# Prove your existance... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 8, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116 "2001-11-08T03:10:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Janet\_O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Janet\_O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janet_O)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/21 "2001-11-08T11:33:14Z")
Don’t think so much. You’ll get a headache. ---
**Author:** ![DynoSaur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DynoSaur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DynoSaur)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/22 "2001-11-08T12:18:00Z")
I exist. Against my better judgement, and only for certain values of “exist”. But I exist. The rest of you folks, I’m not so sure of. Although, if you all _are_ just voices in my head, as it were, my head is a much more interesting place than I had heretofore thought. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/23 "2001-11-08T12:29:16Z")
It is impossible to prove that I exist. But I can prove that we all don’t exist. I quote from Douglas Adams’ “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”: > [@](#): > > \*\*“It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. And finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any person you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.” \*\* I guess that wraps that up. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/24 "2001-11-08T14:16:52Z")
**Dragwyr** , that’s one of my favorite quotes! I’m not sure if I exist, but I don’t care! ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/25 "2001-11-08T14:20:21Z")
Well I had to convince the Mods that I existed after [this little debarcle](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=95201)… I managed it, and that must count in my favour existance-wise??? Gp ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/26 "2001-11-08T14:31:17Z")
I was going to comment that you can’t prove existense until you can prove non-existence, as the easiest way to identify something is to notice when it is absent (and vice versa), but Dragwyr weakened my philosophy a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/27 "2001-11-08T14:32:48Z")
[30’s Gangster] Hey, mac…I don’t gotta prove myself ta _nobody_. Got it? [/30’s Gangster] ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/28 "2001-11-08T14:52:32Z")
Philosophical conundrum number one: [Popeye] I yam what I yam. [/Popeye] With all that spinach he eats, how can Popeye be a yam? Philosophical conundrum number two: [The Kinks] I know what I am And I’m glad I’m a man And so is Lola [/The Kinks] Is Lola glad _I’m_ a man, or is _she_ a man??? So you can see that this is a very tricky situation, this “proof of existance” stuff. Perhaps you should jam a safety pin into your thigh. If you wince with pain, I’d say you exist. ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/29 "2001-11-08T16:02:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Violet \* > \*\*A bunch of terrorists tried to kill me in Sept. So I must exist to them. \*\* In keeping witth philosophical context and since Violet already brought up the act of hijacking… [hijack] Did many paranoids have their beliefs vindicated on September 11? What does this mean for people who weren’t out to get them? Do we have to start? Is paranoia a faith based system like Christianity, or a pseudoscience like Dianetics? Or is it a finely honed combination of both? Why isn’t it a tax shelter? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/30 "2001-11-08T18:12:58Z")
:: Takes off clothes and runs through the thread :: \ Woowoowoowoowoowoo! \ :: Puts clothes back on :: Now, then. Would I have done that if I didn’t really exist? Q.E.D. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116/31 "2001-11-08T20:12:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anal Scurvy \* > \*\*I was going to comment that you can’t prove existense until you can prove non-existence, as the easiest way to identify something is to notice when it is absent (and vice versa), but Dragwyr weakened my philosophy a bit. \*\* I would thank you for that comment, but since I’m not here, it’s kind of a moot point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-your-existance/92116.md?page=1)