Job Openings: Philosophy and Prompts

What If... #3

What if you are a character in some other being's story, and the time you spend sleeping is the time they spend writing your life? When days blend together in boredom or amnesia, is that just a time skip?

Do you have a past, or is what you think you remember just what they've written has happened to you? What if it isn't even written and your existence is just an idea outlined in someone's mind, subject to addition, editing, or erasure at any time? Do you remember these changes? Is this what you dream about?

When were you created? Was it when you were born? Was it thirty seconds ago? Was it written down a thousand years ago? What happens if no one reads it? Do you live when it's written, or do you live when it's read? What if more than one being reads it? What if they read it wrong? What if they get the wrong interpretation? Does that change the outcome of the story, or is there some underlying truth that is always true no matter what the reader thinks? Is there some underlying truth that is always true no matter what the writer thinks? Do you exist beyond the imagination and explicit control of the author? Can you think beyond their explicit control? Do they want you to find and understand this right here, right now? What happens if they don't want that?

Does that mean that if they get tired of your story, you die? Would you even notice? Do you even care? What if they deleted the paragraph of text that is you... right now? Would you try to stop them? Is there anything you could do if you wanted to? Who or what would they replace you with?

If someone dies peacefully in their sleep, does that mean that the story was discontinued? What does that mean for all of the people who don't die peacefully in their sleep? Were they intended to die that way? Was it just a quick way to end a boring story and tie up loose ends? If the story isn't worked on for a certain amount of time - or if they just stop typing for a second - is it automatically deleted like in Flowstate? Do they assign a random ending for that universe? Does the story just end with the final written words and we live in that forgotten nothingness forever after our story ends? Are we all just something else's playthings with no purpose in life except that given to us by these Creators?

Is the concept of a god or higher powers just an awareness of the fourth wall that our primitive minds simply can't comprehend? Is the concept of a Doom's Day just foreshadowing written by the author that some of us are intentionally given understanding of? Why would only some of us be given this knowledge or cursed with preoccupation with it? Is it entertaining? Is it an experiment? Do beings in our universe have the ability to uncover our future? Are we individual facets of a single being's imagination in a specific point in time?

Are we, as humans or even as creatures of this planet in this universe in this timeline, the heroes? Are we the villains? Are we minor characters or bystanders in someone else's story? Are you the foil to someone else's hero or villain? Are you anything at all?

Who reads these stories and why are they being written? Is there a contest for the "best" story? What would the "best" story even be? What if 'we' are the "best" story?

Is there only one person or being whose story matters, and the rest of us simply exist to orbit around this person or being so they don't seem to be alone?

Are we just simulations in something else's mind(s)? What are we simulations of? The past? The present? The future? An alternate universe? Pure fiction?

Are we virtual pets, like Tamagochi pets that our Creators allow to interact with others as long as they behave? What happens if these virtual pets glitch?

Who would think up something like this, and why? What universe exists where our existence here is interesting to them? Is it because this universe is so horrifyingly interesting and grotesque, or is it comforting because the Creator's reality is worse than this one? Are we someone else's most disturbing, cracky creation... or is this truly the best they can dream of?

How many of us are typos? Raise your hands with me.

That's what I thought.