this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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The worst part of this comic is that philosophy bro is clearly not even very good at his field, since there's a much better Cartesian parallel to be made here (and I'm not even a philosopher).
"I think, therefore I am" is actually leaving out (imo) the most important part of Descartes's argument. He was trying to find literally anything that he could know without a doubt was true. The problem is, that's really hard, as our existence-troubled shopper has discovered. Descartes could doubt the existence of God, he could doubt the existence of goodness, of truth. All of these things might not actually exist. Descartes could even doubt his own existence.
In fact, literally the only thing Descartes could conclude without a doubt was true was the fact that he was doubting at all. So, since that's the only thing he could be sure of, that's what he built his argument for rationalism upon.
This perfectly mirrors the existential crisis the so-called philosopher comes upon, but instead of starting the shopper right where Descartes started, he instead just provides what must seem like almost a non sequitur in context, since if the man is currently doubting his existence, he can also doubt that he's thinking. What he cannot doubt, is that he is in fact doubting.
"I doubt. Therefore, I think. I think, therefore I am."
In a sea of garbage, this is actually one of the most interesting things I've read on here. Thanks mate.
But what if you're just imagining or dreaming that you're doubting..? How do you even know you are the thing that's doubting..? "You" could be a spurious Boltzmann brain, randomly manifested out of quantic chaos, in a state resembling that of a person doubting their own existence, for a mere Planck instant before dissolving back into the chaos from whence you emerged...
Guys stop. "Doubt" is starting to look funny
Semantic satiation
In the grand scheme of things, a human lifespan is in the same ballpark as a Planck instant when considering an infinite universe. That doesn't mean either are insignificant in their own context though.
Time can be infinitely subdivided For all we know, billions of entire universes could be created and destroyed within ours in an instant. Our own universe could be as insignificant as an atom in some higher level universe. We can't know that. But what I do know, is that I exist in this moment, and that's enough for me.
Slightly related is the anthropic principle, or the "observation selection effect", which is nicely summarized by this analogy:
The takeaway I get from this is that it's important to appreciate the time we have, since everything comes to an end eventually.
Yes, all you know is that something exists. And for the sake of argument, we call that 'you'.
I could be any of these things, but I would still be
I couldn't have said it better
Yeah I was gonna make a similar argument.
The proof of one's existence is only that they percieve it enough to question it. Unfortunately, all of our sensory data is unreliable proof and therefor we cannot prove there is anything other than our own conciousness. Maybe you're a mad god trapped in an eternal nightmare of your own design, have fun with that concept.