If you woke up as an alien in a humanless world, would you still be you?

[Scott]

This is a discussion forum topic for the November 2022 Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All


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?

[Mounce574]

I think if you have a broad imagination then it is entirely a possibility. It also gives a stand for wondering if humans are entirely fictional or if they are out there on another planet or universe. I think I would want to find out if humans are real.

[Surabhi Rani]

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.

[Sushan]

First, I would like to focus on dreaming. We all are familiar with dreaming as we all have experienced dreaming during our sleeps. We happen to be in entirely new situations in those dreams, and I am sure 'out of body' experiences are not rare among the dreams that people have seen. It is true that when we suddenly wakeup from a dream we happen to feel a bit awkward. But after that we carry on with our normal lives as nothing as happened. So I think this will apply even if we are aliens who are in a deep sleep dreaming a life as a human. When we wakeup, we will be aliens and nothing more.

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.

[Sushan]

I think if you have a broad imagination then it is entirely a possibility. It also gives a stand for wondering if humans are entirely fictional or if they are out there on another planet or universe. I think I would want to find out if humans are real.

You remind me of the movie 'The Matrix', which depicts,

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.

(Wikipedia)

it is not impossible to such a thing to go on right now without our knowledge, and it is quite a terrifying idea.

[Sushan]

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.

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.

[Mounce574]

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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 term ), it will serve no one. But yes, curiosity will make any of us to have atleast a peek despite whatever the dangers lie ahead.

[Jennifer Benitez 1]

You got som imagination thinking 'bout a human(?) world!

[Mounce574]

I recently read Dragon Protocol: The Eden Project which somewhat has the same scenario only humans landed on a planet and didn't know where the inhabitants had gone. When they banished a girl for not following rules that didn't make sense, she discovers the inhabitants went underground because there is a disease that is fatal and airborne. These survivors couldn't communicate except for telepathic touch and the first encounter with them wouldn't have been positive had the girl not taken the initiative to make contact first.

[Bertha Jackson]

My answer to this question will be the same as it was to the first question in your book. No matter what shape or form I find myself in, my soul would remain the same.

[Alex Reeves]

If I woke up as an alien in another universe and realize that my life on earth has only been a dream, I think I'll find it very hard to conform to the ways of my 'real' world. I'll surely act like a human there, and maybe I'll have to be taught how things go on so that I can live like a normal 'alien'. This is because I'm so used to this world, and it'll be very difficult to change my way of life to that of the alien was before I started dreaming about this world.

[Kathryn Liang]

I think at your core, you’d still be the real you. It would challenge every belief that you had ever known, however your innermost ideals of right and wrong and morality would probably stay the same. I think that you may have to change and adapt but in your head and soul, it’s still you.

[Alex Reeves]

I agree with you. It's still going to be me, the human, living and walking around in an alien body because I'm no longer used to being the alien I was before I started dreaming about humanity. It'll take a great deal of time for me to eventually adapt to alien lifestyle, but if this was all a dream, I'm certain that I'll never forget the experience of being a human.

[Samantha Barnes 3]

I would still be me. Everything around me would have changed, but I would still have the memories that shaped me, even if they were only in a dream. With that being said, I would be devastated, and I would have to change to suit my new environment.