The titled claim sounds outlandish, but I hope to persuade you after I explain what I mean. We must begin this discussion by considering what it means to be a particular individual. The unique personality and collection of implicit and explicit memories define the individual mentally. We could also define the physical body of the person as part of their identity. However, neither of these traits are constant. Personality continues to change over the lifespan [1], new memories form and many old memories become increasingly inaccurate [2]. Furthermore, after a few decades most of the cells in our body are replaced by new ones and are made out of different atoms. In summary, the individual we are now will cease to exist. To clarify this point, suppose I made a mentally and physically identical copy of you. Next, I replace most of your copy's cells and atoms with new ones, change aspects of its personality, alter old memories, and add new ones. I conclude by killing the original version of you. Clearly you are no longer alive, though a new individual derived from you now exists. This, in principle, is the same as the gradual mental and physical changes that accumulate over time. The only difference is that the latter occurs in small unnoticeable increments, such that we are unaware of our dying. A human being does not live their life as a single individual, but rather as a continuous succession of new, related, individuals.
The notion that everyone is constantly changing is in no way surprising. However, the implications of this are often not considered. An interesting corollary of it is that legitimate immortality is not possible, even if humans could live forever. This would merely be an infinite series of births and deaths of different individuals. In light of this, fear of death seems foolish. We do not conventionally fear change in ourselves which, as I have described, results in death of the individual. The only way in which physical death is different is that it ends the succession of new related individuals. This is not something which should trouble your present self, as you would have died either way.
The notion that everyone is constantly changing is in no way surprising. However, the implications of this are often not considered. An interesting corollary of it is that legitimate immortality is not possible, even if humans could live forever. This would merely be an infinite series of births and deaths of different individuals. In light of this, fear of death seems foolish. We do not conventionally fear change in ourselves which, as I have described, results in death of the individual. The only way in which physical death is different is that it ends the succession of new related individuals. This is not something which should trouble your present self, as you would have died either way.
I will conclude this article by responding to two likely objections. When talking about what defines a distinct individual mentally, I did not address their consciousness. Perhaps conscious experience is what defines an individual. If it has continuity over the succession of new individuals then it could unify them such that no real death is occurring. I concede that conscious experience does appear to unify each instant of self over the succession. However, this unity is not in conflict with the notion that the individual is perpetually changing, and that we can view this as a kind of death. Conscious experience itself is a parameter in which an individual changes over time. It is inevitably influenced by personality and memories, so instances of self which differ in these respects must also differ in conscious experience.
A final item worth addressing is how the notion of the soul would affect what I have suggested. The soul could be suggested as a means by which the continuous death I describe could be averted. If the soul exists, is eternal, and unchanging then I must admit that death is an impossible concept if the soul is defined as the individual. However, the very idea of the soul is that it is the essence of a person. Surely then the soul relates to the personality, memories and/or the conscious experience of the individual (I argued above that conscious experience is itself affected by personality and memories). If the soul is constant then it must not be related to these qualities, because they are known to change. This sort of soul would therefore not represent the essence of the individual in any meaningful way. Hence, the soul must vary over time and thus is subject to the same continuous death as all other aspects of the individual.
References:
[1] Josefsson K, Jokela M, Cloninger CR, Hintsanen M, Salo J, Hintsa T, Pulkki-Raback L, Keltikangas-Jarvinen L. 2013. Maturity and change in personality: Developmental trends of temperament and character in adulthood. Dev Psychopathol. 25 (3): 713-27.
[2] Chua EF, Hannula DE, Ranganath C. 2012. Distinguishing highly confident accurate and inaccurate memory: Insights about relevant and irrelevant influences on memory confidence. Memory. 20 (1): 48-62.
A final item worth addressing is how the notion of the soul would affect what I have suggested. The soul could be suggested as a means by which the continuous death I describe could be averted. If the soul exists, is eternal, and unchanging then I must admit that death is an impossible concept if the soul is defined as the individual. However, the very idea of the soul is that it is the essence of a person. Surely then the soul relates to the personality, memories and/or the conscious experience of the individual (I argued above that conscious experience is itself affected by personality and memories). If the soul is constant then it must not be related to these qualities, because they are known to change. This sort of soul would therefore not represent the essence of the individual in any meaningful way. Hence, the soul must vary over time and thus is subject to the same continuous death as all other aspects of the individual.
References:
[1] Josefsson K, Jokela M, Cloninger CR, Hintsanen M, Salo J, Hintsa T, Pulkki-Raback L, Keltikangas-Jarvinen L. 2013. Maturity and change in personality: Developmental trends of temperament and character in adulthood. Dev Psychopathol. 25 (3): 713-27.
[2] Chua EF, Hannula DE, Ranganath C. 2012. Distinguishing highly confident accurate and inaccurate memory: Insights about relevant and irrelevant influences on memory confidence. Memory. 20 (1): 48-62.
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