Hmmm Sir -
1. The universe is by definition everything that there is. And we earthlings are inhabitants of that same universe, we are ‘involutions’ into that same universe. That is a strange thought. We may pass away eventually, but since we are matter which is nothing else but an extension in space, or condensed energy if you will, that which constitutes us won’t ever disappear. That is another stange thought. I could calculate how much energy one human being represents, but that would lead to a frightening number of Joules. Mind-boggling, in fact.
Now: I pondered: what is consciousness? It is not possible to locate it in a single bodily spot. Descartes tried it but failed (he placed it in the pineal gland). Modern computer scientists, who call themselves eliminative materialists, will also fail, however pompous they behave themselves at the moment. Since we humans are not closed systems but open to the universe, we might say: the conciousness of each of us is equal to the universe itself. That is not ridiculous. Whenever I look up at the sky, I can look at stars that are millions of light years away. Yet their light catches my eyes, and thereby affects my perception, however tiny that effect may be. So my consciousness is like a net that can be thrown over everything that there is. A strange position to take, since I also conjecture that my consciousness has no extension in space and is thereby immaterial and without mass. Because had it an extension in space, I could by definition locate it.
1a. Do I pretend to be God by the answer above? Of course not. I cannot know Him by definition, nor do I have the powers ascribed to God, or the knowledge.
1b. I only know that I am a material involution into the universe as described above, an involution that at some time in the future can be said to change its form and lose what it takes to be its own consciousness.
1c. When event 1b. will have taken place, I can surmise two things: I will leave some sort of ‘footprint’ behind me, the form of which I cannot know (most likely a changed shape of the matter that constitutes me now, and a shape that will be without what we call consciousness).
The other assumption that is safe is that the consciousness of those that will survive me will be active and perceiving and shaping the world after I am gone.
I am afraid, Sir, that this is all I have to say on the matter for the moment.
Hehehe - the questions were actually tongue-in-cheek, however, you gave some interesting answers, particularly on the subject of consciousness. What would be your conjecture concerning what happens to an individual’s consciousness when it is separated from their material being?