I'm very sorry if I'm starting to seem arrogant here, it's definitely not my intention and I recognize that it's easy to interpret the following text the wrong way.

Quote Originally Posted by drache View Post
the fact is that even reduced to absolute scientific fact, we do not completely die, or we die all the time, whichever way you look at it
Death is the permanent cessation of all vital functions. It affects the organism as a whole, not specific parts of it.

and when we die, that entity we were known as, ceases to exist, but according to the laws of physics, nothing gets lost
Close to what the laws of physics say, but not quite; Energy (in the scientific sense) cannot be destroyed.

who knows?
perhaps traces of consciousness are embedded in the very molecules we consist of
Well, no. Molecules are atoms that are held together through chemical bonds and those bonds break eventually. The microbes that break down our body once we have died, do it in the process and if you're a fan of cremation, it basically recombines the atoms to form molecules of, among other things, CO2 and H2O.

but even if they're not, undoubtedly we're meant to be recycled and live on in other organisms that are nourished by our deaths
I doubt that there is any kind of meaning involved in the process.

on an ego level we die, but in reality we just become something else
We are quite thoroughly destroyed, we don't really become anything else on a concrete level.