Stardust and the Ship of Theseus: A Strange Truth of Our Existence
Sometimes, late at night when I look at the sky, a strange question arises about my own existence: who am I really? We think that this body made of flesh and blood is perhaps our constant identity. But physics and philosophy together present a truth before us that is quite startling.
Did you know that the you from last year and the you of today are not exactly the same person? Literally!
Are we dying constantly?
The atoms in our body are not something static. Research shows that within just two weeks, half of the phosphorus atoms in our brain are replaced. Within a year, about 98% of the atoms in our body are exchanged with the environment.
The new atoms coming from what we eat are replacing the old ones. So the atoms you used to think with last year might now be carbon dioxide in the air, mixed into someone else's breath, or taken up by the leaf of a tree. So, where are "you"?
Ship of Theseus: Am I the same person as before?
This is where the famous philosophical puzzle, the "Ship of Theseus," comes in.
Imagine there is an old wooden ship. Over time, one of its planks rots, and you replace it with a new one. In this way, eventually every single plank of the ship becomes new. Now the question is: is it still that same old ship? Or is it a completely new ship?
Our body is exactly like that. Every cell and every atom of ours is constantly changing. If all our "parts" are replaced, then where does our identity reside?
We are actually a "pattern" or a rhythm
To me, it seems that we are not a physical object or "stuff"; we are a pattern. Think of a wave in the ocean. When the wave moves toward the shore, the water inside it does not remain the same; new water takes the shape of the wave every moment. But that specific shape or pattern of the wave continues forward.
We are exactly like that. Atoms come into our body, become part of our existence for a while in a wonderful dance, and then depart. We are that continuously ongoing "conscious pattern."
Our birth from the remnants of stars
Physics says that the calcium in our bones or the iron in our blood was all created deep inside a massive star billions of years ago. When that star was destroyed in a supernova explosion, its ashes scattered into space. From those dust particles, today's Earth and we were born.
"We are all stardust. Through us, the universe is learning to experience itself."
Is death then the end?
In the eyes of physics, death is not destruction; rather, it is a restructuring. When this pattern or rhythm breaks, our atoms return to the Earth, perhaps to become part of some grass, a flower, or some other life in the future.
We are never lost. We simply change form as part of this universe's massive energy cycle.
A question to my readers: If every part of your body changes, why do you still consider yourself to be that same previous person? Does your existence lie in the atoms of your body, or in this continuous pattern of your memory?
Some references for you on this topic:
Law of Conservation of Mass & Energy: The indestructibility of energy which explains the permanence of our existence.
Stellar Nucleosynthesis: The evolution of stars and the scientific explanation of how the elements of our body were created.
The Ship of Theseus Paradox: Thomas Hobbes and John Locke discussed this puzzle in detail. It is the most powerful example for understanding personal identity.
Carl Sagan’s "Cosmos": There is no more beautiful explanation of the connection between the universe and human beings.
The Dynamic Nature of the Body: Biological studies on the human atomic turnover rate.
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