Yes, it did. I am currently sitting in my study. In another part of my house there is a bed room with a bed in it and a few chests of drawers and whatnot, covered in a thin layer of dust and discarded clothing. Even though my mind is stuck inside my head and cannot travel to my bedroom to check on its on-going existence, I consider that it exists, objectively. Absent the actions of the cat and perhaps those who share my domicile, I expect that when I return to my bedroom it will be the same bedroom, in the same configuration as I left several hours ago (although I am aware that the air in it may well have changed, there will be some additional dust, some minuscule entropic effects would have taken place, the mould in the en suite is likely to have spread imperceptibly and I expect that some bacteria colonies will have grown somewhat - but none of that will be noticeable to me). Similarly, I visited Paris some years ago, and I noticed that it has some really old stuff in it, stuff that (appears to have) existed long before I did. Hell, even some trees near where I live seem to be older than me. The rocks are ancient including, critically, those on which my house is resting. But I am aware that, a long long time ago, the material that comprise those rocks was red hot magma - it's had a long time to cool down. To me, that is important, so the universe did exist before I did <<TO ME>>.Spiral Out wrote:Did the universe exist TO YOU before you were consciously aware of it? <snip> If your answer to my question is "yes it did" then I'll ask how you were able to understand the existence of the universe when you possessed nothing to understand it with (a brain).
Moving away from mere material and inanimate things, my parents also existed prior to me. I've been privileged to observe the creation of a new human (not from the very start, that'd be a bit creepy, but from the swelling of a belly and then the production of a nicely wrapped screaming thing), so I am aware that when I became aware of the universe (such that I now remember) was quite some time after I emerged from my mothers loins. I myself existed before I was aware of my existence (ie as part of the continuous awareness of existence that I have now).
Your argument, Spectrum, seems a little ridiculous when you look closely at it, because you are pretty much saying that you were never a suckling infant (perhaps from a bottle, but suckling nevertheless) because you have no recollection of it. Your parents never existed prior to your existence, according to your logic.
Similarly, there are things that happened to you as a child, and perhaps even as a young adult (and quite likely even recently) of which you have no reliable memory at all. Are you saying that these things didn't happen because they are not in your awareness? Look at your body, quite likely you have a few scars, perhaps even some extant scratches or bruises (more likely scratches if you also have a cat). Do you remember clearly getting all of those injuries? If you are like most people, and honest with yourself, you will have some marks on you that you have no recollection of. Did the incident(s) that led to those marks not happen because you cannot remember them and thus they are not part of your on-going existential awareness? Some magic fairy just came and painted them on?
I know that you don't believe in magic fairies, but this is a logical continuation of your argument. Nothing that you cannot remember exists, therefore anything you forget just disappears into non-existence. (And what about things in the world that you have never experienced - for example, I've seen photos of the pyramids and video footage, but I've not visited them myself, do they exist despite not being in my experience? I say they do, your argument suggests that they don't. And that's piffle!)
Why you think that this isn't solipsism is beyond me. Perhaps, deep down, you are aware that solipsism is a ridiculous world view and you reject the label on that basis, but you haven't managed to rid yourself of the world view that the label refers to.
(By the way, given that I accept the existence of the universe in the past, I have no problems with accepting the universe in the future, even though it will be a future in which I play no active role. Perhaps this is your solution to the non-existential angst that comes from knowing that the universe will go on once you are gone, and thus you will be missing out on all the excitement. I take a different position: once I am dead, I won't be around and I won't be in any condition to care about missing out on anything. Right at this moment, I am notionally sad to be missing out on flying cars and interstellar travel, but this is a consequence of being alive - I am also sad to not be living on a little shack on a tropic island (tropical islands that I am pretty certain exist) and that visiting the pyramids (which I am pretty certain exist) might not be possible when I have the time and means to take a trip there - such is life.)