Thoughts On Things

Entry 27

Before, I was under the assumption that the phrase "I think, therefore I am," meant that whatever you think you are, you are. Of course, this is not true. Instead, I now believe the phrase to mean that if you think, you exist. And since we can only verify our own thinking, we can only verify our own existence. Nothing else is proven real, which makes much more sense!

It is therefore impossible, at the present moment, to prove the existence of others. You could be merely figments of imagination, or animals, or something akin to artificial intelligence. You could say the right words to convince me of your existence, without even existing. I know I exist, because I think. But even if you say you think, believe you think, I cannot prove it; thus I cannot prove you.

It is like the video of that monkey, Nim, saying through sign language a vaguely correct set of words. The monkey, of course, did not understand the meaning of these words, or the grammar rules behind them. Instead, he understood that when he signed those words, he got an orange. What if you are all like the monkey. The artificial intelligence as of now is like the monkey; it does things based on their programmed worth, not out of understanding. So what if you all say these words, write these articles, because of the things that happen as a result of them, or the thing that happens as a result of them - you are perceived as conscious. So you do it to seem sentient, sapient, conscious, not because you understand what you're doing and can think. Even the foolish, harmful actions can be justified this way, as what is more human and more living and real than foolishness. 

Reflecting on recent trends, I find a problem with the mindset of becoming a millionaire, or successful. I see it everywhere online, this so called motivational content shouting at you saying you're a failure if you're not the richest man alive. But the problem is that not everyone can be a millionaire in our current system. Those at the top are reliant on those at the bottom. You can't run a business with no employees. And the employees can't be millionaires, they'd stop working. Thus, some must fail in comparison to others. I do like how quickly current trends seem to die today, only to be replaced by others that die just as quickly. People realize how much effort and time is required, continuous effort that is, and can't be bothered to continue, and move onto a new trend that they still haven't realized will be just as painful. I think it's in the Brothers Karamazov, where one character expresses his feelings - I'll summarize; he basically states that he'd much quicker sacrifice his life for another to be seen as a hero than to live a life of hard work to die a nobody. Even in death, fame is great. 

Good night.