## What If "It" Was All...

Post by ebascoray » Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:53 pm

...Just a Big Dream? Yes, this is based upon a posting on Facebook that I saw and read recently.
The question was propounded, "What if life---all of life---as you know it---was just one big dream? And, that when you die, you finally woke up from that dream?" That was the basic concept. It is an interesting one.
So, what do you think YOU would say? How would you respond? Myself, I'd say, Sheesh, that was one very strange dream. One hell of a dream, to be sure. And, I've dreamed all of THIS? I must have been "tripping out" on some kind of hallucinating mushrooms before retiring and having THIS dream!
So, how do you think that you'd respond? Best Regards, everyone!
Ebascoray

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by chadmc90 » Sun Jan 25, 2015 10:42 pm

And what if when you woke up and dies, that was a dream, and died again and that was a dream. And what if it was a never-ending cycle of dreams within dreams?
Lol.
Check out my latest story A Cowboy's Dream!
Feedback highly appreciated! Feel free to Private Message me if you prefer to not post on the public forum!

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by tony2 » Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:16 pm

the one when you wake up in handcuffs will be the real one!
If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.
ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by Chloé The Librarian Extraordinaire » Wed Jan 28, 2015 3:08 am

> Edgar Allan Poe wrote:Take this kiss upon the brow!
> And, in parting from you now,
> Thus much let me avow-
> You are not wrong, who deem
> That my days have been a dream;
> Yet if hope has flown away
> In a night, or in a day,
> In a vision, or in none,
> Is it therefore the less gone?
> All that we see or seem
> Is but a dream within a dream.

I LOVE YOU ED !

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by longdistanceclara » Sun Feb 22, 2015 2:08 pm

I'd laugh. To be so scared of death & then having died to simply wake up alive.
Pity comes to late. Turn around & face your fate. An eternity of this before your eyes.

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by Jason Toddman » Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:30 pm

About thirteen years I wrote (but never published) a sci-fi short story with that concept. It turns out that what we call life is simply a MMO with billions of players, and when we die it's simply game over and we resume our "real" existence, which we forget during our 'game of life' to make it more interesting. "Real life' turns out to be Heaven... a Utopia that is peaceful and perfect and so utterly boring that we play MMOs like Planet Earth to pass the life and inject some interesting experiences in our otherwise immortal and unendingly dull existences. Playing different MMOs (some of which might resemble our own fantasies and sci-fi stories in utterly different worlds) would be equivalent to reincarnation.
There's actually a theory now circulating around that all of existence may just be an incredibly advanced hologram, and we're all just the equivalent of NPCs or AIs. I think I prefer my version, since at least we would still be real afterward and could at least choose what MMO we play next and experience as many different 'lives' as we want to pass Eternity.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by chadmc90 » Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:02 pm

> Jason Toddman wrote:About thirteen years I wrote (but never published) a sci-fi short story with that concept. It turns out that what we call life is simply a MMO with billions of players, and when we die it's simply game over and we resume our "real" existence, which we forget during our 'game of life' to make it more interesting. "Real life' turns out to be Heaven... a Utopia that is peaceful and perfect and so utterly boring that we play MMOs like Planet Earth to pass the life and inject some interesting experiences in our otherwise immortal and unendingly dull existences. Playing different MMOs (some of which might resemble our own fantasies and sci-fi stories in utterly different worlds) would be equivalent to reincarnation.
> There's actually a theory now circulating around that all of existence may just be an incredibly advanced hologram, and we're all just the equivalent of NPCs or AIs. I think I prefer my version, since at least we would still be real afterward and could at least choose what MMO we play next and experience as many different 'lives' as we want to pass Eternity.

That sounds really similar to the plot of the game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, except in that game the "administrators" of the universe's servers try to completely wipe it out. Loved that JRPG!
Check out my latest story A Cowboy's Dream!
Feedback highly appreciated! Feel free to Private Message me if you prefer to not post on the public forum!

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by tony2 » Sun Mar 08, 2015 1:12 am

This has been knocked about since the mid 1600s. From Winkipedia:
Cogito ergo sum[a] (/ˈkoʊɡɨtoʊ ˈɜrɡoʊ ˈsʊm/, also /ˈkɒɡɨtoʊ/, /ˈsʌm/; Classical Latin: [ˈkoːɡitoː ˈɛrɡoː ˈsʊm], "I think, therefore I am", or better "I am thinking, therefore I exist") is a philosophical proposition by René Descartes. The simple meaning of the Latin phrase is that thinking about one’s existence proves—in and of itself—that an "I" exists to do the thinking; or, as Descartes explains, "[W]e cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt … ."
This proposition became a fundamental element of Western philosophy, as it was perceived to form a foundation for all knowledge. While other knowledge could be a figment of imagination, deception or mistake, the very act of doubting one's own existence arguably serves as proof of the reality of one's own existence, or at least of one's thought.
I've alluded to it a few times on this site, so now I give you the "horse's mouth".
Remember, if you doubt, you exist. If you don't, none of us exist --- you're just having another one of those dreams again.....
If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.
ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by Jason Toddman » Sun Mar 08, 2015 9:28 am

> tony2 wrote: "I think, therefore I am", or better "I am thinking, therefore I exist") is a philosophical proposition by René Descartes......

Rene Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender asks him if he wants anything. Rene replies, "I think not," and promptly vanishes.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by skybird137 » Sun Mar 08, 2015 1:41 pm

As the plant said "I think, therefore I'm Yam."

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by NemesisPrime » Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:52 am

I remember seeing this in a very pretentious movie that had a weird obsession with black leather and fetishzing cake.
What was called again? Oh yeah, The Matrix xD
Everyone speaks in multiple languages...But gag talk is universal and a sock in your mouth is the perfect translator!

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by ebascoray » Sat Mar 14, 2015 5:42 pm

A plethora of interesting comments have been made, so far. Thanks, everyone.
Ebascoray

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by tony2 » Sat Mar 14, 2015 10:12 pm

ok anybody know how Descartes met his end?
He was also the founder of Cartesian Geometry ( no, a recent time traveling HS student didn't go back and snuff him either)....
If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.
ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by Jason Toddman » Sun Mar 15, 2015 6:25 am

> tony2 wrote:ok anybody know how Descartes met his end?
> He was also the founder of Cartesian Geometry ( no, a recent time traveling HS student didn't go back and snuff him either)....

Unless this is intended to be a riddle with some kind of punch line, he reportedly died of pneumonia.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by tony2 » Sun Mar 15, 2015 2:54 pm

You're right, but how and where is the key....
If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.
ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by Jason Toddman » Sun Mar 15, 2015 3:54 pm

> tony2 wrote:You're right, but how and where is the key....

In a drafty castle of someone he was tutoring, with whom he apparently didn't get along with too well. Some conspiracy theorists think he was murdered. Is any of that what you're driving at?
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by tony2 » Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:22 pm

exactly --- he was also a theoretical mathematician (cartesian geometry was his creation) however, his patron began to be more and more unimpressed (read confused?) with the theoreticals Descartes was obsessed with (after cogito ergo sum, he tried to logically prove God existed as well ---he never could get the syllogisms to work). SO, moving him to a cold and drafty room in the castle, his allocation of firewood/coal was reduced dramatically over time. As a result of almost freezing to death, he contracted pneumonia and finally was able to validate his final unsolved theorem. Murder? or the result of combined karma from all those HS students in the future who had to suffer learning his math.....
If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.
ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by skybird137 » Sun Mar 15, 2015 11:45 pm

If he was a mathematician, would it count as a 'summary' execution?

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by tony2 » Mon Mar 16, 2015 3:26 am

definitely --- and with a remainder to carry forward....
If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.
ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by skybird137 » Mon Mar 16, 2015 3:32 am

Well, I didn't want to cause any division over it...

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by Jason Toddman » Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:02 am

And so to sum it all up the bad puns begin to add up until they eventually multiply. Then they divide and conquer.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...

### Re: What If "It" Was All...

Post by tony2 » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:57 pm

If you believe in yourself enough -
nobody else will figure out you're faking it.
ANTS viewtopic.php?f=85&t=22496
Talk is cheap viewtopic.php?f=78&t=21971