We only ever hear about the afterlife

[Freelancer]

7. Why the off switch? -- an argument for continuation of awareness

Every time we make a stride in understanding life, we look back and see how it makes sense. Claws make sense. Scales make sense. A whole organism dying suddenly, at once, when only a portion of it is damaged doesn't make complete sense. Why would nature create an "off switch" for awareness? Ever notice how animals that are preyed upon, like mice or rabbits, die so easily once their situation is sealed by a predator? It's as though an ejector seat under their awareness is triggered, and out they go. Pure natural selection can't account for this. Neither animals with the "off switch" trait, nor those without it, would live to pass their trait along to offspring. Why then is the "off switch" so completely pervasive? It makes sense if the preservation of the cohesion of the animal's awareness were an evolutionary priority. If evolution went out of its way to see that a rabbit's awareness didn't just end haphazardly, but could remove itself at once in some form, then the same is true for your dog and for you.