# Reincarnation Superstition **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022 "2025-11-20T20:52:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/41 "2025-11-21T15:32:15Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Well, like any bureaucracy, if no candidate meets your criteria, you lower the criteria. We start getting second-rate Animal souls put in Human bodies, and everything gets worse. This raises a separate issue. Humans, of course, see the whole reincarnation system as being centered on humans. They feel that there’s a universal moral code out there and that “good” people get reincarnated as humans while “bad” people get demoted by being reincarnated as animals. But how does it work in the other direction? What determines which animals get reincarnated back up to humans? Are animal souls judged by the same moral code as human souls? Or is there a separate moral code for animals? Are all animals judged by the same moral code or are their different moral codes for different animals? Or is a human being reincarnated as an animal the equivalent of a “time out” and there’s no moral evaluation of lives spent as an animal? If so, what determines which animal souls get promoted up to the big leagues and have a life as a human? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/42 "2025-11-21T15:42:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But how does it work in the other direction? What determines which animals get reincarnated back up to humans? Are animal souls judged by the same moral code as human souls? Or is there a separate moral code for animals? Are all animals judged by the same moral code or are their different moral codes for different animals? I recall an an online story that postulated that it was essentially a divine scam, a test _meant_ to be failed because since creatures don’t retain their memories they can neither retain whatever “lesson” is supposedly taught by that life, nor have any idea of what they are “supposed” to do. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/43 "2025-11-21T17:25:48Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > It looks like you’re baby’s soul is being delivered by [So-ooooooul Train…!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB8PPhQglwo&list=RDNB8PPhQglwo&start_radio=1) Or [the Hoober-Bloob Highway](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF9786pC0V8)? ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/44 "2025-11-21T18:29:04Z")
The posts in this thread mix up rebirth and reincarnation, they are not the same thing. I don’t believe in either. A discussion mixing up two concepts doesn’t fight ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/45 "2025-11-21T20:44:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Humans, of course, see the whole reincarnation system as being centered on humans. They feel that there’s a universal moral code out there and that “good” people get reincarnated as humans while “bad” people get demoted by being reincarnated as animals. Really good people end the cycle by reaching a state of spiritual enlightenment and becoming one with the Universal soul. > [@LouMa](#): > > A discussion mixing up two concepts doesn’t fight ignorance. Calling a religious belief a ‘superstition” also doesnt fight ignorance, but good point. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/46 "2025-11-21T21:08:43Z")
> [@LouMa](#): > > The posts in this thread mix up rebirth and reincarnation, they are not the same thing. I don’t believe in either. A discussion mixing up two concepts doesn’t fight ignorance. You could join the fight against ignorance by explaining what the difference is between rebirth and reincarnation. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/47 "2025-11-21T22:07:01Z")
I was curious so I did a quick read and the ELI5 sounds like: - With reincarnation, the soul passes from one body to the next. This is primarily a Hindu concept. A metaphor is the body changing clothes. - With rebirth, the soul does not pass from one body to the next. Instead the karmic energy from the first influences the second. This is primarily a Buddhist concept. A metaphor is a flame passing from one candle to the next. Seems there is a lot more to it than the above. Anyone feel free to correct anything I got wrong. There were a lot of hits for this question. I used this one: > **[Rebirth vs. Reincarnation](https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/341/rebirth-vs-reincarnation)** > > Could someone please explain the difference between rebirth and reincarnation? I don't understand what the difference is. Thanks! Kim ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/48 "2025-11-21T22:38:58Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > But a soul is a separate thing that remains undiminished. > > I have the impression that you have never seen a terminally ill alzheimer patient: the “soul”, even assuming that such a thing exists, is extremely diminished. When I wrote that the words stupid and clever are meant as simplifications of a general idea I thought it was clear I was not talking about being smart, but I did not express myself as clearly as I thought, it seems. Terminal dementia takes away your humanity, soul, spirit, geist, call it what you will. Certainly, the brain is diminished. But if the soul (or “essence,” or “spirit,” or whatever you want to call it) is something distinct from the brain, how do you know whether the soul is itself also diminished or just unable to interface with the external world because the equipment it uses to do so is faulty? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/49 "2025-11-21T22:41:12Z")
The atheist answer of course is that there is no soul independent of the brain, and when the brain malfunctions or dies everything that makes us ourselves dies. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/50 "2025-11-21T23:21:55Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I have the impression that you have never seen a terminally ill alzheimer patient: the “soul”, even assuming that such a thing exists, is extremely diminished. You say that you’re not sure that a soul even exists. But you also say you can tell that a soul has diminished in size. If you have observed souls to the point where you can tell that they have changed in size, how can you be unsure that they exist? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/51 "2025-11-21T23:30:45Z")
None of us really know what a soul actually is, but it is a useful term for what’s missing when a person says about a loved one with Alzheimer’s that the person they knew no longer exists in that body. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/52 "2025-11-22T00:38:05Z")
I would call that a “personality”. Calling one’s personality a “soul” is just adding unnecessary supernatural baggage to the concept. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/53 "2025-11-22T00:52:42Z")
I agree. I don’t think anybody disputes that people have personalities. But personalities are tied to a person’s life; when they die the personality is gone. And as noted, a living person can lose their personality. A soul (which may or may not exist) is generally seen as having an existence that it independent of a person’s physical life. A soul is generally seen as something that can still exist after you die. It may go to another plane of existence or be moved into a new body (or be bartered away to an evil entity), depending on your beliefs, but souls are generally seen as more permanent than personalities. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/54 "2025-11-22T00:59:08Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > But if the soul (or “essence,” or “spirit,” or whatever you want to call it) is something distinct from the brain, how do you know whether the soul is itself also diminished or just unable to interface with the external world because the equipment it uses to do so is faulty? Because we know what bad communication _looks_ like, and that’s not it. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/55 "2025-11-22T18:55:57Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > The atheist answer of course is that there is no soul independent of the brain, and when the brain malfunctions or dies everything that makes us ourselves dies. Dammit, when are we going to be able to upload ourselves into a supercloud? Conceptually, it’s not that impossible. Replace one neuron in your brain with a nanocomputer which exactly replicates its function. I think it’s clear that you wouldn’t experience any difference. Now replace 1% of them… 5%… 50% etc. At what point does ‘your consciousness’ reside in your remaining biological brain cells versus the nanocomputers? We don’t know, of course. But the thought experiment is interesting and does not violate any known physics or mathematics, though of course it does require technology we don’t yet have. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/56 "2025-11-22T19:22:32Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > If reincarnation is a thing, and people come back as other people, why is the human population growing all the time? [![](https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/SheepReincarnation.jpg) ](https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/SheepReincarnation.jpg) From one of favorite cartoonists, Nina Paley. Shiva notices how many sheep, cows, etc are slaughtered every year, and how many humans are born, meaning that the number of human souls are not enough to meet demand, meaning that a lot of sheep are now reincarnated as humans, so we end up surrounded by many human “stupid sheep”. Nina: “That is the best argument for reincarnation I ever heard!” Shiva: “And people say religion is irrational!” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/57 "2025-11-22T19:29:23Z")
Except that there are probably more sheep and cows alive today than at any point in history. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/58 "2025-11-22T19:32:43Z")
Bolt guns not withstanding… ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/59 "2025-11-22T19:48:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Except that there are probably more sheep and cows alive today than at any point in history. All the billions of critters dying in the latest human caused extinction have to go somewhere… 😉 Still mostly joking. There are other reasons that cause me to not hold on to Reincarnation. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022/60 "2025-11-22T19:58:10Z")
Nice reinterpretation of Theseus’ ~~**[ship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus)**~~ cyborg brain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reincarnation-superstition/1025022.md?page=4)