# How do YOU know that you're not dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681 "2014-09-06T18:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Contemplation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Contemplation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contemplation)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/1 "2014-09-06T18:36:47Z")
What makes you think you’re still alive? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/2 "2014-09-06T18:39:55Z")
Because we can change. The non-living can’t change. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/3 "2014-09-06T18:40:36Z")
I think, therefore I am. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/4 "2014-09-06T18:43:35Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > I think, therefore I am. Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender asks him, “Can I get you something to drink?” Descartes replies, “I think not,” and vanishes. 🙂 By the way, great username/post combo! ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/5 "2014-09-06T18:43:40Z")
**Moderator Action** I don’t see a factual question here. Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Contemplation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Contemplation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contemplation)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/6 "2014-09-06T18:45:09Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Because we can change. The non-living can’t change. A ghost realized he’s dead, and changes his behavior accordingly. Is he back alive now? > [@](#): > > I think, therefore I am. You THINK, but do you UNDERSTAND? ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/7 "2014-09-06T18:47:06Z")
I am not dead, I hurt too much ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/8 "2014-09-06T18:47:17Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > I think, therefore I am. Sadly, the reverse isn’t true, as any trip down the freeway will tell you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/9 "2014-09-06T18:49:11Z")
I’m warmer then room temperature. I’ve got a pulse. Eating and digestion seems to be working properly. I had an itch. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/10 "2014-09-06T18:52:24Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > I’m warmer then room temperature. > I’ve got a pulse. > Eating and digestion seems to be working properly. > I had an itch. And a shower washes away the bad smells. ---
**Author:** ![Contemplation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Contemplation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contemplation)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/11 "2014-09-06T18:56:44Z")
> [@](#): > > I am not dead, I **hurt** too much First of all, pain, or hurt is an interpretation to a stimulus, its not a raw feeling by itself. Secondly, pain can also be an illusion. People with limbs amputated sometimes feel pain on a bodypart that is no longer there. So how do you know you’re not just a ghost? > [@](#): > > I’m warmer then room temperature. > I’ve got a pulse. > Eating and digestion seems to be working properly. > I had an itch. Those are all observations you made using your physical senses. How do you know your senses are even real? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/12 "2014-09-06T18:57:17Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > I think, therefore I am. I came here to say this. Were I dead, I would lack the faculty to contemplate the question of my status. ---
**Author:** ![Contemplation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Contemplation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contemplation)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/13 "2014-09-06T18:59:56Z")
> [@](#): > > And a shower washes away the bad smells. Rotting corpses can also stink. > [@](#): > > I came here to say this. > > Were I dead, I would lack the faculty to contemplate the question of my status. Say you were a ghost, wouldn’t you still be able to think? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/14 "2014-09-06T19:05:56Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Rotting corpses can also stink. Except corpses can’t smell themselves. If they could, they’d use Old Spice. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/15 "2014-09-06T19:15:47Z")
Because I’m still paying taxes. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/16 "2014-09-06T19:20:18Z")
I do/am able to do the following: -Reproduction -Digestion -Homeostasis -Interact with other organisms -Stimulus response I’m sure there are other signs of life too, but that is basically what was explained as the definition of life in 8th grade science class. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/17 "2014-09-06T19:22:16Z")
If I was dead, I’d be sleeping better. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/18 "2014-09-06T19:24:44Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Say you were a ghost, wouldn’t you still be able to think? If a ghost can do that, by any definition that matters to me, he’s alive. Is your question actually, “How do you know you haven’t passed into the after-life?” If it is, my answer is, I can’t be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/19 "2014-09-06T19:26:30Z")
As said, if I were dead I wouldn’t be able to think of the question. And there’s no such thing as ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/20 "2014-09-06T20:27:42Z")
Cogito ergo sums it up nicely. I sure hope once I kick the bucket I will no longer spend my saturday nights answering questions like this. Of course the whole thing depends on your definition of “dead”. My definition of being dead includes the inability to know things. So knowing you’re dead is impossible, leaving only the option of knowing you’re alive. Or rather, I should say “I” because for all I know, _you_ **are** , in fact, not alive. (Which includes trollbots, which can’t be dead because they were never alive.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681.md?page=2)