Modern Buddhists use the "preservation of type" argument to maintain their belief in literal reincarnation. The argument says that consciousness cannot die at death, for just as nothing can be created, nor can it be destroyed: all must be preserved.
But I tell you consciousness is material and therefore dies with the body . . . inasmuch as a body can die. Why is consciousness material? Because if it were non-material it would not be able to know about the material. Consciousness must either be separate from the material, and necessarily isolated, or the same as material, and sharing its properties. There is no alternative.
If the preservation of type argument were strictly true, then it would not be possible to make milk into butter, as milk is of a different type to butter. Similarly, it would be impossible for a child to grow into an adult, they being different types.