Beingness

'Very well,' said the Riddler 'here is my question. Are we alive?' After asking this question, he quietly slipped off to his cottage. I realized it was not going to be an easy one, just like last time, because otherwise he would have waited for my answer. It was better this way nonetheless as I still had to attend some lectures. There is a long walk ahead of me before I get to school, it will be good for me to use that time to think about my question. And so I started. I remembered a quote by Descartes: 'I think, therefore I am'. I am thinking about this right now, does that mean I am alive? I have a habit to tend to stop pondering about such questions once I know someone smart had solved the problem before. But then again, did he solve it indeed? Or was it just mere man's interpretation? Let me not stop just yet. What else do I know... Oh right, another viewpoint of this problem is to use my background in science. I can say that we exist at a point in a universe where the light we have reflected travels. Hm, that does not suit the question too much, though. Existing does not necessarily mean living. It seems like my knowledge will be of no use. Time flew me by once again, I can already see the school.

5PM

The school lectures are finished for today. Finally, I must say. For some reason, it feels demanding for me to accept information without deriving them, and it is rarely the case at school. And even so, I prefer to be the one to derive them. Let's get back to the question. I think I have a free will, even if there are some punishments from the society if I take it too literally. This sounds peculiar, I had a similar approach to the last problem when I thought about characters in games being programmed. I think I cannot assume myself to be free just because I am able to do things that I think of. All my mind could just be a very advanced algorithm, and if so, I will never be able to figure it out, unless I am programmed to do so, I think. Well, what other approaches could I use? I thought for a little. I don't think I will come up with any more. Let's stick with the algorithm approach for just a little bit longer. I know that AI can be programmed in such a way that it develops its thinking on its own. We also develop sometime. When we learn how to do the same process faster, for example. There are researches that show how learning good habits can lead to good changes in life, while wrong habits to not so good consequences. I still don' t see how it could help me to answer the question. I will tell the Riddler some of my ideas, and that although the answer may seem obvious, it is not. I cannot confidently say that I am alive. Alright, time to sleeeeep *yawn*...

4:30AM

I woke up, brushed my teeth and set forth to the Riddler. When I arrived, I saw him by the fire-camp. 'Morning Riddler' I said and sat opposite him. 'Morning,' he said and continued 'did you find a solution to the question?' he asked. 'No, not entirely. I came up with some thoughts that would support the idea that it is impossible to tell.' and so I explained to him my insights of us possibly having written algorithms in our heads. But my final answer was that I do not know whether I am or I am not alive. He, once again, took some time to think it through carefully. Then finally, he replied 'Not finding a reason to justify something doesn't mean that there is none. We may oversee them. Your insights about AI are intriguing nonetheless.' he said. Then he paused for a moment, it seems to me as if he was wondering whether to tell me something. So I interrupted him, asking 'Is there something you'd like to say?' He responded 'Yes, in fact, there is. I asked you this question not only to test your thinking skills, but also because I do not know the answer myself. I have a hypothesis, but it is not certain.' I was really curious, so I asked 'What would the hypothesis be, Riddler?' He turned to me 'If you remember our conversation from the last time, we talked about perfection and the only way to get it, that is realizing your imperfections and fixing them, one by one. I daresay that with each new experience, our mind changes. Maybe slightly, but I am sure it does. There are big events in life. Some are accomplishments, take graduation for example. Some are tragic, a death of someone really close could be such an event. But whether the event is big or small, it affects us somehow. So again, me now is not me tomorrow. Me now is not me in the next second, however extreme it sounds. And for that reason, I think that if we live, then we only live in infinitely small moments before changing to somebody else.' I stayed silent, taking my time to think it through.