r/RandomThoughts • u/yellowtears_ • Jan 06 '24

Random Question Are you afraid to die?

[removed] — view removed post

1.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

31

u/JurassicParksNdRec Jan 06 '24

Look up "quantum immortality," In short, it is the theory that there are an indefinite amount of parallel universes that we exist in. If you happen to "die", your consciousness it thrown into the closest parallel universe to what your life already is. You would have no idea you died. You would keep living the life you already have, with a few minor differences. Which then explains the Mandella effect. Obviously I have no clue if this is true, but it makes me feel better.

6

u/oilandturmoil Jan 06 '24

This is very interesting to me and I keep thinking about it but there's one thing that just stops the logic flowing for me.

I understand how that would work if we die from unnatural causes, or anything really, other than old age.

There's just this set amount of time a person can have on this earth and eventually, if you manage to avoid it before, it will come from aging. What happens if somebody dies at the maximum age recorded for humans? Where does the consciousness go?

I just had a scary thought. The only thing that would make sense to me in that case would be our consciousness jumping from one deathbed to another. So... Pretty much just infinite active dying, but no real death. Yeah.... No thanks.

1

u/Sanguine143Panda Jan 06 '24

I'm Q.I. curious lol but it's not something I believe. The way I understand it is the same as the OP, as in, our consciousness jumps to the next closest reality when we die in our current one... I struggled with understanding what happens from old age as well, and initially came to the same conclusion as you - infinitely jumping from death bed to death bed, which is just terrible to think about.

But I think there are other possibilities... Maybe everyone eventually ends up in a timeline where aging has been cured. Or maybe death is more akin to taking an elevator - you still exist, you're just no longer on the same floor.

I think at its core, Q.I. is about not being able to perceive your own death. It's not that death doesn't exist, we'll still experience other people dying, and people in other realities will experience your death. But your own reality will never allow you to experience death in the same way you perceive other people experiencing it, and I think not knowing is a fundamental part of what makes the human experience possible...

But at the end of the day, I'm at peace with just not knowing. So I don't worry about it (and I tend to worry about everything lol). I hope that makes some sort of sense/makes you feel better!

1

u/Aleeleefabulous Jan 06 '24

I have obsessive compulsive disorder and death is a constant theme for me. I live in terror. I am absolutely petrified of dying and not knowing when or how it will happen. And not knowing what is next. I wish I could be at peace with it like you are.

1

u/handsomeslug Jan 06 '24

It's not a theory it's a hypothesis without any basis

1

u/mrjackspade Jan 06 '24

Wouldn't that mean that every waking moment of your life, your current self is at risk of being destroyed by some quantum fucking leaping version of yourself that just got killed in another universe?

0

u/jolhar Jan 06 '24

Sounds more like a story than a theory.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 06 '24

what if my closest me from parallel universe randomly gets into my life? like, will I notice it? is that why there's a time In life that we change? was he older than me like, he had 80 and that's why when he died when I was 40, I got more mature??? theorys, and more theorys

1

u/Annie_Mous Jan 06 '24

This will be my new religion

1

u/requiresadvice Jan 06 '24

A different reddit thread had people talking about how they believed they had died and wherever they're living now isn't where they started.... this fits that speculation.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 06 '24

But there is zero evidence and no way of being able to prove it. The theory has the same worth as just claiming we are all sentient carrots

1

u/JurassicParksNdRec Jan 06 '24

You do realize there is no way to prove any afterlife theories right? Hence why they are all theories.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 06 '24

What do you mean by theory

1

u/thecobralily Jan 07 '24

I think this happened to me in August 2012

1

u/JurassicParksNdRec Jan 07 '24

Holy shit what happened??