This would only be the case if reincarnation is completely random, and it depends on what we consider an individual. You could arbitrarily define a human as just a cluster of cells, does that mean you could reincarnate as a single human cell?

[–] groet@feddit.de 21 points 4 months ago (4 children)

The cells of your body are part of you. They share the same DNA and descend from the same cell (the fertilized egg) and depend on each other to stay alive. However there are more gut bacteria inside of you than there are cells of yourself (they are a lot smaller than human cells). And they are not related to you. So you could reincarnate as a gut bacteria of somebody else

[–] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 31 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Me: Dies

Me: Wakes up as a bacterium that was just asexually produced inside my former life's corpse

[–] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

"I Isekai'd Into My Own Asshole And Now I Have To Eat Myself", now streaming on crunchyroll!

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

However there are more gut bacteria inside of you than there are cells of yourself

That's a debunked myth. The number of human cells and gut bacteria is about the same which is still astonishing. If you ask me to, I can look up the YouTube video I've learned it from

[–] Maeve@kbin.social 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yes, please, would you share that video? It sounds as fascinating as your reply is delightful!

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I'd glad I can help! It was too late yesterday for me to just look it up in case but now I see you are interested, here you are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jijuG9tyoR0

[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 2 points 4 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://www.piped.video/watch?v=jijuG9tyoR0

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

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[–] Maeve@kbin.social 1 points 4 months ago

That was interesting and fun, thanks. And also sad, it made me think of Aaron Schwartz. And sus, maybe because I'm too attracted to some common knowledge. ;-)

Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble.

[–] nodsocket@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

OK, but there are some organisms that can live either as single cells or in colonies, like algae. How do you categorize them? Plus there are some colonial animals like Portuguese man o war that are composed of hundreds of separate individuals connected to each other, or ant colonies which work as a collective superorganism. And even in humans there are some cells that do not stay attached, like sperm cells. Could you reincarnate as a sperm cell?

[–] Daxter101@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

By this logic (which I, as of now, ascribe to, entirely due to how cool it sounds), you would reincarnate as the entire ant colony. You would be the hive mind. Enjoy!

[–] lars@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 4 months ago

You’re already described in the third comment

[–] nodsocket@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Some could call human civilization a form of superorganism. So you could reincarnate as a city.

[–] angrystego@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

The fact that your cells share your DNA doesn't mean they can't have their own consiousness. They also don't all use the DNA the same way (that's why they differ). Some of your cells roam your body freely and even learn at "school" (certain leukocytes), and it's quite easy to imagine they have some kind of consiousness. Recomended watch: Il était une fois la vie.

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