Topics Philosophers

Question I'm under the assumption that given enough time anything that can happen will happen, because the universe is always changing. If the universe begins from a singularity and then a big bang, if this is allowed to occur over and over forever, eventually the same exact events will occur. The events that have taken place since the big bang have allowed My Consciousness to exist, once I die, given enough time it would exist again, also I could have existed before. I don't know if any of this is true, or even makes sense, it's just something I've been thinking about and haven't been able to talk about with anyone, nobody knows what the hell I mean to say. If this is right, in the personal experience, as soon as one dies they are alive again, forever. Is this wrong? I've got a feeling it is but I've never heard or read this being discussed before.

Accepted:
June 10, 2010

Comments

Interesting! Philosophers have long wrestled with the concept of infinity, and some in the ancient world and today find the concept of infinity problematic. They allow it to have a well defined role in mathematics (e.g. there is no greatest possible number, an infinite set is equal in numbers to its sub-set, viz. there are no more whole numbers than there are prime numbers), but when it comes to reality itself (the universe) some follow Aristotle in thinking that you can have a potential infinite, but not an actual infinite. In the former, we can think of something coming into being and then never ceasing to be. But in its ongoing life (a trillion years to the trillionth power) it would never complete an infinite series. No matter how long it lasts, it could last longer. So, back to your specific point, if the cosmos began 14 billion years ago and never ends, some philosophers think it would never last an infinite period. Hence a principle like 'given infinite time, every logically possible state of affairs would occur" seems problematic as there is reason to think one could never have infinite time.

But setting that aside, and assuming there can be a cosmos without a beginning, would it follow that every logical possibility would occur? This is indeed a mind-bending question for it appears that there is no upper limit on what is logically possible, e.g. it is possible that Napoleon ate a poached egg at the start of the Battle of Waterloo, it is also logically possible he had scrabled eggs, and it is possible....I do not know any proof or compelling argument that everything possible would occur, given infinite time, but some philosophers seem to come close to this. Although he does not explicitly endorse this, Daniel Dennett says things to the effect that, given infinite time, a cosmos such as ours is (virtually) inevitable. This seems implausable, but let's grant it anyway. Given that, what if the cosmos did (at some future or past point) contain a planet that was (virtually) a twin earth and included someone who resembles you now with the same memories, desires, expectations, and so on. Would that person be you? I believe most philosophers would see that person as your replica but not someone who is you.