Living Among Robots

Have you ever questioned the true existence of others surrounding you?
When I was a little kid, I would sometimes think about the possibility of me being the only “real” person, living among “fake”, or maybe imagined, individuals, who didn’t really have a mind at all. Growing up, I’ve heard many others stating similar beliefs with maybe slight variances. I don’t really believe in that anymore, however, I remembered all of this when reading Descartes Meditations, specifically his idea that I need to systematically doubt my senses, which are actually deceiving me, and that the only thing in which I can trust is about the fact that I am a thinking being. However, what about the others? What about the people who sit next to me in class, or my family, my friends? Are they real?

I think therefore I am. However, I can’t be certain other people have a genuine mind. Think about this, let’s have the example of me sitting next to a friend who just broke up with her boyfriend. She’s crying right now, therefore I believe she’s sad, probably because she misses him, probably because she cares about him, or some other similar reason. However, all I can perceive of her is the way her body is behaving in order to interpret her mind. I’m believing in my senses which tell me that if your eyes well up and you begin to cry it must be because you’re thinking about something sad. But, as Descartes would tell me, it’s impossible to know if she’s thinking at all based on my senses. Furthermore, he would add, there exists a dualism, a mind and body problem, separating them in two completely different entities. If this is the case, then it would be wrong to base my knowledge in her body behavior, which is not connected to the mind.

I don’t believe in dualism. Being a psychology major makes it really hard for me to believe that mind and body are completely separate. However, if dualism was possible, or even true, then there would really be nothing to assure a person he/she is not living among robots.