Since the atheistic view of death states that consciousness ends permanently at death, I've been pondering what one would experience post-death. I assumed it would be infinite blackness, but I have been told that I am wrong since there is no "you" to experience anything, therefore, there really isn't anything after death, not even nothingness.
However, after reading about the persistent vegetative state (apallic syndrome), I've noticed that the two have some distinct similarities. Though the unresponsive person is "awake", they don't experience anything and are completely unaware of their environment. Death is exactly the same, the only difference is that there is no state of being awake for the dead person as they are decomposing.
This, in a sense, adds weight to my idea about death being a permanent blackness. The reason for this is that since dead people and those in a vegetative state have no experiences due to lack of a functioning cerebrum, both states of consciousness are the exact same thing. The big difference, apart from the wake/sleep cycle for the unresponsive person, is that one still retains some involuntary movements, while the other has absolutely nothing, no breath, no movement, just a stiff corpse with no eyes, and they cannot see without eyes, so they will see nothing (a black wall, just like what we see when we close our eyes).
A good way to look at this: picture death, not as permanent cessation of consciousness, but as an alternative version of the apallic state. In this instance, the person in the vegetative state is locked in a pitch black room forever. Of course, they won't be afraid because the person isn't there, but the body is there, thus that's all there is, a permanent blackness.
What do you guys think of this idea? Is there something that I am missing?