Monday, September 17, 2007

i stink, therefore i am

if we all are unique, are we then still unique?
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think we are all unique. If that were true, people would be unreplacable.
And in our modern day society, everyone seems to be replacable.
It's sad but true.

Fortunately, some people are unforgetable.
I think you are too ;)

3:56 pm
P said...

thanks for the compliment :), but i wish to disagree.

replacable, maybe in job posts and that kind of world. but that's not what i am talking about. i was actually more concerned (if that is the word, because my phrase is of course more some play with logic) with who and how we are as humans.

there's the specific dimension, as in, we'll all be missed by certain people after our deaths. but even beyond that berkeley-like need of the other to confirm our own existence, there's also just... us. even if there's a human being on this planet who knows absolutely no one and who is known by absolutely no one, that person still is a person in his or her own right, a person so radically different from every other human being.

how do i know this? do i know every one on this planet and i compared them all and attested the many, many differences? the answer to that, surprisingly, is no :). even if i am mistaken, it is what i would like to believe. my belief does not change a thing at all: if i have an exact double on this planet - rendering me NOT unique - this belief will not erase (nor evoke) this double. but it will make me happy, and so the net gain is positive (yup, i'm being utilitarian here). which is good enough for me!

10:11 pm

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