Solipsism (TW: may trigger psychosis)

[leloyon]

(TW: if you are susceptible to psychotic episodes this may trigger such things)

Solipsism is the concept that you can only be sure that you exist. You cannot definitively prove that anything outside of your mind isn't just a hallucination or dream. A somewhat connected concept is the theory of the Boltzmann brain, where it is said that it is more likely that a brain formed spontaneously in a void, complete with dreamed-up memories, and then ceased to exist, than it is for the universe to have actually formed.
I was originally introduced to these theories via stumbling upon this meme:


To be honest, I have moments where I believe this and moments when I do not believe it. Right now I buy it. It honestly feels like everyone around me is just some NPC, programmed to be aggressive and hostile towards me, but not conscious or existent. A couple days ago I tried to imagine myself from someone else's point of view and I couldn't comprehend someone else's point of view as a real concept, the concept of people around me being conscious and aware and having logical reactions to things baffled me, it all just seems like pre-programmed behaviour. I've felt rather disconnected from myself anyway, to the point that it honestly feels like only my mind is real.
"but leloyon!" I hear you cry, "if we do not exist, why make a thread?"
'Cuz I'm bored, and I got better things to do but I'm putting them off because I can't be bothered. Things should be mildly interesting no matter how real it is anyway. Nyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.

Anyway, solipsism discussion time. Time to watch the automatons argue about my dreams.

 

[Forever Sleep]

If you are controlling everything around you, then, why not make things better for yourself? Why would you have created a world for yourself in which you are treated badly? Do you suppose you're a closet masochist?

I've never gone for this theory literally. What I suppose I do find fascinating is that we surely all do see the world slightly differently. I wonder how different people experience their lives- certainly. I wonder if some people do have an easier time of it than others. Are there 'natural' optimists out there? But, I don't doubt that other people are real. But sure- we all live within our own perceived world.

Believing you have created this world for yourself though seems to suggest something far more powerful. In which case- if that's true- try and use that power to change things you want to change. Lucid dreaming I suppose.

 

[Deleted member 8119]

IMO, solipsism is useless by definition, in the sense the very idea doesn't let you to prove it in any way. Everything about consciousness can be replicated by physical means, so I would find weird you could imagine more conscious beings inside your own. About Boltzmamn brains, I doubt any brain without blood connections doesn't start feeling symptoms right away.

 

[Bianka]

If it's true what you're saying, every time I open a history book, study calculus, biology or physics I make it up on the way. I made up the human body, the universal laws of physics, philosophy, social economical and political systems... I discovered fire, I invented flying, I figured out relativity theory, I painted the Mona Lisa, I wrote Symphony No.5 in C minor... I must be a genius. God if you will.
I think this is a pretty self-centered point of view without any epistemological base to support it

 

[The Ninth God]

Actually, is true in some way: everything is created by your brain organizing and putting together fragments of reality. Everything you see is an hallucination, an image created from the stimuli perceived by your sight, crafted into something you can understand. In truth, life is nothing like you perceive, those are mere fragments as I said and you're just an animal trying to understand a whole seashore from a few grains of sand.

 

[DarkRange55]

I agree with solipsism to the extent that the existence of oneself is the only thing that one can know for sure (even the nature of that existence cannot be known for sure).
However, I disagree with those that say oneself is the only thing that exists – the existence of other things are highly probable, but simply cannot be proven.

 

[Tears in Rain]

(TW: if you are susceptible to psychotic episodes this may trigger such things)

Solipsism is the concept that you can only be sure that you exist. You cannot definitively prove that anything outside of your mind isn't just a hallucination or dream. A somewhat connected concept is the theory of the Boltzmann brain, where it is said that it is more likely that a brain formed spontaneously in a void, complete with dreamed-up memories, and then ceased to exist, than it is for the universe to have actually formed.
I was originally introduced to these theories via stumbling upon this meme:

Sounds a lot like the 'Brain in a vat' theory.


Pretty much related to the "life is a simulation/matrix/dream" theories.

Maybe it's all mind. In which case there's no Universe 'out there', it's all 'in here'.

 

[nightlygem]

I used to believe this as a kid. It wasn't until I witnessed the death of someone dear to me that it dawned on me that humans have actual souls and bodies attached to them. It takes a really traumatic experience or a really open mind to get rid of the solipsism ideology.

 

[DarkRange55]

 

[leloyon]

I used to believe this as a kid. It wasn't until I witnessed the death of someone dear to me that it dawned on me that humans have actual souls and bodies attached to them. It takes a really traumatic experience or a really open mind to get rid of the solipsism ideology.

Funnily enough, I didn't start thinking this way until after my worst traumatic experiences. Although for as long as I can remember, things have just never felt right.

 

[DarkRange55]

I'm not a fan of the theory that we are probably Boltzmann brains because over the course of near-infinite time Boltzmann brains would statistically dominate consciousness.
In the first place, this assumes that the ability for Boltzmann brains to pop into existence remains for near-infinite time.
and in the second place, the statistical argument fails because by that same argument, Boltzmann brains that didn't bother with a consistent perceived "reality" would vastly outnumber those that had a consistent perceived reality. Since my perceived reality is consistent (what I think of as the past obeys coherent laws), the Boltzmann brain dominated universe fails the statistical test that it depends on for its claim of dominance.

 

[SmallKoy]

This is not something that I get to talk about much. I would say I certainly don't relate to what you feel exactly, I would say that I struggle with this idea greatly in my life. I am not a theorist, I have dealt with these feelings for forever. I personally, cannot wrap my head around the idea that other people are living around me. I cannot comprehend the idea that I am the not the only thing that is truly real. It doesn't make any sense to me. Nothing feels real to me. Except myself, and I hate myself.

 

[Homo erectus]

Maybe part of the world is real, such as the things we can touch. Then it is a big screen on all sides, past and future, like the Trueman Show. And some ET, aliens are watching how we act.

 

[DarkRange55]

Maybe part of the world is real, such as the things we can touch. Then it is a big screen on all sides, past and future, like the Trueman Show. And some ET, aliens are watching how we act.

I find that time is a hard illusion to shake off. Einstein said that this is merely an illusion (albeit a persistent one).

Maybe part of the world is real, such as the things we can touch. Then it is a big screen on all sides, past and future, like the Trueman Show. And some ET, aliens are watching how we act.

Stephen Hawking had a wager with another scientist. He said I thought we'd be able to reverse time at one point. The universe is expanding so he thought when the universe began to contract time would reverse. He said I made a mistake. As far as we know, the arrows of time move forward: 1. Thermodynamically, thats one measure. 2. Psychologically, in how you perceive time. 3. Cosmologically, the way the universe is moving.

Both A and B are correct.
B is correct in that we can indeed measure time and various "laws" involve it.
A is correct in the larger Omniverse sense, where everything that can exist always exists.
A. Time is an illusion/human construct. B. Time is a measurable physical force/phenomenon/law/aspect of the universe - whatever term is most apt.
The way the word "moving" is used already assumes the existence of time as we commonly think of it.

Time is an illusion, but that illusion has a direction that is consistent so it is not unreasonable to speak of time as always moving forward.

time is a multifaceted jewel that humans insist on viewing one facet at a time but really the past, present and future are all happening simultaneously within a universe, but is vastly understating the case in the multiverse.

I do not know if it is possible to pick which universe you find your thread of consciousness in from the infinite range of possibilities in the multiverse.