Do We Exist in a Real World?
Do we exist? This is a question that has been hanging over my head for a long time. Have you ever thought that maybe we are merely part of another masterpiece created by another creature, just like those virtual characters in the PC game 《Virtual Life》 that we had developed, except that we live in a more sophisticated and intricate one? In this case, everything within our universe, including us, is just a bunch of data per se, encoded by a more advanced language than the zero-and-one coding system we employ now. With the tool, the weaver of the game defined our universe, all the laws of nature and even those essential logical principles that we think apply everywhere, such like results never comes before causes.
The thought of living in a huge game terrifies me. I believe this is the worst nightmare of scientists from all over the world. Because if it is the case, all of the truth and laws of nature that we have been persuing for thousands of years will become nothing all of a sudden. We will never know what is the real truth!
Ironically, it is impossible to find out the answer as long as we still live in this system. It's a dilemma. If we want to know what the real world is like, we have to jump out of the system. However, for the outside of the system, nothing we have learnt applies!
Perhaps one day human technology will reach a certain stage where we would be able to develop PC games with virtual intellegent charaters that have total awareness of their own existence. Then they might in turn ask the same question, just like the one we are asking:Do we exist in a real world?
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 3
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Nagini & desertjedi, if I'm not mistaken, what you described as much scarier can be interpreted as another question:"DO YOU EXIST?". Sadly again, you can't ever find out the answer.It's also a dilemma because to you, there is only one self. Would you believe me if I told you I'm a real existence,the whole world around you is a real existence and not just some hallucination created by your own brain? No, you can't. There are two possibilities: first, I am telling the truth; Second, I am just a bunch of data preset by your brain; Every move that I make was predetermined so that in a certain point of your life I will come across you and tell you I am real, just like I was set to do. It's not a matter about how close we are so that you can trust me; It's just that you can't trust anyone because on this level you're always alone!
To me, it is the same.
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Vincent, your entire existence consists merely of sensory input being received by your brain and interpreted into the world you see around you. Do those around you (including myself0 actually exist...or does your brain think we exist based on sensory input data it receives. If all of your senses are shut down, do we still exist? No, not in your world.
What I'm trying to say is that everything in a person's existence is simply their brain's interpretation of a huge quantity of sensory input data. Nothing is "cast in stone" as we say in English. Your brain "paints" your entire world. In a way, nothing is absolutely real because our brains, in a way, create a unique "fantasy" for its owner.
Maybe I'm making a big leap here but this is why statements like "She is better than me" or "I'm not a good person" or "I wish I was as good as that person" are pure nonsense. You have simply trained your brain with negative thoughts from certain sensory input that your brain receives.
The upside (benefit or advantage) of all this is that it means there are absolutely no limits to how incredible a person you can be depending on how you have "trained" your subconscious. To simplify, I'm saying that ANYTHING can be achieved in one's life.
I know I'm really jumped around a lot on this topic but I don't want this to be too long. Whether or not our universe is simply one atom in the fingernail of some hairy beast in some alternate universe, I have to leave that to you - I need to go work on my tax return.
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Hey, I've also been troubled by this existential dilemma. And quantum physics has somehow made it worse by pointing out the possibility that what we see everyday in this world is not what it really is and 'we only see what we want to see', in the most literal way. It's scary to think that we are characters in a game created by some mighty programmer. But I think it's much scarier if we are actually creating the game ourselves without even knowing. What is our real ability that has been lying dormant all this time, being subdued by what we call science and its laws? All the possibilities, and potentials just drive me crazy and get me excited at the same time :)
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