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If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
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If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
If you liked the opening question in my book In It Together, then you may like this question too, which ties into some of the other themes in the book:
Imagine a few minutes from now you suddenly wake up as an alien in a humanless world, realizing that you had only been dreaming you were a human and that humans were merely a fictional creature that you had dreamt up while sleeping. Would you still be you, the real you?
"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."
I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
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Re: If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
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Re: If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
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Re: If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
When I think about the themes that are discussed in the book in relation to this question, I would like to clarify a few things.
1) Do you believe in presence of aliens?
2) Do they have a consciousness?
3) If yes, is it similar to our consciousness and can we think of the shared consciousness including their consciousness?
If all the above are 'Yes", then I think I will sill be I am since there is no relevance of the outer body or appearance to being myself as long as the consciousness remains the same.
– William James
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Re: If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
You remind me of the movie 'The Matrix', which depicts,
(Wikipedia)a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source.
it is not impossible to such a thing to go on right now without our knowledge, and it is quite a terrifying idea.

– William James
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Re: If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
That is the rational way of acting in such a scenario. But will it be easy to apply practically? Most of us, including myself, are easily panicked when faced with new and uncertain situations. And the situation that is explained in this forum is the quite extreme among uncertain situations.Surabhi Rani wrote: ↑November 15th, 2022, 9:58 pm I would take quite some time to familiarize myself with the new world if I suddenly woke up as an alien in a humanless world. I would contemplate the reasons for my new existence. In that new world, I would compare myself with humans. After a thorough and complete examination of the situation, I think everything would be fine with me. I would try to set everything right with me.
– William James
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Re: If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
Morbid curiosity would still have me investigate with caution. I know that is taking a risk but I will never know if I don't. Whatever the result will also allow other people to react appropriately.Sushan wrote: ↑November 16th, 2022, 2:39 amThat is the rational way of acting in such a scenario. But will it be easy to apply practically? Most of us, including myself, are easily panicked when faced with new and uncertain situations. And the situation that is explained in this forum is the quite extreme among uncertain situations.Surabhi Rani wrote: ↑November 15th, 2022, 9:58 pm I would take quite some time to familiarize myself with the new world if I suddenly woke up as an alien in a humanless world. I would contemplate the reasons for my new existence. In that new world, I would compare myself with humans. After a thorough and complete examination of the situation, I think everything would be fine with me. I would try to set everything right with me.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." NF from Motto
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Re: If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?
Do you mean that you will be the first to take some risk and give the rest of the people some insight on how to act thereafter? But I think in this scenario you are on your own, and even if you loose a limb or your life due to the morbid curiosity (a nice termMounce574 wrote: ↑November 22nd, 2022, 10:46 pmMorbid curiosity would still have me investigate with caution. I know that is taking a risk but I will never know if I don't. Whatever the result will also allow other people to react appropriately.Sushan wrote: ↑November 16th, 2022, 2:39 amThat is the rational way of acting in such a scenario. But will it be easy to apply practically? Most of us, including myself, are easily panicked when faced with new and uncertain situations. And the situation that is explained in this forum is the quite extreme among uncertain situations.Surabhi Rani wrote: ↑November 15th, 2022, 9:58 pm I would take quite some time to familiarize myself with the new world if I suddenly woke up as an alien in a humanless world. I would contemplate the reasons for my new existence. In that new world, I would compare myself with humans. After a thorough and complete examination of the situation, I think everything would be fine with me. I would try to set everything right with me.
– William James
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2023 Philosophy Books of the Month

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023