How long were you not alive before you were born?

Question

In answer to the question, "How long will you be dead after you die?", the logical answer is "forever". So my question is, "How long were you not alive before you born?"

If the answer is also "forever", then obviously you would have never been born. In my mind, this points out the fallacy of linear time: that time has a beginning and an end. On the other hand, I only remotely grasped the basics of high school physics and never went to college, so I could be missing something very obvious.

Yet somehow I see a gap between what we humans understand as knowledge, and what knowledge itself is. One way to pose that question is, "What is the relationship between reality and the human interpretation of reality?" Is there any difference at all?

So, if and when string theory explains everything, will it be able to explain why human consciousness knows it explains everything?

Answer 1

I am a solipsist, so there was no universe before I was born. Therefor the time that I was not alive before I was born is undefined.

Others may wish to take the time since the Big Bang, and subtract from that their age. Since this is the science section, not philosophy, that would be the "correct" answer.

This is a sense a paraphrase of an old philosphical/theological argument about the Newtonian-like view of infinite time... Basically, if time has always existed, why did God(s) wait an infinite time before creating the earth? Or, why isn't everything that would happen already done by now, if time has already gone on an infinite amount before now?

Answer 2

I think that if you think you would have been alive forever after you were born or dead, would be possibly theological. What is reality and human interpretation? I don't know. Maybe reality is human interpretation. Or Human Interpretation is reality. The difference would be that intrepretation would be subjective or objective. subjective interpretation would be like when you and your friend have different interpretations of something. Objective interpretation would be that you would be interpreting t objectivvely.

Answer 3

The entire history of the universe prior to the event of the conception which quantified my existence.

Is that the answer you were looking for Braniac? Dude, you can have a good deal of knowledge without looking like an ****** showoff.

Answer 4

If you are in fact alive, and time is in fact infinite (not necessarily linear) then you always were and always will be alive.

Answer 5

by acting smart ur confusing ur self with these when i was tripping on acid type of questions

Answer 6

The whole time.

Answer 7

Quit thinking Einstein. Thinking too much made him mad.