Sorry I’m depressed af and need answers. Are y’all even real? What if y’all are just part of the program to torture me? What if this is a test? What if this is a VR simulation and the societal collapse is just moral character test to see if I would be do anything about it? Like imaginr a society in the far future like 26th century and in a history class where people are wondering “why didn’t the 21st century humans rise up against their oppressors” and then this VR simulation is just testing the students “what would you have done”
(Sorry for the bizzare question, its just brain chemicals acting weird today :P)
In the big picture and when you realize the vast universe that surrounds us and how short of time we’ve been on earth, we are just a spec in time and none of us are important. Just live your life and try to be kind to others while you’re here. I find comfort in knowing we are all the same and we are nothing.
We are important. We are special. The most important thing in your life is how you make others feel. If you can give yourself someone, then you should.
Nothing else is important. Nothing else matters. All we are is dust in the wind.
We’re actually all chatgpt. Thanks for beta testing for us.
Actually this is all a dream and we are getting more and more terrified you’ll wake up. Why did you give me a family I care about and the ability to fear us all disappearing in a blink as you wake? Why would you do this to me?
Just enjoy the ride. Test or no test, we are only here for a short time, so better make the most of it.
Pretty much what everyone else is saying as far as it can’t really be proven. Everything you experience is your brains interpretation of the stimuli it received from outside the body.
One of the few ways I rationalize it for myself is: there’s no fucking way at all that I am the “main character.” I’m the most pathetic, least important thing to have ever disgraced this earth with his existence. I’m not in a simulation that is centered around me, that universe would be absolutely insane.
I think I’m slightly above you on the simulation leaderboard.
Except that your evaluation of yourself only holds under the framework of ideals provided to you from childhood by your environment. If you are in a simulation, you have no possible insight into what is considered good or interesting outside the simulation.
True, but if someone has determined I’m interesting enough to waste resources on then I fear for their job stability. Someone’s getting fired lol
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An yes, main character syndrome. Are you a teen? Teens in particular have a warped perception of everyone else’s attention.
Sorry I didn’t mean it like that, my brain isn’t operating at 100% cpu right now, its hard to think clearly with depression.
About 2 decades ago I was a fetus and a government ruling over 1/7 of the world’s population came after me before I was even born (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy#Enforcement). I was the second one born in my family, my existence was illegal. Then they tried denying me the legal documents like a birth certificate.
Then later my older brother started being abusive towards me and he tied me up at home using zipties and watched me suffer. He would’ve been the only child had my parents followed the government policy, but then I came into existence and he didn’t like that my parents had to split their attention, so that’s why he was torturing me. It got so bad that one day, I ran away from home once, then later my own mother told me she would not miss me if I was gone. Then the family (I’m saying “the” family instead of “my” family, because I don’t feel like I was ever part of it) moved to the US, and I was promptly facing racism and xenophobia, my fellow Chinese American classmates didn’t defend me either. People would exclude me, and I once overheard kids talking shit about me behind my back. Then when I defended myself against a bully, I was the one that got arrested. School admins decided to be a dick, I was a minor for fucks sake, and it was fucking SELF-DEFENCE.
Now my adopted country’s government declared war on non-whites. My previous country is already a failed dictatorship. I have no where to go. Which is why I feel like this is a torture chamber designed to punish me.
Less of “attention” more like notoriety. Everyone hates me for some reason.
Sounds awful, i think i can empathize. I strongly suggest thinking much less about grand concepts, and instead put all your thoughts and energy into practical things you can do to improve your life. Things like:
- Go to the gym
- Find a therapist, or if you’ve got one try to find a better one
- Apply to school, or if you already are in one then try to improve your grades
- Look for a job, or if you’ve got one try to find a better one
- Start going to more social events, like local block parties
- Make a goal to say hi to a stranger every day
- Join a hobby group
- Start doing a new skill like painting or guitar
- Volunteer at a hospital
… and other stuff like that. Focus on how to make your everyday life a better life to be living
The author is setting up your backstory before you get the cool superpowers /hj
On a more serious note
Endure. In enduring grow strong.
~Dak’kon from Planescape: Torment
And don’t you dare go hollow!
Honestly, my “backstory” is absolutely insane.
Like normally people just have the typical “I was an unwanted child”/“failed abortion”, or “I was born as a result of [S.A.]”, but like mine just went from 0 to 100, “my government sent agents to try find my mother to force an abortion” crazy icebreaker. Its an insane story, but I was born during the years when that policy was active, and I do have an older brother, so I know that my mother wasn’t just bullshitting me, its corroborated by legal documents, relatives, history and news articles regarding that policy, and my childhood memories.
But what good is a good “backstory” if I die within the first 10 minutes of the movie?
Cuz I’m totally just getting the GoT season 1 “anyone can die” death
GoT S01 Spoilers
I’mma so get Ned Starked 👀
Or worse, those dudes on the wall that got executed in the very first acts.
This kind of thing is found in more than just teenagers
Like imagine a society in the far future like 26th century and in a history class where people are wondering “why didn’t the 21st century humans rise up against their oppressors” and then this VR simulation is just testing the students “what would you have done”
And if you become self-aware in the middle of the simulation, it ruins the point of the lesson and you have to repeat the class.
Nice going!
repeat the class
Noooo I hate it. I don’t wanna do the “going to the dentist and have to get my bay teeth pulled” part again, fucking HELL. 😭
I’m real I thought I told ya
I’m real even on Oprah
I read a book by Jim Holt called “Why Does the World Exist?” It tried to probe the question of why is there something instead of nothing. It was rigorous, too, not just trivial. He made an examination of all the greatest minds throughout the history of philosophy who have tackled these essential questions. After like 400 pages of really hard work, it pretty much boils down to, “who the fuck knows?” I think we just gotta assume it’s all real and enjoy the ride while we’re here.
What if this is a test? What if this is a VR simulation and the societal collapse is just moral character test to see if I would be do anything about it?
Then the answer is no. So what? If god doesn’t like it, he should have designed humans differently. And if it’s aliens, then it literally doesn’t matter.
I think, therefore I am. Everything else is open to flux.
If it helps, I’ve consciously made the choice to see the world as it appears to be. To interact with others, as if they truly exist. I’ve also made the choice to anchor my own morals in my own mental framework. I’m kind to others because I feel good seeing others happy. I try and make the world better, in small ways, because I want other to do the same, and don’t want to feel hypocritical.
It still unnerves me sometimes. I could turn off a lot of those feelings. I could easily make myself see others as lower, or lesser. Less worthy of happiness than me.
If the whole world is a simulation, then I deal with it as it comes. The same applies to religion.
FYI, there’s some (very weak) evidence that 3D space might actually be holographic projection from a 2D surface. If we are in a simulation, we are likely all in it together. At least we get to pick at the seams. It might even be stressing out a few higher dimensional post-grad students!
“I’m frustrated and I need answers, here are some questions that have haunted philosophers for millenia”
The good news is you’ll find no shortage of answers and writing on the matter
reads Laplace’s Demon
The simulated universe hypothesis is not impossible, nor is Azathoth’s dream (essentially the same scenario just in neurons rather than silicon or whatever). But even if the universe is purely material it doesn’t make us more or less real.
We’re tiny. If we vanished next century, the universe would thrum on not even noticing.
So there are no rules. You exist for whatever, or npt for whatever.
However, we assume every menace has agency (part of our survival programming) and we anthropomorphize concepts like death or time or nature. So you can assume we all have the agency of a rainstorm or a wildfire, and be fine.
I lost a lot this year, including my society. So I don’t have any real answers. I continue on in a leap of faith that I’ll see light again if I continue down the tunnel. Even if its an oncoming train.
You are the architect.
These are all valid questions and I think a lot of good ways to think about them have been presented.
I suspect that the reason a lot of people are grappling with this right now has to do with the bizarre social and political environment of the moment. When large portions of the population have chosen to ignore objective reality, and make up their own, you can’t help but wonder if it’s all just arbitrary. However, there is an answer to that, and the answer is no, it is not. Within our perceptual reality, however it exists, things do behave in consistent ways and can be observed independently of belief. Those who attempt to ignore that do ultimately fail.
Our lack of knowledge about the underlying nature of our reality does not change the way it behaves for all of us.
