Would you still be present if your Father died way before? - General

This question makes me think... If our father's died before they met our mother and had you, would YOU still be present on Earth? My opinion is: Probably, since atoms are recycled, but then I get stumped when I think..that we were a specific sperm, and if we weren't used, then we would not exist?

What? If my father and mom didn't meet, then I wouldn't be born.

If the Vietnam War didn't happen, my parents wouldn't have met. Thank you Vietnam War for happening.

No, we would not exist because to make that unique person that is you and only you, you need gametes from your specific father and mother. [editline]18th November 2011[/editline] If I want to build a gray house but I only got red bricks, I cannot make a gray house. [editline]18th November 2011[/editline] The thing about atoms being recycled is irrelevant because the carbon in your body could have been present in Tyrannosaurus shit millions of years ago, but it doesn't make you dino poop. Hell, the water we drink was at one point probably urine from billions of different animals through the history of earth.

No you obviously wouldn't exist, and it wouldn't even matter because no one would know you or appreciate or miss you, you would never have happened. I wish more people would just look at the world around them without all the mystical imaginary bullshit, also you have no soul and reincarnation is bullshit fyi ;)

If you believe in spirits or souls, I guess the answer could be yes, as it would be the case that the body you are born into is just a vessel. Otherwise, no.

[QUOTE=BlackCrow;33324833]This question makes me think... If our father's died before they met our mother and had you, would YOU still be present on Earth? My opinion is: Probably, since atoms are recycled, but then I get stumped when I think..that we were a specific sperm, and if we weren't used, then we would not exist?[/QUOTE] You need to define YOU. Do you mean a physically identical version of you popping up somewhere else? A soul oriented thing?

if things hadent gone the way they did, it would be too unpredictable to know what would've happened. but one thing is for sure, they wouldnt have gone the same.

No because of the science behind the egg and the sperm. If your mother gave birth to a child to another man, it would not be you.

[QUOTE=BlackCrow;33324833]This question makes me think... If our father's died before they met our mother and had you, would YOU still be present on Earth? My opinion is: Probably, since atoms are recycled, but then I get stumped when I think..that we were a specific sperm, and if we weren't used, then we would not exist?[/QUOTE] You have no idea what you're talking about. And no, if your mother never met your father, or vice versa, then obviously you wouldn't exist.

No, YOU, as the specific person you are, wouldn't be born. But perhaps you could have born as a different person or living creature? in another time or space?

Basically no. But there would theoretically be a very very very small chance that one day, two people with exactly the same genes as your "parents" met, and have a baby created with a sperm and an ovule which are exactly the same as the ones from which you are born.

No because you are a very specific combination of atoms. You have unique DNA. If you believe in the existence of a soul, you could ponder if souls exist before you do (remember: even if there is a soul, it may not have been made by a god, and it may only be created during pregnancy). If you believes souls are premade a distribute to bodies, then "you" would still exist, but as a completely different person. [editline]18th November 2011[/editline] This is a response to the OP, not to Kljunas.

Unique DNA, huh? I thought there is just one large gene-pool. Obviously large enough to have billions and billions of different people.

My mother met my father while smoking pot in the toilets at school when she was 16. I owe my existence to cannabis.

[QUOTE=OvB;33324941]If I want to build a gray house but I only got red bricks, I cannot make a gray house.[/QUOTE] We have this thing called paint.

Are you (however you define it) a clone if the clone is of you? This is a weird question, honestly.

I've always wondered if I had a different dad, would I still be me, just look and behave different?

If happenings didn't happen, nothing would happen.

I think what the OP is trying to get at, is a theory that comes up when time travel is discussed. You can change that means, but the end will always happen. As in, even if you went back in time and killed your father, somehow time would change itself and you would still exist, the end product, you, would be the same, but the build up is different. I believe this happened in Back To The future, or something similar, correct me if im wrong.

No, I'd probably be someone else :v:

I'd like to think I could have been someone else.

There's always the chance of a completely separate timeline coming into existence. If my parents never met, my Father might've joined the Navy or the Air Force and had a different family. My Mom would've been deported and would probably be dead had they not met.

Im honestly very lucky to be alive. Originally my dad was going to go to the navy, but he was in a bad motorcycle accident. His leg was completely crushed,it nearly killed him, but thats how he ended up not going and marrying my mom.

I'm going to throw a spanner into the works and suggest that the bundle of perceptions you were back when you were born, and the bundle of perceptions you are now, are not identical in any meaningful way whatsoever. But then again I believe personal identity is a redundant term, philosophically speaking.

it's not even useful to say DNA is criteria for personal identity because mutation occurs all throughout our lives.

"Suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler's grandmother. As a result, one of the traveler's parents (and by extension the traveler himself) would never have been conceived. This would imply that he could not have traveled back in time after all, which means the grandfather would still be alive, and the traveler would have been conceived allowing him to travel back in time and kill his grandfather. Thus each possibility seems to imply its own negation, a type of logical paradox." From [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_paradox[/url] Of course this is in context of time travel. If your dad did die before meeting your mother, maybe your mother marries someone else, and a different type of [I]you[/I] will be born with a different name, physical features and all that

I think what OP is trying to get at is would he still be conscious and if so what makes his consciousness different from the 7 billion people on the planet Earth. OP is ostensibly asking why he is conscious as THIS particular human being.

[QUOTE=Extroll;33360357]I think what OP is trying to get at is would he still be conscious and if so what makes his consciousness different from the 7 billion people on the planet Earth. OP is ostensibly asking why he is conscious as THIS particular human being.[/QUOTE] Kinda. What I am trying to get at is, If your father died before meeting your mother, Would you still be a living, breathing human being? It's a bit of a mindstump but.. -You are unconscious of what happened after-death and before-birth. -Your father dies before you are conceived. -Would you still be a child in this world? Although he is dead. Would you belong to a different set of parents, different personalty and all that? =Religiously, God would place you into another vessel. =Scientifically, It is unexplainable, [B]UNLESS[/B] It involves Time Travel, then it is merely a theory.

Depends on whether you believe in souls et cetera, but personally no. You exist because of the genetic code both your parents passed down to you. If your mother had a different husband a different person would be born, not you. This is why "you should be glad for being born in [insert 1st world nation here], imagine if you were born in sub-saharan africa!" is a terrible argument, because you wouldn't have existed altogether.