How do I know I'm not just a brain in a glass container, hooked up to a computer simulation of life?

Question

I need some help

Answer 1

That is actually a very legitimate question, contrary to what some of these other answers suggest. Not only COULD you be living a virtual life, you probably ARE. Here's the argument:

1. We are close to having the technology to run virtual reality simulations in which participants experience no difference between the virtual reality and "real" reality.

2. When we have the technology to do so we will probably run thousands/millions of such simulations for all sorts of reasons.

3. We are almost certainly not the first civilization to develop this technology - in fact we are probably one of thousands/millions of such civilizations.

4. Therefore, there are thousands/millions times more virtual realities than "real" realities making it thousands/millions times more likely that we are in a virtual reality rather than a real reality.

So ... cool question!

(There's lots of good consequences of this conclusion but you didn't ask about that.)

Answer 2

That's a reasonable doubt.

I know how you feel actually. It all comes from perception. My perception could be more than just a little deformed, so I often have the feeling that what I see may or may not really be what I see. Of course this is all metaphorical, but the sensation feels basically like looking at an object and doubting the fact that it's there, right in front of you, despite the fact that you can see it. You can see it, but you start wondering... what if it disappears when you try to grasp it? Or what if there are unseen factors, elements or beings out there that we just can't perceive visually... but that doesn't stop their existence?

Having a distorted perception can cause insecurities and doubts such as these. It's like throwing a stone in a lake and trying to estimate correctly if and when the stone touches the bottom. From your visual perspective, it's still going down. Someone on the other shore, having a different perspective, says it has already touched the bottom. Someone swimming in the lake tells you something totally different. Someone sitting next to you, having a slightly different perspective, offers you a different piece of inforation. All these individuals are personas inside of you, hence the distorted perception caused by contradictory sides and inner conflicts.

Answer 3

You'd never stub a toe. You'd never have to pay for a hair cut You could double the glass container as a fish tank and have some aquatic friends. You wouldn't have ears so you woud never hear people say "eeeewww gross" when they walk into the room your brain is in. You could freak out little kids and the elderly. There would probably be quite a few magazine articles published about you. You'd go for a high price on ebay.

Answer 4

I do not believe we are in some computer simulation of life for two reasons.

The first reason is that machines or whomever put you in the computer would need a reason to act. It is easy to dream possibilities, but whomever put you there had to chose to act, had to overcome a technological barrier, and an ethical barrier. To rephrase, why anybody would take the trouble of hooking a brain into a computer ? Assuming it is technologically possible, such a thing sounds improper to do. It would take more than asserting the possibility to convince me we are only living a dream.

The second reason is that machines can only produce a partial copy of reality. In other words, they have to cut corners. By proper observation and experimentation, you can deduct whether you are in some virtual world or not.

These are only partial answers. Your question is one old philosophical problem, as I am sure my fellow citizens will tell you.

Answer 5

You don't, yet. But there is a way to find out.

Go out onto your front lawn right now and start yelling: "Whoever left the shower mold in the bathroom come back and get it right now! I've got enough mold of my own to care for without taking yours in!"

Note: It helps if you're in a nightgown when you do this.

One of two things will happen.

(1) The police will come, but you will go somewhere other than jail. This might indicate that the world around you is real.

(2) You will get flushed down the toilet. This probably means that you skewed the results of a two-year brain study, and your lab attendant got pissed.

Either way, you'll know.

But, hey, there's an up-side: If option (1) is true, you'll likely get the help you need.

Answer 6

Actually Matrix Idea about "brain in a glass" was based on Descartes hypothesis.
It's something everyone of us is questioning more or less.
You migth be that, or you migth be something else but whatever container you reside in, just suit your self inside and don't worry :)

Answer 7

I know how you feel. Truth is, we only live in 1% of our reality, the other 99% is just waiting to be explored and inhibited. Unfortunately, most of us can't even comprehend this concept, so we may as well be a brain hooked up to a computer!

Answer 8

You have to do what the great philosophers did. Start from scratch. Descartes started with "I think therefore I am" and work from that point onwards. Does reality exist within the mind or without.

Anyway, would it really matter if we were ? All said and done we are just energy beings.

Answer 9

We are, unquestionably, far more than our "5 senses" reveal. As is everything else throughout the infinite omniverse.

The "secret" is to develop your "non physical" senses; clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc. and then you will be in a position to travel and experience in many dimensions and realities, and discover what a more fully developed human has available.

The cosmos is infinite, and so is consciousness, including that portion "enjoyed" by humans. With proper study and effort, much more is available for your adventures ;))

Answer 10

Because you are not this body, IE Race, color, nationality, job, religion, mind, intellect, senses, etc. You are eternal spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme Soul, You never die, only this body dies and your consciousness carries you from this body to the next. If one does not want to take any more temporary bodies (vehicles for the soul in the material word) or experience birth,death, old age suffering and disease, they should take up the process of self realization, (Bhakti Yoga) This science of the self (the soul) is so amazing and then you will be able to understand who you are in actuality. This world is called Maya (illusion) and is temporary and full of misery, only one fourth of the souls come here, (the less intelligent ones(that's us)) The rest are enjoying eternal, blissful loving exchanges in the Spiritual Kingdom with our Maker (also known as Krishna, Allah, Jehovah, Vishnu, etc.) If you want to end all suffering, you have to take the reigns of the mind with your higher intelligence, which comes from the source of all intelligence named above. Bhagavad Gita As it is is the knowledge how to do this. asitis.com you can read it on line. Read by intelligent seekers of truth. I love this transcendental wisdom.