Do you believe that some people may be NPC’s?

[sserafim]

Do you believe that some people may be NPC's? Lately, I'm growing increasingly convinced that my mom may be one. Whenever I tell her about my "outlandish" ideas she just shuts down and sometimes even gets mad at me. She can't fathom that someone would have a completely different take and viewpoint on life than her. She seems to be programmed to follow society's rules and expectations (partner, family, house, children, career) and whenever I try to challenge her worldview she just gets angry. She doesn't think about things like the meaning of life or why we're here, she thinks that these are "useless" things to think about. She doesn't have any critical thinking skills either and always gets very defensive of her country. Even if I criticize or say something bad about it for fun, she always gets mad and argues with me. Idk, she's just kind of weird…

 

[Done'n'Dusted]

Some people I guess are as you say, programmed. Set on worldviews and whatnot and they can't even comprehend the idea of other ones out there, but I guess if they can't even defend their views and get mad instead, what does that really say about them?

 

[Sylveon]

I just had this convo with one of my family members yesterday, and they got pretty mad at me, lol.
But still, I wouldn't blame them; it's (their view of life) worked for them and countless others around them, so yeah... it's pretty understandable why they'd be defensive.

On a side note, I never liked the idea of calling people NPCs; it feels the same as them calling us the "depressed ones," if you get what I mean...

 

[Tears in Rain]

She seems to be programmed to follow society's rules and expectations (partner, family, house, children, career) and whenever I try to challenge her worldview she just gets angry. She doesn't think about things like the meaning of life or why we're here, she thinks that these are "useless" things to think about.

Ultimately we're all programmed to some degree. That whole fairytale of family/home/children/career has been passed down from generation to generation for a long time. I wouldn't judge your mother harshly over that, it's just the way modern society functions.

As for not thinking about the meaning of life, in some ways your mother is right. For many people they're maybe better off not thinking about such things too much, as it can lead to rational depression, or an existential crisis.
For most people, ignorance is bliss.

 

[TooConscious]

I don't like treating others as less than, but if someone tries to create further conflict with me I will retaliate severely. But otherwise I see us all as the same which is why it's so sad that we feel in this positions.

It's horrible feeling to be talked down to but the experience has made me stronger in some ways which is how we have to look at life cliche I know but seems we don't or can't hear the message enough. So I try to practice forgiveness and gratitude for us all even though I'm certainly not too grateful for existence In it's entirety and I hate this expression nowadays but I probably should've took the blue pill.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I think my parents can have quite rigid thinking, certainly. I sometimes get very racist, homophobic vibes from them but other times, they surprise me. I feel like my parents have a much greater sense of obligation than I do. They take pride in their house and garden. They both worked hard and had careers.

In some ways, my living situation is in rebellion to that. My environment is a mess. My 'career' is very precarious and I've reached a point that I don't even care as much. Although, enough to promise myself that I won't become a burden on them. I'm in my 40's. I don't have much excuse.

But ultimately- if we fail in life, that likely means they will have to support us. We know they didn't do that to their parents (presumably) so, I expect that's one reason they get annoyed/angry. They maybe felt like they had no choice. (Of course, they did- they didn't have to have children and create that extra burden on themselves to begin with.) But- either way, they chose to not be a financial burden on their parents (presumably) so, they probably do expect us to do the same. I don't know if that relates to you though... depends on whether it's looking to your Mum like you will reject work and education leading to work and rely on them.

My Dad also used to get kind of frustrated when I started talking about the meaning of life- usually from a pessimistic stance. He said that he went through that 'phase'. Some parents will see it as a phase or, an act of rebellion that you will grow out of. I guess as well- seeing as we don't have answers on the meaning of life, they must have maybe come to the conclusion that it wasn't worth their time and maybe was only making them miserable.

Here's how I see it. No matter how good we are at masking, our parents can likely tell that we're not entirely happy. So- in a way, they likely will criticise whatever it is we've gotten ourselves mixed up in- philosophy, social ideas, religion, gaming- could be anything. They'll sense that we're depessed and blame whatever it is we're focusing on as the cause in a way. A mother once came on here to ask whether people thought excessive gaming could be making her son depressed. The consensus was- no, your son is likely spending so much time gaming because he is depressed and he's trying to escape.

I think, when we feel down, we seek out things that resonate with that- like this forum! So- while it isn't causing the low mood, it's debatably feeding it. Which is something else your Mum may not like. So, it may not be just the ideas themselves your Mum disagrees with- although, she probably does as well! She may just not like the idea of you getting so 'bogged down' with lots of pessimistic ideas about the world.

As my Dad saw it- he didn't have the time or 'luxury' to think about all that stuff. He was too busy earning money for his family. The 'problem' I guess with people like us these days is we've chosen to reject a lot of that and, we're questioning it all. In their world though- that made sense. They had to become independent from their own parents. It was expected of them. Either they wanted a family or, that was expected of them too. In our cases, it depends on whether we are comfortable being financially dependent on our parents. A lot of people here are anti-natilist.

But of course- the option that our parents may never have seriously considered. That I expect many would be horrified to know that we are considering- is that we may kill ourselves. Everything changes with that idea. If you knew you couldn't kill yourself- maybe (for your own sanity,) your ideas would be more caught up in trying to live a reasonable life rather than the meaning of it all etc. That's their reality. They likely know they won't ever find out the meaning of life. They know they're likely here for a while. They feel responsible to care for their children and I guess, they just make the best of what they have. My Dad avoids things that make him unhappy or uneasy. It's more about escapism now. I think seriously considering suicide as an option is one of the major things that separates us from them.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Everybody is an NPC except for whoever the real main player character is supposed to be. I doubt it's any of us or even anyone we've ever met though. Most games treat the player character as somebody incredibly stupid or at least unfamiliar with the ways of our world so if we want to find out who the protagonist is we might wanna start there.

 

[SexyIncél]

Certainly, I think most people are NPCs. Because we're mostly on autopilot, steered by our unconscious & programmed emotional responses. Our windows of consciousness are fleeting

Changing that doesn't necessarily mean growing longer windows of consciousness. That'd probably be miserable & lead to burnout

To stop being an NPC, it suffices to practice moral/intellectual virtues. Till it burns into unconscious action. We're still on autopilot — but of our own design

 

[mortuarymary]

Had to google it

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

Certainly, I think most people are NPCs. Because we're mostly on autopilot, steered by our unconscious & programmed emotional responses. Our windows of consciousness are fleeting

Changing that doesn't necessarily mean growing longer windows of consciousness. That'd probably be miserable & lead to burnout

To stop being an NPC, it suffices to practice moral/intellectual virtues. Till it burns into unconscious action. We're still on autopilot — but of our own design

That is how the brain works. any book that you read where you learned that?

 

[zeevo]

The less you see of a person's life, the more of an NPC they appear to be.

If there are NPCs I probably am one, in the absence of external motivation from others I don't do or want much.

 

[PoorYorick]

she thinks that these are "useless" things to think about

A man sometimes reasons about the meaning of life. A philosopher is someone, who spends whole life on this pointless activity. :)

 

[WhiteRabbit]

She just sounds garden variety close-minded to me, but I've never really understood all of this NPC crap people keep talking about.

 

[leavingthesoultrap]

I legit saw one random guy respawn in various locations every time I went out... Happened in a certain small town I used to live in.
They do exist but just because someone is running on autopilot doesn't mean that they are NPC

 

[SexyIncél]

That is how the brain works. any book that you read where you learned that?

Sure! The one that comes to mind is Merlin Donald's "A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human Consciousness":

"Even under the best circumstances, we cannot keep more than a few seconds of perceptual experience in short-term memory. The window of consciousness, defined in this way, is barely ten or fifteen seconds wide. Under some conditions, the width of our conscious window on the world may be no more than two seconds wide.

"That is a shocking limitation. Where is the permanence or wisdom in a consciousness that cannot hold on to anything for more than a few seconds? To make matters worse, the brevity of this window is not restricted to sensory experience. It also limits our ability to think. Conscious thought is subject to the same temporal limitations as any other conscious mental activity. This presents us with an even more curious dilemma. We cannot usually complete a complex chain of thinking within a single subjective moment. To think really complex thoughts in consciousness, we have to string together a series of brief moments into some kind of systematic thought sequence."

— p.29 in the PDF (p.15 in the book)

The book's now uploaded to Library Genesis. In a few days, it'll pop up here. But for now, you can grab it here, using:

• username: genesis
• password: upload

It's a scan of my very own copy!

You can extend your window of consciousness to hours: simply have a conversation

---

I also know someone with a brain pathology: she's hyper-conscious. For example, when talking, she consciously shapes her mouth. Great reasoning ability, excellent BS detector

But existence exhausts her — everything's work-work-work. During conversation, my consciousness is free to think about just one thing. But hers does massive work. Except for dreams, she only experienced her unconscious a couple times: during sports, her body freaked her out by suddenly acting effectively on autopilot

I learned that my autopilot spares me massive suffering, as I can be unaware of existing. Makes me wonder: conscious existence = suffering?

Does it explain some who dream of nonexistence's peace?

Spoiler: More sources for the morbidly curious

• Noam Chomsky on free will: decisions are mostly made unconsciously. Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg
• Lisa Barrett's "How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain": emotions actually come from culture: emotions are basically cultural knowledge + a word that's shorthand for it. For example, take the Filipino emotion "gigil": "The urge to hug or squeeze something that is unbearably adorable". It's an entire cultural concept for them, and their brains construct what their bodies should do. In contrast, Tahitians have no concept of "sadness". In situations where I'd feel sad, they'd feel "ill, troubled, fatigued, or unenthusiastic, all of which are covered by their broader term pe'ape'a"
• Aristotle's "Nichomachean Ethics": I vaguely recall that he points out you level up moral virtues by doing moral acts. And intellectual virtues by teaching. It's probably obvious, but always nice to have a source
• Rich Hickey's Hammock-Driven Development: programmers use their unconscious mind to process things
• Justin Sung on learning faster: iirc he mentions you can't actually sleep. Not as an act of will. But you just organize your environment so you hopefully sleep

 

[TheSpookyNameGuy]

I believe we are all NPCs.

To others im a depressed loner that fits a stereotype in their head.

To me it's all about varying levels of consciousness, some are stage 1 others are stage 20.

I believe im high up there but lower in other areas of consciousness which has led ultimately to my current bleak situation.

I see consciousness like mcdonald's fries each of those fries is a part of the whole red base, they go up and down depending on where you are.

I constantly think about everything except love, companionship or anything that would benefit the world, i simply do not care.

I might seem as a less moral or caring npc to those that do care about such things.