How do you know that you exist? Are you real or are you just a brain in a vat connected to a super computer?
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I think it’s far more likely that no part of me physically exists at all.
Explanation time!
For the universe to exist, it takes energy. A lot of energy. Infinite energy, in fact.
However, for a computer simulation of a mind to exist, it only takes finite energy.
It would seem to me that the chances of finite energy being used to run a simulation of a mind are far more likely than infinite energy being used for the universe to exist.
This, of course, would bring in the big old “what’s outside of that?” issue. I’m a big fan of that one. And while the likelihood of actually being in the real universe is small, I’m probably at the top level.
How do you go day to day thinking like that? (No offence) I’ve considered this option before as well but every time I do I get scared and lose ambition in everything.
Even if I were a brain in a vat, all my sensory information tells me that I’m a person. You can only live according to what you know, so I just live under the assumption that I’m a person. If I woke up one day and realized that I was a brain in a vat, then I’d start worrying about being a brain.
@Miles. But whats to say that you know that you are not a brain in a vat? If someone is controling your every move or thought then how do you know for sure that you are in control of your body and mind?
@Miles – I live under the same ideology. I go with what my surroundings tell me.
@LeopardGecko Quite easily, actually. I figure it’s completely out of my control, whether I physically exist or not. I’d still experience my entire life in the exact same way as I would otherwise. So I don’t really see any difference between the non-physical existence and the physical existence. Hence, I act no differently either way.
Sorry to hear this causes you loss in ambition. I’d say it’s best for you to assume you do exist.
It makes more sense that we exist and interact with others. Its the simplest explanation, and science always goes with the simplest.
@puckbunny What I was trying to say is that I don’t know I’m not a brain or that I’m in control of my own thoughts and actions. But since I have no awareness of the vat and the guy in control of me, I might as well not worry about it.
@Miles I agree with you there.
@jackm Uh, not quite. Occam’s Razor always goes with the simplest. Science just uses Occam’s Razor sometimes.
@daemonelson – Yes, medicine quite typically leans towards Occam’s Razor. Science explores all boundaries whether complex or simple.
I just try not to think about it.
Mostly because such an idea DOES NOT COMPUTE.
I know that I exist.
You need to prove to me that you do.
If I did not exist, I would not have hit that car. The scratch proves my existence.
I am a brain in a vat. However, I’m not connected to a super computer.
@daemonelson
In science we apply Occam’s Razor to help us choose between examples that both provide explanations. Thats all I was doing.
I think, therefore I am?
Rather shallow perhaps and indeed, but even if I don’t exist and am actually just some kinda super computer vat, I, somehow, still exist. I may not exist as how I believe myself to exist, but even if everything is an illusion, including myself, my thoughts, and the rest of yall, an illusion is still something, and so I exist as such.
@Symbeline You got it…. I think therefore I am is the only real way on knowing that I myself exist.
@Blondesjon Um, well, lets see. Do I really need to prove to you that I exist if I believe that I exist and know that I exist because I think. Could I not think that you do not exist therefore I do not need to prove to you my existence?
“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?”
Merchant of Venice: Act III, scene 1.
Looks to left and right.. behind and in front..
I don’t see a vat. I guess I’ll just have to live based on that for now.
I don’t actually exist; I’m just faking existence so I can post on Fluther.
I don’t care… chocolate still tastes good and foot rubs are excellent. Computer vat or no computer vat, I am happily ignorant. :)
I suppose I don’t, but it doesn’t much matter either way. I am what I am, whatever that may be.
The way that I know that I exist is faulty and abstract. In a religious sense, I would find that I exist because I am simply a pawn in a game between good and bad. Therefore my sole purpse would be to link back up to the computer that is “god”(or in this case: “super computer god”). In a subjective sense, I would find that I exist because it simply must be. I can use all of my senses that were given to me by the universe and evolution.
I must exist because I have my own super computer. And I know this because it is powerful and although narcissistic, it is truth.
I think that I’m a drip of whiskey, traveling from the sour mash up through a large coil of copper, up and around and around and around until I fall into a bucket of other drips. It’s like riding a roller coaster!! Wheeeeeeeeeeee!
either way, i’m an intrinsic part of the universe. without me, it’d be a totally different place. technically, reality as far as i’m able to define it, wouldn’t exist.
If I am not me, than who am I or who is me??? (”,)
If I were just a brain in a vat I wouldn’t have to clean the toilets. Day in day out, I get constant reminders that me and this life I am living are the real deal.
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