Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - If I'm not online, does this thread exist?

Martian · 12-27-2005, 11:42 PM

Does it matter if this thread exists?

Life and everything involved with it is uncertainty. A sound is not a sound until it is heard; at the same time, a tree falling creates the same atmospheric vibrations regardless of whether or not there is someone perceiving those vibrations. Is it a sound, or not? I don't know. More importantly, does it matter?

The great important key to life is learning how to let that which does not matter slide. Schrodinger's cat may be dead or alive; however, the observer effect states clearly that the cat's state is undisturbed only so long as it is unknown. And it is only in the undisturbed state that a quantum level of uncertainty exists. Due to the isolation of this, it has no ramifications on your or my daily life and can therefore be grokked and cherished, allowing you to move on with your life.

In pertinence to your specific query, this thread most certainly exists, although not necessarily in the manner I suspect you're considering. Even if it is only a hallucination or a figment of your imagination, it must exist. Thought and creativity are a form of existence; there are some who would argue it is the only form of existence and I will most definitely assert that it is the only important one. When you are offline this thread may not exist and it's state is most definitely not what you currently consider it to be. It's condition is transient, as is everything. However, it is only when you are online that it is truly an issue; by your perception, there are no consequences of this thread ceasing to exist while you are not viewing it, so long as it does exist at the time that you are.

12-27-2005, 11:42 PM	#41 (permalink)
Martian Young Crumudgeon Location: Canada	Does it matter if this thread exists? Life and everything involved with it is uncertainty. A sound is not a sound until it is heard; at the same time, a tree falling creates the same atmospheric vibrations regardless of whether or not there is someone perceiving those vibrations. Is it a sound, or not? I don't know. More importantly, does it matter? The great important key to life is learning how to let that which does not matter slide. Schrodinger's cat may be dead or alive; however, the observer effect states clearly that the cat's state is undisturbed only so long as it is unknown. And it is only in the undisturbed state that a quantum level of uncertainty exists. Due to the isolation of this, it has no ramifications on your or my daily life and can therefore be grokked and cherished, allowing you to move on with your life. In pertinence to your specific query, this thread most certainly exists, although not necessarily in the manner I suspect you're considering. Even if it is only a hallucination or a figment of your imagination, it must exist. Thought and creativity are a form of existence; there are some who would argue it is the only form of existence and I will most definitely assert that it is the only important one. When you are offline this thread may not exist and it's state is most definitely not what you currently consider it to be. It's condition is transient, as is everything. However, it is only when you are online that it is truly an issue; by your perception, there are no consequences of this thread ceasing to exist while you are not viewing it, so long as it does exist at the time that you are. __________________ I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said - Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame