Philosophical headache thread: Is your mirror image alive?

[Eris]

Consider your mirror image. It can move. You can see it eat. It reacts to being poked with a stick. It can reproduce with other people's mirror image. If anything else did these things, we would say it was alive. Yet, we call our mirror image dead. What do you think? And no appeals to "commons sense" or other silliness.

[John Watson]

Ack, more headache threads! x.X; Thinking too much huuuurts, but I'll give it a go. xD

I consider my reflection to be very much alive, I mean, its me. Sometimes I wonder if there is a clone of me inside that mirror living a mirrored life as well, like a parallel world or something. The thought process never ends and I end up thinking about my reflection's reflection and so on and so forth!

[Capernicus]

The mirror image is a trap. It is pure negative energy that I observe in the mirror. I mean, it does the oppositee of what I do; it is left handed for instance. Everyone knows that exact opposites of you are evil, negative energy and therefor not alive.

[JustinPZFX]

Why would you consider the thought of light being reflected back at you from a reflective surface living? Perhaps this thread is just way over my head.

[Alcmaeonid]

Why would you consider the thought of light being reflected back at you from a reflective surface living? Perhaps this thread is just way over my head.

The OP specified that common sense was not allowed in this thread. L2read.

[JustinPZFX]

The OP specified that common sense was not allowed in this thread. L2read.

I already considered this wasn't a serious thread. However, reading the replies of other posters, I felt it warranted a question. Don't be a jerk.

[Digital Dragon]

If it is energy, even negative, that makes it very much alive. But it can be argued that the energy is only light refracted off our energy and is not an entity, merely proof we ourselves exist.

[Aku no Hikari]

It depends on what you think of as "life". If you think of it exclusively as the biological one, then no, our image is not biological (and it's not even matter), so it's not alive.

However, if you have a more loose definition that makes the answer of your question a yes, then wouldn't that also mean that animated characters you see on TV (or any sort of screen) are also alive? They talk, eat, react to stimuli, reproduce, etc. They're not very different from our mirror images.

Note that I did -not- say my answer is no.

[Gjallarhorn]

In that case, you could imply that any reflection of a living being is alive; however it is only a reflection, a refraction of light, and light is not alive...or is it?

[Skylar1]

Would you consider another "you" from a parallel universe to be just an illusion? No

Why would one not treat your reflection in the mirror just the same then?

[Alcmaeonid]

Would you consider another "you" from a parallel universe to be just an illusion? No

Why would one not treat your reflection in the mirror just the same then?

C'mon now, we've had people complaining about the trolling on this site, so cut it out already. At least the OP was blatantly a joke, but I'm worried that you're actually taking it seriously.

[Skylar1]

C'mon now, we've had people complaining about the trolling on this site, so cut it out already. At least the OP was blatantly a joke, but I'm worried that you're actually taking it seriously.

o.o

I was just trying to respond to the thread.. =\ OP said no "appeals to common sense or sillyness" so I only did the best I could..

I am confused by your concern.

[Alcmaeonid]

o.o

I was just trying to respond to the thread.. =\ OP said no "appeals to common sense or sillyness" so I only did the best I could..

I am confused by your concern.

Judging by your philosophical musings in other threads, I wasn't sure what to expect.

[Eris]

C'mon now, we've had people complaining about the trolling on this site, so cut it out already. At least the OP was blatantly a joke, but I'm worried that you're actually taking it seriously.

Just because it's a joke doesn't mean it's not a serious matter.

I do not see my mirror image as being alive - it is part of a reflection of everything the light touches and once you remove the light it all ceases to exist until the light returns. It can also not reproduce without the help of whoever's reflection it is.

Can you really demonstrate that the mirror image vanishes when you remove the light in the room? Sure, you can't see it, but then again, you can't see anything, and it doesn't take that much walking around to stub your toe and realize that the furniture has not vanished.

[Furore]

Can you really demonstrate that the mirror image vanishes when you remove the light in the room? Sure, you can't see it, but then again, you can't see anything, and it doesn't take that much walking around to stub your toe and realize that the furniture has not vanished.

When there is no light in the area containing the reflective object I cannot observe the reflection in any way. Everything else the size of my reflection can be observed using other senses such as touch. I can observe the reflective object quite easily but not the reflection itself.

But then maybe it still exists in some sort of 'super reality' or something, idk.

[Aku no Hikari]

Why would one not treat your reflection in the mirror just the same then?

Because mirrors don't show images from parallel universes. If it were a parallel universe, then why does it look and act EXACTLY like you? (Aren't parallel universes supposed to be a bit different than ours?)


The question in this thread could be understood more generally as "Would you think of a seemingly alive image as if it's really alive?" ==> "Would appearing to be alive means that something is alive?"

And I can compare this question with the issue of whether or not a strong AI can be considered a real intelligence. Most people who see this thread would reply from a similar perspective as the Chinese Roomwiki. But this is very debatable.

SO I SAY OUR IMAGES ARE ALIVE AND THEY HAVE THEIR OWN RIGHTS!! YOU PEOPLE ARE DISCRIMINATING AGAINST MIRROR IMAGES FOR NO VALID REASON!! YOU'RE ALL RACIST!! DIDN'T YOU EVEN THINK FOR ONCE WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE IN THEIR SHOES??


@Alcmaeonid:

 

Why so srs?

[Wio]

I didn't know that we considered our reflections dead. I thought we considered them nonliving or something.

[CrystalAce]

I didn't know that we considered our reflections dead. I thought we considered them nonliving or something.

It's one of those propaganda theories usually created to brainwash us noble citizens. Next thing you know they (Eris...) would say our reflections need equal rights and amendments. It's all a conspiracy to rob off taxpayer's money.

[Wio]

It's one of those propaganda theories usually created to brainwash us noble citizens. Next thing you know they (Eris...) would say our reflections need equal rights and amendments. It's all a conspiracy to rob off taxpayer's money.

How exactly are our reflection's rights being violated? Maybe they'd ban obese people form standing before a mirror because it hurts the mirror image's self esteem?

[Adanadhel]

I didn't know that we considered our reflections dead. I thought we considered them nonliving or something.

Ah! That's a crucial point! We can only consider dead that which has lived before. Something that has never possessed life can't be considered dead, it's merely a non living being. But maybe the question here would be what do we see when we see our reflection? Is it something living or something that is dead?

[Skylar1]

How does that conflict with my statement that it's a mimic. While I didn't touch the genetic aspect of it I did touch on the mental aspect of it.

Because you said

Mimics can only copy, they don't think or feel. As such, they are neither dead nor alive. That which never existed can't be alive.

I felt the need to point it out because of your personification. It gave the impression of some kind of "entity". nothing more than that really. If you had used "it" instead, I would have bounced over you on the definition.

Ah! That's a crucial point! We can only consider dead that which has lived before. Something that has never possessed life can't be considered dead, it's merely a non living being. But maybe the question here would be what do we see when we see our reflection? Is it something living or something that is dead?

Refer to my previous post.

[Adanadhel]

Refer to my previous post.

Ah, but in this question I've made I'm not referring to the physical living, but to the psychological side. What you see reflected is you alive or dead? I'm not discussing if the reflection is actually alive or dead. I'm simply proposing an interpretation of your reflection, meaning, yourself...XP

[Skylar1]

Ah, but in this question I've made I'm not referring to the physical living, but to the psychological side. What you see reflected is you alive or dead? I'm not discussing if the reflection is actually alive or dead. I'm simply proposing an interpretation of your reflection, meaning, yourself...XP

That's called Solipsismwiki.

[Furore]

It reacts to being poked with a stick.

Mine is more pro-active. It starts trying to poke me back but neither of us can actually poke the other so there's no reaction.

I do not see my mirror image as being alive - it is part of a reflection of everything the light touches and once you remove the light it all ceases to exist until the light returns. It can also not reproduce without the help of whoever's reflection it is.

[-GAZKUL-]

this is waaay too deep for me.