Reddit, What scares you?

The idea of consciousness.

Pretty much every other thing in world you can think about using normal rational discourse, even if we don't currently have an answer.

Where did life come from? Egh, turns out if you put some common molecules near each other, add an energy gradient (maybe like heat and electricity), wait a while, you get self replicating molecules. From there it seams that life is feasible.

Is there other life in the universe? Undoubtedly. Heck, the Sombrero Galaxy, one tiny smudge in the sky amongst billions and billions of others, is host to something like 800 billion stars. In that one little gleem of light alone, thats 800 billion chances for life and evolution to have happened.

But consciousness? Identity? I got nothing. Why am I in this body? Why are you in that body? What cosmic coincidence lead to me being born here, instead of billions of light years away in some other planet? Why wasn't I born a bird or a slug or a bacteria?

If you were to teleport me by disassembling and reassembling me, would I still exist? Would this version of me still be experiencing life, or would some... one else be, like some sort of perfect imposter? If you replace me ship of theseus style, one atom at a time, will I still wake up as me?

Death I can handle. Consciousness... gives me the willies.

/r/AskReddit Thread