Does the fact that I exist now mean that I existed before?
I've heard people say that I'm only here because of a certain series of events since the beginning of the big bang that have lead to my birth. Had my parents had sex one hour later, would I have been born the person I am now? What if a particular atom collided with a different atom at some point during the creation of the universe itself, would that have altered the course of history? There are many questions like this I can ask.
Despite all of this, here I am today. I think that the fact that I exist is evidence enough in itself to assume that I've existed before. I could have been absolutely anyone before this life and I wouldn't know about it. I could also be you, but in a different timeline. I could be everyone. This makes sense to me, as we were all born at different times, different timelines in reality. I think we all have the same consciousness but in different bodies.
I also think that as I am you, and you are me, I will be born again, and again, and again. After all, what is consciousness? No one really knows, and I'm sure that I'd rather have hope in existing again, rather than denying all this and deriving my morals from cold and logical science. Logic doesn't explain everything. It hasn't explained the creation of the universe, or what consciousness actually is....
What do you think?
Despite all of this, here I am today. I think that the fact that I exist is evidence enough in itself to assume that I've existed before. I could have been absolutely anyone before this life and I wouldn't know about it. I could also be you, but in a different timeline. I could be everyone. This makes sense to me, as we were all born at different times, different timelines in reality. I think we all have the same consciousness but in different bodies.
I also think that as I am you, and you are me, I will be born again, and again, and again. After all, what is consciousness? No one really knows, and I'm sure that I'd rather have hope in existing again, rather than denying all this and deriving my morals from cold and logical science. Logic doesn't explain everything. It hasn't explained the creation of the universe, or what consciousness actually is....
What do you think?
Original post by zetamcfc
But do you really exist?
That's too existential, sorry.
I don't know. It depends what you define existence to be.
Well, there are different answers to this question depending on your particular philosophical disposition. I believe in the kind of existence Plato believed in - I'm not sure what it's called, but he believed that we exist because our senses tell us we do. I don't believe my senses are lying to me. I believe I exist in this physical plane whatever it may be. I believe in Descartes "I think, there I am - Cognito, Ergo sum'. So, yes I believe I exist.
...
(edited 9 years ago)
Good question, its nice to think about because you realise that we are now, like we are in the year 2015 there has been like 13.7 billion years before this day, and you only exist now in which you will only be alive for about 70 years.
I say yes because we are the universe. but this is just my opinion
I say yes because we are the universe. but this is just my opinion
I broadly agree. But it's difficult to talk about this subject because of the ambiguities of the lexicon involved. If we're to ask whether we "existed before," it's important to know what, exactly, we mean by that. In other words, we need a clear framework for talking about the nature of the self. Without that framework, our discussions are necessarily clumsy and vague.
I will nevertheless to talk a little bit about what I believe. I believe that there's no meaningful distinction between "me" and "you", when we really get down to it. Sure, it's useful to talk about me being me and you being you, since the world functions more cohesively like that, but there's no physical point at which my consciousness ends and yours begins. There is simply, in each moment, consciousness, existing in different ways, emerging from different places, but ultimately not "in" any physical place. We talk about ourselves experiencing things, but consciousness isn't experienced "by" anyone or anything - it's something that simply is, existing as a consequence of physical states of matter. We talk of our minds as if they were a facet of ourselves, something we exert an ownership over, but we are our minds, which are caused by physical matter, and that physical matter controls us totally - it would be more accurate to say that it owns us.
We talk imprecisely about our own personhood, most of us living under the impression that we are the same person as ten years ago, and will be the same person in ten years' time - we will have changed in some respects, but our identity will remain the same. In reality, we don't have any reason to think that's the case. If we built an exact replica of ourselves, we would be two distinct people who merely looked the same and behaved similarly. The same is happening to our bodies, being slowly overwritten over time, being subsumed and taken over by a new identity.
Everyone goes through life so caught up in the notion of the self, but it's likely an illusion. I am as much me as I am you. Two consciousnesses, existing in space-time, disconnected, but not with meaningfully distinct selves.
I will nevertheless to talk a little bit about what I believe. I believe that there's no meaningful distinction between "me" and "you", when we really get down to it. Sure, it's useful to talk about me being me and you being you, since the world functions more cohesively like that, but there's no physical point at which my consciousness ends and yours begins. There is simply, in each moment, consciousness, existing in different ways, emerging from different places, but ultimately not "in" any physical place. We talk about ourselves experiencing things, but consciousness isn't experienced "by" anyone or anything - it's something that simply is, existing as a consequence of physical states of matter. We talk of our minds as if they were a facet of ourselves, something we exert an ownership over, but we are our minds, which are caused by physical matter, and that physical matter controls us totally - it would be more accurate to say that it owns us.
We talk imprecisely about our own personhood, most of us living under the impression that we are the same person as ten years ago, and will be the same person in ten years' time - we will have changed in some respects, but our identity will remain the same. In reality, we don't have any reason to think that's the case. If we built an exact replica of ourselves, we would be two distinct people who merely looked the same and behaved similarly. The same is happening to our bodies, being slowly overwritten over time, being subsumed and taken over by a new identity.
Everyone goes through life so caught up in the notion of the self, but it's likely an illusion. I am as much me as I am you. Two consciousnesses, existing in space-time, disconnected, but not with meaningfully distinct selves.
Hi Jaden Smith
Original post by Bruise
I've heard people say that I'm only here because of a certain series of events since the beginning of the big bang that have lead to my birth. Had my parents had sex one hour later, would I have been born the person I am now? What if a particular atom collided with a different atom at some point during the creation of the universe itself, would that have altered the course of history? There are many questions like this I can ask.
Despite all of this, here I am today. I think that the fact that I exist is evidence enough in itself to assume that I've existed before. I could have been absolutely anyone before this life and I wouldn't know about it. I could also be you, but in a different timeline. I could be everyone. This makes sense to me, as we were all born at different times, different timelines in reality. I think we all have the same consciousness but in different bodies.
I also think that as I am you, and you are me, I will be born again, and again, and again. After all, what is consciousness? No one really knows, and I'm sure that I'd rather have hope in existing again, rather than denying all this and deriving my morals from cold and logical science. Logic doesn't explain everything. It hasn't explained the creation of the universe, or what consciousness actually is....
What do you think?
Despite all of this, here I am today. I think that the fact that I exist is evidence enough in itself to assume that I've existed before. I could have been absolutely anyone before this life and I wouldn't know about it. I could also be you, but in a different timeline. I could be everyone. This makes sense to me, as we were all born at different times, different timelines in reality. I think we all have the same consciousness but in different bodies.
I also think that as I am you, and you are me, I will be born again, and again, and again. After all, what is consciousness? No one really knows, and I'm sure that I'd rather have hope in existing again, rather than denying all this and deriving my morals from cold and logical science. Logic doesn't explain everything. It hasn't explained the creation of the universe, or what consciousness actually is....
What do you think?
Had your parents had sex at a different point in time, in all likelihood, considering semen contains millions of sperm cells, a different sperm cell would have reached the egg and therefore, no, you would not be the same person since it would contain different information.
There is no reason why a single atom could not change the future if it creats a chain reaction.
Nobody can exist in two points of time at once, unless you count the individual atoms in their bodies which are located in different places in space-time, and unless they've travelled through a theoretical wormhole. You have never been anybody else. The only possibility is that because the universe is so vast, it could be infinite, and therefore if it is infinite, everything that is possible to happen, will happen eventually at some point in time, in some area of the universe. Therefore there will be an identical copy of you somewhere in the vastness of space, since you have a possibility of existing. But it is not you.
You couldn't have been anyone before this life since all 'you' are, are your brain patterns, which came into existence at the beginning of this life, and will fade at the end of this life. However, of course your atoms probably were part of another creature at some point, and indeed a large part of your body is other organisms (bacteria).
We, as in 'humankind', do know what consciousness is. Just because the average person doesn't understand what scientists have proven, doesn't mean we don't know what it is. It means people are ignorant. Read a psychology paper and you will be able to understand it properly.
Logic does explain everything. Humans can't explain everything. And logic has done more to explain the creation of the universe than religion ever will.
Very few people advocate deriving morals from science, since this is a very Darwinian and cruel way of viewing the world. Most people derive morals based on human nature and philosophy - that is, most people are genetically predisposed to be caring individuals, assuming they are brought up in the correct environment. Humans have developed a sense of morals through evolution. It is advantageous for people to bond together and not kill each other (and not kill their children). That is why we are caring. Humans that lived in violent groups simply would have wiped themselves out and/or been outcompeted by other humans. If we were all violent murderers we would never be able to have sex either since we'd be killing each other.
(edited 9 years ago)
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