Thursday, June 03, 2004
Prove that you exist
You say that you exist? Prove it! You say that you think, therefore you exist? Well, the fact that thoughts are coursing through your brain does not mean that "you" are really there. I accept that you think you are. However, that does not equate to reality in my book. You thought you were you yesterday. How do I know that the you that you said you were then and the you that you say you are today aren't different? How can you even prove it to yourself? You have no reference point other than your memory, and that memory could have been transplanted from another self without your knowledge. We can do it with computers easily enough. So pardon my skepticism, but I just don't think you are who you say you are, and I don't think you can prove it!
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10 comments:
I disagree with you. The fact that we have the ability to think proves that we exist. Whether it be in some sort of matrix or as a figment of someone elses imagination we exist. It just may not be in the reality that we percieve ourselves to be in. King M
I think it's not thinking that proves we exist but rather existing that proves we think! And of course that's something that doesn't even need to be proven, because it's like just having Windows XP declaring to itself that it's Windows XP. This act of self-referntiality is redundant because the expression would not even be possible if an integrated operating system were not already in place. We are, therefore we think. But you are right in supposing that where we exist is an even bigger question than who we are.
We're so obsessed with proving that we exist as humans, that our proof statements negate the possibility of inanimate objects existing. A scientific approach is to say that if an object (flesh or otherwise) can impose a force on another object, it exists without doubt. This includes inanimate objects as they can impose forces as well. When you sit in a chair, it imposes an upward force on you, therefore, it exists.
James W. Manning
London, Ontario, Canada
You prove you exist by the mark you leave on those that you encounter through life, for good or ill.
I think that you do exist. How could you be born or die? A good example is cogito ergo sum or i think therefore i am. You could say i think i exist therefore i exist. Any way if you don't exist how can you write this blog?
I believe on the subject that you do exist how could you be born or how could you die. The ability to think proves that we do, the ability to feel proves that we exist, the ability to move proves that we exist. All our feelings, senses, thoughts, beliefs and memories prove that you do. Pain is a major piece of evidence that you exist. Without pain you could not prove that you exist. Because you can feel pain it means you do exist. Pain also tells you that you are alive. How to prove you are sleeping is up to you. You could see something that is not possible in the real world.
How could i type this message if i didn't exist?
You all seem to misunderstand the question. The fact that you feel things does not prove to qubik that you exist. Only to yourself. The fact that one can sit on a chair does not mean one is not simply dreaming of the chair. I was asked this question several days ago, still trying to figure it out. But to prove the answer, you cannot use any other objects or people, for they might not exists, and are therefor irrelevant.
Such an interesting question..
Well we have that feeling of existense and the feeling of what is real and what is not. Those people diagnosed as crazy or schizophrenic or psychotic might have lost the sense of reality. The feeling of reality reminds a little bit of the feeling of what is right and what is wrong. For example if you murder somebody, you know that's not a right thing to do. Well how would you then know that the person you murdered was real ? You just have that gut feeling. "Way things are"
Maybe it's just given by God.
Secondly who says what is acceptable proof and what is not?
Is only acceptable proof in form that can be described with words?
This was an old blog but I left my answer. My answer is that we just feel what is real and what is not and that actually proves the whole thing, just like we know what is wrong and what is right. We just know that murder is wrong.
And anyway who says what is the correct way to prove something and what is not?
Can proof be something that we can't describe with words? Probably. We are sometimes very bad describing our feelings.
Greetings from Finland. :)
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