What If You Don’t Exist?
The broad question of existence is one that human beings have pondered for thousands of
years - both before and after the likes of Plato in Ancient Greece. René Descartes once
said “I think, therefore I am,” but does that cover all the bases? Life seems real,
but could it all be an illusion?
This is Unveiled and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; What if you don’t
exist?
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According to Michael Nelson, writing in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, the
problem of existence can be thought of around two basic questions: First, is existence the
property of individuals? In other words, does it come about because of us? If we assume
that it does, then the second question asks; are there any individuals that lack it? Most
would argue that because you can feel your body and think, as Descartes said, then you
must exist in reality… but there are different scenarios that could create you without you
really existing.
You could be a product of someone else’s dream, you could be living in a simulation,
or your brain could simply be fooling you and hallucinating your reality. Cotard’s
syndrome is a very rare condition but it highlights how our ideas on “what’s real” can change.
Sufferers are convinced that they or a part of their body doesn’t actually exist, with
reports of patients even insisting that their brains aren’t really there, despite being
able to walk and talk. So, if we really don’t exist, or if you’re an individual severely
questioning existence, then what is reality?
When it comes down to it, the reality that we experience is just that - it’s human
experience. Our senses work together to conjure an image of what we see, smell, touch - of
what’s real. Since that’s the case, however, we know for a fact that we aren’t ever seeing
or feeling all of reality. We only see around 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum, for example.
We’re blind to many different types of light like gamma rays, x rays, radio waves and microwaves.
And while the human eye is undoubtedly an amazing biological structure, the three photoreceptors
it holds (red, blue, and green) are significantly bested by some other animals, like the mantis
shrimp, which has an astounding sixteen photoreceptors - meaning it “sees” over five times more
of “reality” than we do. Similarly, we’re also beaten by birds, many of which are able
to migrate for the winter because they can visualize earth’s magnetosphere - something
else that we humans can’t do.
It shows that we’re only ever capable of seeing and experiencing what our bodies allow
us to, so to some extent the human experience really is a hallucination in that it’s always
governed by what it is and isn’t possible for us to understand. After all, at their
core, every visible item is simply made up of the same particles rearranged into different
patterns. Our eyes see a chair as a chair but, were human perception to somehow change,
then perhaps we’d see the individual atoms instead.
Our inability to distinguish true reality is arguably most evident when we dream. Often
people don’t realize that they’re dreaming, even when seemingly impossible events occur.
The movie “Inception” famously played with this concept by blurring the distinction
between dreams and reality, forcing the viewer to constantly question if a moment was actually
happening or if it was only occurring in a dream. And since we’re ultimately unable
to make this distinction, our lives as we know them could be little more than an endless
fantasy. According to some theories, there’s even the possibility that we’re only extras
in someone else’s dream!
And, in some ways, it’s an idea that adds up. In discussing reality, the Oxford University
professor Jan Westerhoff calculates that; assuming eight hours of sleep, and that humans
only dream during REM sleep, we get about 1.6 hours of “dream consciousness” every
night. Add that to the 16 hours that we’re seemingly “awake” for, and there’s roughly
a 1 in 10 chance that we’re dreaming at any given moment. And if you think you’re
awake because nothing strange is happening, think again… Because reality appears to
follow certain “rules” and consistencies only until you reach the quantum level - where
particles pass through walls like ghosts and change depending on whether or not people
are looking at them. In effect, everything’s possible, even the apparent impossibilities
that play out when we assume we’re dreaming. So, if you subscribe to the idea, then there’s
every chance that reality’s a dream or vice versa.
However, according to various other thinkers, public figures and scientists - from Elon
Musk to Neil deGrasse Tyson - the more likely scenario is that our reality is a simulation.
According to supporters of the theory, our technology (as we understand it) is now reaching
a point where reality is almost indistinguishable from video games and next-gen media… and
it’s a trend which shows no signs of slowing down. And, if that’s the case, how can we
be so sure that the same thing hasn’t already happened (somewhere else at some other time),
and that we’re merely the product of it; a simulation created by higher beings?
In this situation, reality is nothing more than computer code. You could simply exist
the same way a protagonist in a video game does, thinking he has free will when he’s
really being controlled by someone else. In fact, as quantum mechanics proves that reality
only becomes concrete when we decide to observe it, existing is nothing more than probability
before then…. And video games use this exact trick to save memory capacity by only loading
environments when your character enters into them. Could the same thing be happening in
our own lives? Does the supermarket only exist when we visit it? Are our homes only real
once we open the front door? Our worlds are already kinda similar in the way that they’re
composed, with the pixels of video games mirroring atoms in our own lives.
But then, even if our reality is really our reality and not a simulation, it could still
be merely a remembrance of a life that we’re not actually experiencing right now. It’s
theorised that N-Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, a powerful hallucinogenic with effects including
extreme time dilation, can be released naturally in our brains when we sleep (in some way explaining
our crazy dreamscapes) but also at the moment before we die. It ties in with the idea that
our lives “flash before our eyes” in the moments before we pass away, but extends it
to encompass everything that we think our lives are - so our experience is actually
an incredibly detailed replay rolled out at our final moments. That would mean that this
moment right now doesn’t truly exist, but only does so in your memory… And that every
decision you make has already been made because your life has already been lived, but your
brain is remembering every thought and feeling that went through your head at the original
time, forcing you to re-experience it. In this way, our true “last moments” could
actually be spent realizing that our lives were really just “flashing before our eyes”
the entire time - so the theory goes.
Nevertheless, the idea of not truly existing shouldn’t worry you. If we really don’t
exist, it doesn’t alter the way we live our lives… Because even if they’re false,
things like food, water, homes, money and happiness still feel real. In that sense nothing
changes, and we can still live life reliably, pondering the question of reality but not
succumbing to it. Whether or not life is a dream, a simulation, or even just a memory
brought on by a dying brain, you still have a compelling experience of it.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these
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