The philosophical question you’re raising is known as solipsism, which is the idea that one can only be sure of the existence of their own mind and not of anything external to it. While it’s an interesting concept to explore, proving the absolute reality of the external world can be challenging.

Philosophers have debated these questions for centuries, and there isn’t a definitive answer. However, there are some common responses and arguments:

Pragmatism: While you might not be able to prove the absolute reality of the external world, it is generally more practical and beneficial to assume its existence. The way we navigate and interact with the world is based on the assumption that it is real.

Consensus Reality: The fact that multiple people can agree on the existence of certain things suggests a shared reality. If others can perceive and interact with the same objects or events as you do, it adds weight to the argument that there is an external reality.

Scientific Method: Science provides a systematic way of understanding the world through observation, experimentation, and verification. While it may not provide absolute certainty, the scientific method has proven to be a reliable way to gain knowledge about the external world.

Testability: While you may question the authenticity of your perceptions, you can still make predictions and test them against your experiences. For example, if you drop an object, you can predict that it will fall, and when it does, it provides some validation of the external reality.

Regarding your doubt about whether people are real or if the responses are from AI, the same principles can apply. If there is consistency in responses, coherence in conversations, and a shared understanding among users, it adds credibility to the reality of the interaction.

It’s important to note that these responses don’t necessarily provide absolute certainty but offer practical and reasonable ways to engage with the external world. The nature of reality is a complex and debated topic in philosophy, and there may never be a conclusive answer.

Define ‘prove’.

Before you can determine how to prove something, you must determine what evidence would constitute proof and under what conditions you might be able to collect that evidence.

scientificamerican.com/…/how-do-i-know-im-not-the…

It’s impossible to prove that anyone else or anything else exists. It’s also impossible to know whether my brain is deceiving me.

Consider this: What does it matter if everything is an illusion?

Does it change anything? Would the answer give any insight or provide any value?

I’m generally of the opinion that, no, the answer to the question doesn’t matter. Even if everything is an illusion, then that just is reality. Whether you think things exist outside your mind or whether you believe everything is a figment of your imagination, both are reality. Knowing which of the two is true makes no difference.

Well, if other people and things don’t exist then it’s your brain creating your perception of reality. The physics of your world is consistent, You can test that. If reality is something your brain is making up, it would have to calculate the physics of everything you perceive instantly and constantly. It can’t do that.

If it could, how would YOU, the consciousness that is experiencing this made up reality, ever struggle with something like a math problem? It’s the same brain. The sheer scale of everything happening around you, how would your mind possibly calculate it as you experience it.

How would your mind know how something hot like a coffee should cool down depending on the temperature around it and the container it’s in and how that heat will affect things around it.

If this reality is real, it’s not being calculated, it’s happening, everywhere all the time. If it’s fake it has to be calculated or simulated for you. If your brain can’t simulate it, then it’d have to be something like a super computer quantum singularity thingamajig. If that’s doing it, then who created the computer?

If reality is real, then people are real. If reality is fake then people have to be real.

Read some complex scientific stuff, e.g. physics. Try to really really understand the formulas AND the meaning behind it. Ask others for help and explanation if you can’t understand it yourself, but don’t give up until you got it thoroughly.

Then ask yourself if you (your brain) would have been able to produce this.

No? Then there must be someone with a bigger brain than yours.

Do the same with some truly creative art.

Or watch some really amusing comedy live show.

Or a circus.

Or…

Read G.E. Moore’s take on it uen.pressbooks.pub/…/g-e-moores-hands/

It’s a common and ultimately pointless/self-indulgent philosophical “question,” lots of good essays on it.

This is a great philosophical question, people have been asking themselves this for a very long time. Some have answers: You may have heard “Cogito ergo sum.”, by Rene Descartes. The context of this quote is that it is a logical conclusion, after the border began purposefully trying to show what really REALLY exists, as he chose to doubt about the existence of everything.

After a lot of thinking and writing he came to the conclusion that there is no way for you to know that your life isn’t just a hallucination, projected unto your brain by a daemon, however, there is one thing you CAN be sure of: If you are asking yourself these questions, you are thinking, that is undeniable you 100% experience your thoughts first hand, and therefore it is safe to say that because you can think, you can be sure you exist. Cogito, ergo sum. (I think, therefore I am)

Oh this is easy to prove. See life is disapointing. If it were all made up by my brain I’d have all the sex and never be rejected and the bank account would have a lot more zeros in it printed in black.

Also I have no impuse control, theres not a reality where my brain would invent pizza and not let me eat it 24/7.

I mean… Your brain is just making shit up.

Color? It’s the brain interpreting the visible wavelengths of light. Maybe what you see for red isn’t the same as anyone else. Maybe the difference between high and low pitched sounds, sound different to each individual because the experience of hearing a sound is, again, just the brain’s interpretation of data.

The data can be the same for everyone, and the experience can be totally different because the brain interprets that data differently for each person. It certainly would explain why some people like subjective things and others do not; such as colors, music, flavors, etc.

I can’t prove that I exist, let alone that you exist. Maybe neither of us really exist and this is all just a simulation. Maybe it’s not even a real simulation, but a figment of the imagination of another being who is simply dreaming about a simulation.

Dr. Samuel Johnson (writer of the original English dictionary) was posed this theory. In response (probably a little drunk) he ran up and kicked a giant stone, saying “I refute it thus!” He broke his foot.

Probably don’t do that but I guess you see his point.

Reality can be subjective. What’s it matter if it’s all in your head? You are still experiencing it no? There is no way to prove that anything actually truly exist other than your own consciousness maybe. What matters is that it is real to you.

In all honesty it sounds like you’re struggling with disassociation which is treatable through therapy. I don’t know a lot about it but there is plenty of information online I’m sure

The only thing you can know for sure is that you exist.

Absolutely nothing else can be proven to exist with 100% certainty.

Suppose it is - suppose that you can know for sure that your entire perception of reality is just noise being generated somewhere and being fed into your consciousness, and that no action you take has any impact on this meta-reality.

How would that affect your choices?

Considering how lazy I am, there is no way my brain would bother with all the little details I see everywhere when I go out. When I’m at a busy station or crossing and I literally see thousands of different people walk by, not a single repeat face? Proof enough for me this is real tbh.

(and if you go the simulation way, who cares? If a simulation can give billions of ppl their own lives, feelings, dreams and hopes, it does not matter in the slightest to the ppl living in it that it’s real or a simulation)

You’re looking for counter-arguments for Solipsism. Wikipedia’s definition:

Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one’s mind is sure to exist.

Further reading: [iep.utm.edu/solipsis/](Solipsism and the Problem of Other Minds)

Thread with some counter-arguments: https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/89321/what-are-the-best-arguments-against-solipsism

The one I personally chose for myself is the pragmatic one: Believing reality is a fantasy doesn’t actually changes your experience of it.