Monday, 15 April 2013

#3 A Philosophical Question This is for any philosophers out there. Do you think it's possible to prove that your mind is not the only conscious mind in the universe? This is a very challenging problem, and if you think the answer is simple then you probably didn't think enough about the question! (Look up "solipsism" on wikipedia if you're curious.)

Easy question, to say the truth. The answer is NO. Undoubtedly. Any prove that you'll find may be just a game of your mind - something like Heisenberg's principle of complementarity: the fact of investigation may change the result. Possibly, in the future quantum mechanics will give an answer, but, as I've told before, it won't be relyable.
But, in my opinion, the answer to the question is not important as your life won't change if you get the answer "yes" or "no". The problem is similar to the one "Does a fallen tree produce any sound if nobody hears it?" - it's kind of sofistry. The only thing that really will change is your thought about it, and in this case the thought won't have much influence on the reality (probably). In order to really change something, you also have to get to know many other answers about the universe and our life, but, as it is impossible, relax and follow the advice of the first edition of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Don't Panic.

1 comment:

  1. That's a very good point, that the answer doesn't change anything but the way we think. Either way, we have to ~act~ like there are other minds in the world.

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