FUQ ~ Frequently Unasked Questions

[robvalue]

Very nice questions.

The one that plagues me, and I fear will always plague me, is will it ever be possible for me to be sure anyone but me is real. I have virtually resigned myself to the answer being no. I can't see a way round it, but I live in hope.

Yet I don't let it stop me from treating all these possible figments of imagination as well as I would if they were real for certain

What difference does it make if they really exist or not?  

I mean that seriously.

It's the difference between real life and a computer game. I know the "people" in video games aren't real, as far as I can possibly tell, so I'm happy to do whatever I please to them for my own amusement.

It's an interesting question though, what if I knew for certain that no one else was actually experiencing anything at all? Would it change my behaviour, and if so, how? I think it would change my behaviour, although the details are rather sketchy. For example, secondary/long term concerns such as "the environment" would no longer matter very much to me. Also, I'd feel a great sense of relief that I can't hurt anyone except myself.

As for dealing with people and animals directly, it may well be the case that my behaviour doesn't change a whole lot simply because of the positive/negative responses I get from my actions; and if they are still going to "lock me up" for acting crazy, it's a real deterrent to me even if I decided I wanted to start acting that way. In a computer game, the "deterrents" are easily worked around.

But this isn't why it troubles me, or at least I don't think it is. I'm not exactly sure why it does trouble me... It isn't something constantly on my mind, it's something that I just come back to now and again. I've accepted it's a fruitless endeavour to try and answer it. We seem programmed to get the fuck on with it and not consider this too often.