Buddhist here. The goal of Buddhism is to escape the cycle of rebirth. Monks and ascetics are generally trying to go out (to nibbana, “extinguishment”) rather than up (to rebirth in one of the heavenly realms), which tends to be a goal of laypeople. Though it depends to some extent on which branch of Buddhism. Even after reaching a heavenly realm and having a godlike existence, eventually (after a very long time) they will die and fall back into a lower realm with more suffering, which is why escaping the cycle is the ultimate goal.

In Buddhism we don’t consider humans a higher form of life than animals or those in the hell realm. All living beings are seen equally, as we all suffer and we all want to be free from suffering. Regarding E. coli, I think most Buddhists would say you can only be reborn into a body with a sufficient nervous system for the brain to support the mind processes required for experience, so bacteria are probably too simple.

But saying “you” are reborn isn’t quite right as there is no self which goes through this process, just the causal process itself links the past and present life.

Buddhist here. We have the teaching of “non-self”, that no self can be found anywhere in our experience. There is no “me” in the present moment, so there is no self whose continuity must be maintained. There are just the different elements of experience arising and falling away. There is just a causal connection between the past life and the present life, no enduring self dies or is born. Similar to the Ship of Theseus. This is the Buddhist understanding.

Hinduism and Jainism on the other hand assert that there is a self.

I know some Muslims claim the Qur’an gave scientific foreknowledge: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Qur’anic_scientific_foreknowledge

🤣

The Pet Shop Boys version is a remix of Bowie’s Hallo Spaceboy.