This is a thought experiment where answers get critiqued according to no standard or stance in the initial statement. It is not a stance for an argument. Just a thought experiment. There’s nothing wrong with thought experiments, I just think it isn’t obvious when people engage in argument. I think you took both positions at one time, one for you one for the universe, but in this thread you take no stance just disseminate others statements.
What does POTL stand for?
94% of respondents so far believe strongly or very strongly that I exist. I’m officially dismayed.
A person can’t help but be real. They think, therefore they are. It is interesting to note that we have discovered that we don’t know what 94% of the universe is. It is all “dark energy and dark matter”. We can’t see it, and the only way we know it is there is because of the effect it is having on the universe around them. We knew for a long time that the galaxies in the universe were flying apart, but then we discovered that the speed with which the galaxies were flying apart was increasing. Chalk one up for dark energy.
@crimby I’m a bit of a fanboy when it comes to MOND (modified Newtonian dynamics) as an alternative to dark matter.
All I say is that without someone to observe the universe, it may as well not exist, as there would be nothing there to perceive it.
Would that observer need to be of at least human level intelligence, or would a sparrow suffice?
I am a believer that all life is sentient and is deserving of this recognition
Humans place far too much importance on themselves collectively, and I think it’s extremely arrogant
These creatures are intelligent.
I agree, but I’m not convinced that we should lay the weight of the universe on a sparrow’s shoulders.
Not at all, but they’re more than aware of their surroundings, and how to survive in an ecosystem that’s very, very old - and created by the universe
OK, what about before life first emerged. Would your original statement (“All I say is that without someone to observe the universe, it may as well not exist, as there would be nothing there to perceive it.”) still stand?
You can’t really separate yourself from the Universe, you are part of it.
That makes sense, but I’m just not sure that I exist.
Does extraterrestial life exist in the universe? No. But it probably exists. This is because we cannot perceive it. When you are dead everything that is possible probably exists. But it doesnt.
Depends how far you want to break it down, but my understanding is basic life emerged from chemical reactions to do with volcanos, but you’re welcome to fact check that.
Might have just been a theory I saw on a documentary
Anyways, the process is inseparable.
The universe and us (Collective conciousness) live in symbiosis of sorts
Edit: Wasn’t the universe born out of a chemical reaction? (The big bang) Or is this still not conclusive science?
How can something be born out of seemingly nothing? Maybe our galaxy got destroyed by a black hole in another dimension/universe, and was destroyed and then re-born?
These are such huge questions and I just made up the above ■■■■■■■■ to prove that nobody really knows, and how far can you reasonably take this topic?
Do I exist is a question pondered by ancient philosophers. “I think therefore I am” is one of the early answers to the question of whether or not you exist.
1 Like
Very interesting! I’ll have to check that out.
1 Like
From my perspective I think they are equally real.
I mean, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be?
1 Like
Nothing is real. Woh is deciding? You? She? The dog?
What if sudnelly everithing will stop or changes, like a dream, will you be real still?
It’s to easy to sey that everything is normal and real, but it will be a lie.
1 Like
Another thing to consider i think has something to do with systems theory. We exist at a level of organization above molecular, cellular, and multicellular. As such we are complex organisms that can observe things at this level of organization. When we die we are no longer complex life so we dont have the sensory organs to observe the level where stuff actually exists. This level may actually be invisible and non significant to any other level
1 Like