Do we die each time we sleep?

It has been argued that death is any discontinuation of consciousness. It is funny to think that we might effectively die each time we sleep The person who awakes has all of our memories and knowledge. But like someone put through a Star Trek transporter, the consciousness that entered the sleeping state is gone. The awakening consciousness is new and distinct from the old one. What's more, with each new day, we are a slightly different person. The experiences of yesterday have changed us forever; even if ever so slightly. So in that sense we know it to be literally true - each day we awake as a new person.

So it brings into question the possibility that being "killed" by a Star Trek transporter is no different than sleeping. It raises the question, is there a distinction between self awareness or consciousness. and identity? If the discontinuation of consciousness is not effectively the death of that consciousness, then how is it preserved while in the sleeping state? Where does it go?

 

I'd extend the argument even further and say we are not the same person second to second, not exactly.
It's as if various parts on a ship are being continuously replaced.

Some have argued that consciousness is a function, not the physical parts facilitating that function.

 

You describe Life....not Death.

 

I don't agree with your definition in the first sentence (never heard that idea before, and it's silly). Hence, the rest of the post also doesn't make sense.

 

Only if you never wake up. It’s called a dirt nap.

 

Actually when you sleep the consciousness is still there.

It's your consciousness which allows you to create dreams. A person simply disconnects their brain from it for a short time.

It doesn't go anywhere so although we can change daily from our experiences you could argue that sleep doesn't change you at all since you are experiencing nothing.

You wake up an exact carbon copy of who you were when you fell asleep.

 

You don't understand the argument.

 

That isn't the conscious mind. That is the subconscious.

 

Some concepts are just too complicated I guess.

I heard this discussed by scientists who study consciousness,

 

Both are part of your consciousness.

When you go to sleep you don't lose it, your mind just shuts off controlling things for a few hours.

Nothing is lost or destroyed.

 

Perhaps...I was simply making a comment. To answer your question then:
"is there a distinction between self awareness or consciousness. and identity?"

Yes...the first is the ability of thought and the later is self perception.

 

Yes. We die each time we go to sleep. Bed Trolls come out and replace the dead body every morning.

 

Then reference them, not just blather on like it's established fact. I don't buy it at all. Not too complicated, too silly.

 

So what? Who are you? But if you wish to try, prove that the consciousness you have today is the same as yesterday. When you have a logical proof, let me know.

I don't remember exactly where I saw it but I remember quoting it in another thread. Since you wish to be antagonistic and obnoxious, I won't bother finding it.

 

How do you know? Your conscious stream of thought is lost and you are generally unaware of the passage of time.

So offer a logical proof. Descartes argued that he knows he exists because he is able to think for himself. [At least he thought so].

 

So in other words you can't back up your claims, and you don't have good enough arguments to back yourself up.

 

My consciousness as I type this is different than it was when I had breakfast half an hour ago....we call it experience and memory.

 

The prevailing thought now is that sleeping isn't a state of not being conscious.
https://www.sciencealert.com/your-c...h-off-during-a-dreamless-sleep-say-scientists

 

Didn't know that, I like to learn new stuff so thank you.

 

So we're going down a path of schizophrenic reasoning and thought. The idea that we die when we sleep is interesting to ponder. But what else do we die from? Do you think we could die by going through a doorway? Many people forget what they're doing when they go through a doorway. So what if they die? Well, for one thing, where are the bodies piling up? Can you die without leaving a body behind? What is the force that continues to bring a new consciousness to you each morning? Does it ever run out?

 

Do we die each time we sleep?

Of course not. The brain lives and operates through every sleeping minute.

 

During wakefulness, consciousness predominates as the logical stimulus-response cause-and-effect calculator. During sleep, sensible consciousness takes a back seat while the unconscious mind dances through the memory fields and juggles all sorts of emotional angles. That's why dreams have so much B.S. content.

 

Entire physical reality is disassembled and rebuilt from one microsecond to the next (a perception of Rudolph Steiner in the 1920s and is similarly described as virtual reality by Tom Campbell circa 2003). The individual within the physical body is thought to be part of an eternal source. If individual consciousness is more than just a collection of neurons, then minor physical adjustments probably have some effects that are minimal.

 

A complex system can have properties that emerge without manifestation of such properties by any of its components. That's why the significance of the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.