How do we know that we are all consciously experiencing the same moment in time?

But even if we weren't, it would be exactly the same. In fact there's no difference between the two.

By "the two" I assume you mean option 1 is that we all experience the same present at the same time, and option 2 is all of our presents are out of sync. The end result would be no different to any of us. Whether we are synced up or not our lives would be exactly the same. But the difference is that in option 1 we are living 2019 right now and I am interacting with other peoples presents in my present, but in option 2 I am in 2019 interacting with the pasts of people that have already experienced it, and the futures of people who have yet to experience it for themselves. Again the end result of either option would seem identical to the individual.

Imagine I tell you that there's a way to make $500 without doing anything. You ask me how. I say all you need to do is sneeze. You sneeze and then point out that you don't have $500 more than you used to have. I say that this is a special sort of $500. This is the kind of $500 where, if you get it, you have just as much money as you had before. There's actually no way to know whether you get the $500.

I get what you are saying, but that is not quite what im getting at. It's more like If you actually gave me $500 for sneezing, and I was interested in when you gave me the money. Maybe you wired it to my bank account before I even sneezed, or maybe you wired the money to my account after I sneezed. The end result is not different. I sneeze, I get $500. But there is a difference between those scenarios, and that difference is when an event occurred.

It would be interesting if people experienced different presents in the normal sense. The man on the couch could ask you about the future and learn something new, or something like this. That is not what you mean. You meant it in a special sense according to which it's about as interesting as my $500. It means nothing.

It is entirely subjective on what is, and is not interesting. It is interesting to me in the same way that simulation theory is interesting. Would it actually change anything about my life or your life? No. Is it interesting to think about reality being completely different behind the scenes than it seems? I think so.

/r/askphilosophy Thread Parent