How long have you existed?, or How old are you?

[TiredPhil]

If you were born on January 1st 2000 at 12 mid day, and the date is now exactly 10 years later ( Your birthday ) How old would you say you are ? This is not a trick question, but some thought/speculation may be needed to answer correctly. By the way, there is no correct answer. Just opinion Looking foreward to some interesting answers Cheers, Phil

[dutchraptor]

10

[Sornaensis]

Many moons.

[Marvo]

Old enough to bang your mom (which I did)

[Seroquel]

Old enough to bang your mom (which I did) I can confirm this, I was OP's mom.

[TiredPhil]

The question was probably a little too obvious. ( Or not ) Dutchraptor says 10 years old - This would only be correct if you came into existence on your date of birth. What if you were two weeks premature ? Does this make you older ? You were in the womb, and fully alive before your date of birth, so maybe you could be a bit older than 10 ! Marvo - I was wondering who my father was. - Now I know Lots more to reveal about a persons true age. - Any more ideas ?

[Sornaensis]

You're dumb.

[dutchraptor]

Obviously we take our age from when we are born, we don't consider our car three yrs and four days old because it was being manufactured for four days. Anyways the term age is used for ease so we don't have to mention or birth/fertilization date to everyone.

[Original Poster]

I've existed for the last 16 billion years as I am made of ancient stars.

[Darkmatters]

.. And yet we're born anew each day..

[TiredPhil]

Dutchraptors reply - " Obviously we take our age from when we are born " This is what we are told to believe. I should have said how long have you existed, and at what point would you condider yourself alive. From Conception ? Before conception both the sperm, and egg were both alive. Their genetic information was just merged together to form an early form of yourself. So how much further back can we go before you consider yourself not to have existed. Phil

[Original Poster]

Any line drawn between me and not me would be as arbitrary in time as it would be in space. "I" is purely abstract. "I" did not exist until I first learned of this notion of separation. My name is not really "I," my name is Legion.

[TiredPhil]

Here is another idea If you are a very polite, thoughtful, kind person. Lots of good qualities to your personality, etc. But when you were a child, you were mean, bad tempered, and utterly nasty. When did you come about ? Are you the adult, and all the bad aspects of yourself no longer exist. If so when did you begin to exist. Very difficult to get this out with text, and quite hard to put into verbal conversation, so apologies if I sound like a screw has come loose.

[Darkmatters]

Who you are is a constantly-changing thing, always subject to dynamic flux. The 3-year-old me and the 33 year old me are similar, and yet different - I suppose in the way humans are similar and yet different from the apes we evolved from. You seem to be looking for hard points - a moment when consciousness suddenly clicked on like a light and you came into being. I think it's more like a gradual accumulation, but at the same time older aspects of yourself are also being shed while other 'stable' aspects are undergoing change. Your consciousness is about as stable and unchanging as the weather. Especially through childhood and adolescense - while your brain is still growing and youre learning things at an accellerated pace. I can remember a couple of times when my worldview sort of clicked into place - one was the moment when I suddenly understood that meat is muscle - before that I just had a foggy notion that meat was somewhere inside animals, and that muscles were stringy things running through it. It struck me like a thunderbolt when I made that realization, and suddenly a lot of fog dissipated and I could see things more clearly. I had a similar revelation at one point concerning geography too - I guess it was when I became aware that all the land masses on earth had been pretty much fully explored and mapped out and that there was very little room left for big mysteries of the kind my chldish mind liked to dwell on. But really, even after many of these revelations and reaching a fairly stable form of adult thinking - the mind is still always changing, though less obviously. Who I am can seem very different depending on my state of mind in a given situation. I see that sense of self commonly referred to as consciousness as largely a complex illusion.

[Xei]

Unambiguously define what you mean by 'exist' (and the onus is of course on you to do this as you're the one communicating your question), and then we can give a clear answer. There's a philosophy forum here, by the way.

[Darkmatters]

Unambiguously define what you mean by 'exist' Sounds simple enough, right? Heh - then we'll discuss how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

[Carrot]

Before conception both the sperm, and egg were both alive. If that's the case, we are carrying lots of lives in our body now. But I would consider an existence as a life with a value. Sperms and eggs die every other day and nobody mourns for them.

[TiredPhil]

The personality you consider yourself to be is always learning, and in a state of change. You could consider yourself to be very young, or old. Probably only a week/month/year or two old, depending on changes to your life, and life experiences. Your official age given to you by society is from the day you were born till now. Your biological age is probably millions of years. An enlightened individual would consider their age from the moment of enlightenment. I was not looking for a specific answer to my question. I was looking to see how old you consider yourself to be. Yourself being whatever you think you are. I am here to learn from others, and your answers so far have been quite varied. All of them very interesting. Love it Phil If that's the case, we are carrying lots of lives in our body now. But I would consider an existence as a life with a value. Sperms and eggs die every other day and nobody mourns for them. There are no cells left in your body from the day you were born. Zero, Nada, Nothing The cells in your body now will all be replaced in the next 7 to 12 years. Unambiguously define what you mean by 'exist' (and the onus is of course on you to do this as you're the one communicating your question), and then we can give a clear answer. There's a philosophy forum here, by the way. You could ask a moderator to move this topic, I am new to all this.

[SpaceCowboyDave]

I cannot answer this question as time does not exist.

[Abra]

I am the present. Just this instance, you see? Clicking along in, I don't know, planck seconds or something. There, I'm that plank second, here. I have memories of past clickings. Some of these memories are cumulative and no longer behave as memories but as perspectives and knowledge. But memories are defunct. They warp and bend in on themselves and portray the fabricated as truth. Thus, the age of a conscious being (if you assume full consciousness to begin at memory, or self awareness) cannot be determined by the extent of their memory, since the memory is fallible. So I have no age. I am just this moment, now.

[TiredPhil]

I am the present. Just this instance, you see? Clicking along in, I don't know, planck seconds or something. There, I'm that plank second, here. I have memories of past clickings. Some of these memories are cumulative and no longer behave as memories but as perspectives and knowledge. But memories are defunct. They warp and bend in on themselves and portray the fabricated as truth. Thus, the age of a conscious being (if you assume full consciousness to begin at memory, or self awareness) cannot be determined by the extent of their memory, since the memory is fallible. So I have no age. I am just this moment, now. Now that is a good answer, and the best so far. There is only ever now. Yesterday is a memory, an tomorrow has not yet come about.