Saturday 2 October 2010

Sloppy Solipsism

Linking back to our robot debate, solipsism is the theory we can only ever be sure of our own minds existence, and one of the easiest ways to explain it was Descartes idea- Cogito Ergo Sum (I think therefore I am). By this he meant because he thinks, he is aware, and therefore must exist.

This seems pretty standard, you know you exist don't you? But like we said before, what if you are a high tech piece of artificial intelligence programmed to believe you are human? Similarly what if you are a child, or someone suffering from mental illness, are you aware of your own existence, do you therefore not exist until you start thinking?

The problem I find is that there are so many possibilities as to what reality really is, that it seems a lot simpler, if more boring to assume, this world we live in is the real one, and you are having thoughts just like my own. But as you guessed this blog isn't about the easy way out. We want you to think about what you know to be real, gloves and melons aside.

In summary I want to leave a hypothetical question (purely hypothetical please don't lock me up from insanity). If this reality is not what it seems to be? If I am a figment of your imagination, or i guess you of mine? Is it our duty to uncover the truth, is it our duty to break free like Neo in the Matrix? This world to me, is real because it feels real, and that is where I'll leave my thoughts for now. But there's that small voice at the back of my brain saying "but what if it's not?"

Louisa xx

PS. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, if the matrix was true the robot/alien race would be better off burning all organic matter than using use to 'create' energy.

2 comments:

  1. btw, you need to separate your labels with commas

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  2. Well, if this world is a figment of my imagination then so are geniuses like Einstein and great Philosophers like Aristotle. Therefore, I'm bloody brilliant!

    Then again, there's also Hitler and Nick Griffin...so, you know, not so good...

    (Yes, I'm comparing Nick Griffin to Hitler but only in a light-hearted, don't really care, way)

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