What if it includes the entire universe and the chances of being a human, on Earth, are just super incredibly slim?
this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2025
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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.
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Well these days, I’d rather be ice around Saturn. The view must be amazing
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 × 10^15^ and estimate the number of all ants on Earth to be almost 20 × 10^15^ 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
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.
He was a good christian plancton.
Then wouldn’t he have gone to plankton heaven?
I remember though. A big whale ate me.
Speedrunning death again? So, how was it? Did you get to top 500?
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 ~~Donner~~ dinner 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.
No, this is Patrick.
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.
I feel like there'd be a lot of ants and insects in there too.
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.
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
In the traditional sense yeah but it could also be linked to the idea of the multiverse or quantum immortality. Or maybe our physical brain only acts as some kind of a receiver that tunes onto some greater consciousness.
I would call all of those "something like a soul"; an embodiment of your essence external to your physical body.
If it's not an embodiment of your essence external to your physical body, then it's difficult to really call it reincarnation, since it's not you
I see it simply as a continuation of experience after this current biological vehicle dies. I think that the idea of a “soul” - in the sense of there being a center to consciousness where “you” are located - is an illusion anyway, so the notion of that moving into another body isn’t something I’m concerned about.
Of course, it’s an abstract term, and people use it to mean different things, so in that sense, I suppose the transfer of your “soul” is necessary too. I just don’t agree with what most people mean by that term. Even now, the people who do believe in reincarnation assume they’ve already had past lives they can’t remember. So if “you” aren’t your physical body or your memories, then what actually remains? I’d say it’s the bare fact of experience - consciousness itself. The feeling of being.
That's the whole point of this post.
What if you do retain your memories, but your past lives were creatures that didn't have the ability to form memories?
Yes, but the point of my response is that I disagree with the premise. It's a serious answer to unserious question. I’m willing to entertain the idea of something like reincarnation, but I’m not making the same assumptions about what that would actually mean.
Without a soul, the concept of reincarnation doesn't exist. Else we are just talking about energy transfer, which absolutely happens after cellular death. Your physical matter is absorbed and becomes part of other organisms.
If you’re a really well-behaved plankton you could have become the bodhisatva. But you were very poorly behaved, and became Human.
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.
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.
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.
All life is born of Gaia and each life has a spirit... When the physical body dies, the mature spirit, enriched by its life on Earth, returns to Gaia, bringing with it the experiences, enabling Gaia to live and grow
Guess I was a bad plankton :(
That assumes that people reincarnate as non humans and that they reincarnate into the same world.
Nah I get flashbacks of the old west and colonial New York. They mean literally less than nothing but I get glimpse of a past and it feels like déjà vu. Maybe I just have an over active imagination and read too many books
I've been reincarnated from the future and get flashes of what's to come.
gotta say, it's not great.
Lol I walked around this winter in the snow and thought, "this won't be here in 13 years". Very specific but feels probably true
The... Snow... Won't be here?
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?
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