# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/21 "2014-09-06T21:15:22Z")
I don’t know that I’m not dead. However things are the same as when I was alive, or if I was never alive things are the same as they’ve always been for me, so it doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/22 "2014-09-06T21:24:32Z")
You are detecting something that I did. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/23 "2014-09-06T21:24:42Z")
If I’m not alive, then there’s no meaningful distinction between alive and not-alive, so it doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/24 "2014-09-06T21:46:29Z")
If I’m dead, that means I was alive at some point. If I was alive and died, that means there is life after death. If there’s life after death, that means what we know about the physical universe is either untrue, or the process of life is a miracle. If what we know is untrue, then we don’t really know if we’re alive or dead. If it’s a miracle, it implies the existence of God. If there is a God, a large number of people on this board would have their heads explode. Since that hasn’t happened, either we’re all alive, or nobody knows anything. ---
**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, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/25 "2014-09-06T21:57:01Z")
Do you remember doing anything incredibly dangerous that you could have died from? What if I told you that you already died, perhaps more than once, and when you die, your consciousness transfers into a different Universe/dimmension where you continue to live your life as if your death had never happened. You continue to live, breath, think and interact in the universe with other people, but in your previous universe, there are people mourning over you. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/26 "2014-09-06T22:06:13Z")
Ghosts are fictional. In the real world, only living beings are self-aware. I am self-aware, therefore I am alive. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/27 "2014-09-06T22:07:22Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > What if I told you that you already died, perhaps more than once, and when you die, your consciousness transfers into a different Universe/dimmension where you continue to live your life as if your death had never happened. You continue to live, breath, think and interact in the universe with other people, but in your previous universe, there are people mourning over you. I would say I don’t believe this theory of existence without some evidence to support it. ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/28 "2014-09-06T22:10:07Z")
I got laid last night. I don’t expect that I’d getting that when I have died. ---
**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, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/29 "2014-09-06T22:24:57Z")
> [@DingoelGringo](#): > > I got laid last night. I don’t expect that I’d getting that when I have died. [You’d think so, but…](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1157564/Mortuary-attendant-sex-100-corpses.html) ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/30 "2014-09-06T22:25:05Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > I’m warmer then room temperature. > I’ve got a pulse. > Eating and digestion seems to be working properly. > I had an itch. Your haikus still need work, though. ---
**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, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/31 "2014-09-06T22:31:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I would say I don’t believe this theory of existence without some evidence to support it. Well, what’s YOUR theory of existence? What evidence do you use to justify it? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/32 "2014-09-06T22:37:22Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Do you remember doing anything incredibly dangerous that you could have died from? > > What if I told you that you already died, perhaps more than once, and when you die, your consciousness transfers into a different Universe/dimmension where you continue to live your life as if your death had never happened. You continue to live, breath, think and interact in the universe with other people, but in your previous universe, there are people mourning over you. Many Worlds theory of quantum mechanics. Dig it. I accept this principle completely. It’s the “Ultimate Anthropic Principle.” I only exist in those universes where I didn’t die. We, in hindsight, see the world’s survival of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a miracle. Nope: in 98% of all possible worlds, Kennedy and Khruschev fuck it up, and we’re toast. We simply happen to exist in one of those 2% of all worlds. It isn’t luck; it’s survival-selection. To answer your original question: I don’t. I could easily be a ghost. Or a figure in a holodeck sim. Or a lunatic in an asylum, dreaming all of this. Or deceived by a malignant spirit. (Maybe even a benign one; this world is pretty cool, most of the time!) Solipsism always wins; it can never be falsified. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/33 "2014-09-06T22:57:07Z")
I realized a long time ago that, while there are a lot of things that are unknowable, none of them actually matter. Because if they did matter, then you could use the way that they matter to know them. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/34 "2014-09-06T23:24:25Z")
I haven’t yet faced the particular judgement. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/35 "2014-09-06T23:41:57Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > What makes you think you’re still alive? How do you know that I do? Why do you think that I am? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/36 "2014-09-06T23:49:00Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Well, what’s YOUR theory of existence? What evidence do you use to justify it? 1. Cogito ergo sum. 2. I choose to believe that what I experience is caused by a reality outside of myself and not just a figment of my imagination. Therefore, I reject solipsism. 3. I then form conclusions about the nature of reality based on the evidence I receive from that reality. That last one covers a lot of ground. But relevant to this topic, I have never perceived any evidence that would cause me to believe in the existence of life after death or existence that can be transmitted through alternative universes. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/37 "2014-09-06T23:54:57Z")
> [@Contemplation](#): > > Rotting corpses can also stink. A shower wouldn’t wash off the stink of a rotting corpse. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/38 "2014-09-07T00:04:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I realized a long time ago that, while there are a lot of things that are unknowable, none of them actually matter. Because if they did matter, then you could use the way that they matter to know them. Is this a variant of “what you don’t know can’t hurt you?” It’s true, pretty much – but that sudden “finding out” at the end can be really brutal. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/39 "2014-09-07T00:23:47Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Solipsism always wins; it can never be falsified. …“but that’s just one man’s opinion.” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681/40 "2014-09-07T00:42:35Z")
Well, if THIS is the afterlife, I’d have to say _“OK, I guess it could be far, far worse.”_ And admit I obviously had a pretty humdrum regular life, seeing as I’m not drinking it up in the hall of heroes nor lounging with 72 hot teen virgins but neither am I swimming in a lake of fire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-that-youre-not-dead/697681.md?page=3)