How can we be sure the world is real and everyone is concious?

[RumpleDumpleBum]

I am going to sound like i am completely insane but please be kind to me as I feel like I'm having some sort of existential crisis. Over the past few days I have been having really intrusive thoughts about how we can never prove anyone else's consciousness but our own and how do we actually know that what we perceive to be the world is real and not some sort of elaborate illusion or simulation. I'm worried thst everyone i know and love might just be projections of my mind. Has anyone else had thoughts like this? Please make me see reason.

We can’t. As Descartes put it when he pondered the same question all that you can really say is that you exist as a thinking entity.

”Je pense, donc je suis.”

Yes, quite often. My own fault for doing a philosophy A-level.

I had a minor panic at the start of parkrun last week when I suddenly realised almost single every person in the crowd of hundreds, under a beautiful blue sky, would be dead in 100 years. I still did my run and went to waitrose for comfort snacks afterwards.

You can’t

but in practice acting like other people are not real (eg by hurting them physically or otherwise) is likely to lead to unpleasant consequences.

you can't. If it is an illusion we are all in the same boat so nothing you can do about it. However it doesn't mean you don't get to enjoy it.

I thought similarly when walking through a country graveyard a few years ago on holiday. There were no recent graves, they were all from a couple of hundred years ago. It struck me that no-one would come to visit them and lay flowers or light a candle for them anymore. They were just names on a gravestone. Maybe the surname might be recognised as a lhistorical local family name but too much time had passed and no-one living would have a single memory of anyoe one in that graveyard and what they'd been like as a person - whether they'd been a good person or a nasty bastard.

I felt a bit weirded about about it when I realised that all of us alive now will be in the same boat one day. There will come a point in time when every human on the planet in 200 years won't have any recollections or personal memories of any of us living now, even of much older relatives saying "I remember my great great such and such a body, she was a right laugh". We will just be a name on a family tree that means nothing to anyone living. That's if anyone could be bothered researching it.

Then I realised that that also means one day Donald Trump (and his ilk) will just be a mere cipher. Reduced to a name in a list of US presidents that kids have to learn in school, but nothing more. A image that they take the piss out of. And that makes me feel a lot better. 😆

We don’t know. I might just imagine everything around me and people who I think are my friends and family are actually doctors taking care of me in the institution I live in due to my hallucinations. But since I’ll never know, I might just make the best of the reality that’s available to me in this moment.

We can't. Are we in a simulation? A little bit. If you take every opportunity given to you, like those dice books I had when young, then you are likely to have a successful and prosperous life. Also, if you imagine finding money, quite often you do find it.

Again, if you decide to do something, then you can achieve it.

So I sometimes think that we are an experiment.

You can’t be sure. But it is the only reality we have, so might as well live the best life possible within it.

We can't, but why does it matter?

Philosophy aside, that sounds really hard. Trust in your loved ones and trust yourself - do some grounding exercises - smell some things, draw somethingyou can see, close your eyes and listen to the birdsong
Hot bath, watch something lighthearted on TV and call a few friends or family you trust and make some plans to meet up. x

I tend to believe that, on the balance of probabilities, if I believe I am real, then other people are too.

If it’s any consolation, I visit the grave of my 7*great grandmother (born 1655) and grandfather and take them flowers.

I found out a lot researching them, but her in particular. She was a complete badass, feels very much like a kindred spirit. (I also tracked down a series of sketches of her, and the family resemblance is remarkable.)

I'm sorry OP that sounds very unsettling.
Can you discuss it with anyone?

I dont mind if we're all in a simulation and we're all still concious beings because then it would literally make no difference. The thought that unsettles me is if I am the only concious person and the entire universe and everyone in it is an illusion/experiment for me

We can’t know. You might like to read about simulation theory. Ultimately, we just have to keep buggering on and make our own meaning

I have discussed it with my family but they just think I'm being silly and assure me that thdy and the world are real. It's a really creepy lonely feeling if you think deeply about it

We can’t. I don’t think any single one of us is unique in our experience though. Whatever our existence, you are not the only person and the rest of us simply non-playable characters. How do I know this, well, because my daughter and husband feel real to me. Whatever real means, they are as real and unique as I am.

That sounds quite grandiose to be honest... You're quite right to suggest it might all be a simulation but why would be it just for you, the only conscious mind?

It’s unsettling, but it’s possible.

You could just be a brain in a vat, or a piece of software running on a machine.

Best not worry about it, really.

Most of these responses are addressing the philosophical issue you have raised, but I am concerned about you. The way you have phrased your experience and the overwhelming intrusive thoughts sounds like it could be a mental health issue. Do you have a history of mental health problems? Either way, I think it would be good for you to talk to your GP, or other mental health professional if you have one, about these thoughts.

These thought patterns are disconcerting and can be scary, but are also treatable. If it’s a passing thought and philosophical wondering that’s one thing, but having this notion fully occupy your mind as you describe is something you can get help with.

The Matrix is a load of nonsense. plot Holes abound.

Live in the moment, OP. Today is all you have. The past and future are just ideas.

Hi there OP, don’t worry, I’m very real and you certainly are too 👋

You don’t know.

You state you feel concern about those you love not being real. Reframe this as the experience of love being what is most important. The love you feel is real that is the crucial part of a human experience.

Where has the idea come from, OP? Just wondering what might have started it off?
Once your brain is in that rut it can be hard to get out of because it’s impossible to prove objectively so you’re stuck in an anxiety-provoking feedback loop. I think the best way is to either learn to live with the uncertainty and learn to enjoy existence, regardless, or move yourself away from the grip of being in that rumination loop by noticing yourself noticing the thoughts rather than experiencing them as as the only stream of consciousness that you have. At the same time, you could ground yourself with feet on grass and/or your palm on your chest and the other holding your belly, being nice to yourself!

It would probably help seeing a therapist if it continues to trouble you.

It sounds like you have supportive family around you?

I agree with this. It's an interesting topic and there are lots of good books about it if you're interested (including by philosophers who argue that actually it's not possible that other people aren't conscious). But this sounds less like an interest in philosophy and more like intrusive thoughts and something like derealization. Definitely worth a trip to the GP.