I don't have to believe in magic or even in god to have my doubts. There is so much we still can't explain. Especially about the brain.
But let's suppose we are able to copy a human atom by atom. Even then a copy of me is not me. Maybe it is identical to me on a atomical level for a tiny fraction of time. But then it would be a different person with different impressions and different thoughts just because it looks in a different direction.
There is stuff that hasn't been explained, that doesn't mean you can therefore assume your hypothesis which is overly complicated, completely contradicts everything we know about physics, evolution, neuroscience, etc, has a non-negligible probability of being true.
By your logic, the person who will call themselves "you" two seconds from now isn't "you" either. I'd still rather die with a copy of me with 1 second worth of different experiences then no copies at all.
Which hypothesis do you mean? The existence of something like a soul? I don't have a hypothesis on that. I'm just not totally convinced that a concept like a soul does not exist on some meta-level.
Yes, I think you can say that the person I was yesterday is a different person than the one I am today or ten seconds ago.
I don't want to die but a copy of myself does not help I think. When my existence ends I don't experience the world anymore. It would be nice to know that someone very similar to me will be there but it does not really prevent me from dying. Transferring me to another (younger) body would be better. But what do we need to transfer and how?
I don't know what you mean by "soul" then, but I can confidently say that the brain is responsible for all human behavior.
If I instantly replaced all the atoms in your brain with different atoms, would you die? Would it still be you? Likewise if I made an exact copy of your brain.
But let's suppose we are able to copy a human atom by atom. Even then a copy of me is not me. Maybe it is identical to me on a atomical level for a tiny fraction of time. But then it would be a different person with different impressions and different thoughts just because it looks in a different direction.