ago. But by virtue of an ongoing consolidation of memories and external actions, a certain continuity is preserved. Memories are a type of information. We can then (maybe ?) logically ask a question quantified in physics as to whether information is always in some form conserved. Of course, infinite conservation of information in the universe does not necessarily equate to infinite conservation of consciousness. But I think the question of where information comprising the essential "I", or even a collective "we" might go after physical death is a legitimate one. [/QUOTE]

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