What makes a person real? - Help.com

To me everyone is abit fake, we all play pretend sometimes. What makes a person real is that they’re happy to admit they’re a little fake.

But if we’re on about the internet? I guess a salute. :|

Rocco. wrote:
Exactly. So why do people get scared, nervous, or even angry when somebody acts like somebody else under a new mask?

That’s outside of the point though. How does an author make his characters come alive? How does he give such powerful personalities that they seem like real people?

They take time to listen to EVERYTHING that people say in everyday life and obviously are more watchful of the people they talk to. I don’t think that they are observing them in an odd way but they watch their surroundings more than others.

I don’t know…trust I suppose. It’s weird because although I try to be as “real” as possible on the interent, I still end up feeling like a fake.

I can touch them. That a real person makes.

Reality is biology and physics, particles that form systems.

Rocco. wrote:

Snar wrote:
Reality is biology and physics, particles that form systems.

But you can’t see them. Do you believe I am who I say I am? If so, why?

Sprite wrote:
I can touch them. That a real person makes.

Again, if you can’t touch them. Say, me, or Snar, or anybody else on the internet- Does that mean that they aren’t real to you?

ZeroSum wrote:
I don’t know…trust I suppose. It’s weird because although I try to be as “real” as possible on the interent, I still end up feeling like a fake.

That’s the answer I was looking for! Trust. How does one earn your trust?

sideflip wrote:
They take time to listen to EVERYTHING that people say in everyday life and obviously are more watchful of the people they talk to. I don’t think that they are observing them in an odd way but they watch their surroundings more than others.

So are you saying that people that talk more are more likely to be real, or vice-versa?

Oh i didn’t know you were talking about people on the internet, sorry i was talking a bit deepr haha. Now on the internet itjust doesn’t seem like you can take a person seriously unless you know them, because you can’t infer whether for example they are telling the truth. You’ll never know who a person really is until you meet them (Obviously). To be real on the internet, like lets say your on E Harmony, you have to strike a serious conversation but relate it to everyday life for someone to trust that you are real.

Interesting questions, but may I know why you’re asking?

Over the internet, you make connections with people more or less the same as you would in real life (minus actually seeing them.) It happens whenever you find things that you have in common, be it taste in music or a way of thinking and feeling. Having similar experiences also contributes greatly since it allows people to relate to each other more easily.

It’s exactly the same principle with fictional characters. We make them real in our minds by building up their persona with the information we’re given. We travel with them, experience their emotions with them, share their triumphs and regrets - so we’re bound to feel “close” to them.

So you could say that what we become attatched to is an idea - an idea of a person, fictional or “real.”

Why are they real? They are real to you. What makes you trust them? Your desire to make a connection to feel real yourself.

Rocco. wrote:
But you can’t see them. Do you believe I am who I say I am? If so, why?

Do I believe who you say you are? no. That wasnt the question. I believe that you are real because I percieve your actions, such as telling me you are who you say you are.

Real, by definition, is something you can measure. Physically, you can feel it, hear it, see it, smell it, taste it etc. Sometimes seeing something isn’t enough to judge that something is real (hallucinations induced by drugs, schizophrenia etc) but to the person suffering with this they perceive all that they see and hear and touch as real. So, in saying this, the definition of real changes from person to person. One person’s ‘reality’ could well be an actual illusion.
But we can define reality in general terms that most humans agree with (the five senses) and judge using these methods of measuring. When it comes to people online, I believe that you are real because you are conversing and responding to what we say, therefore you must be human, and must be real (since the technology for some sci-fi robotic explanation does not yet exist). Now, in terms of if the person you are is the actual ‘real’ you, well, you can’t know that for sure unless you have some evidence to go along with it. Photos, videos etc. Again satisfying our criteria for what ‘real’ is by appealing to our senses. So if I say I am 26 years old and work on a farm, you won’t know that for sure unless I proved it to you.
Is this more of what you were looking for in an answer?

Rocco. wrote:
We become attached to an idea.
We trust others because we have a desire to be trusted.
Nice.

The reason I’m asking- Well, I’m not entirely sure myself. I just like to understand the thoughts that people have. It’s kind of a… Social experiment, I guess.

Snar wrote:
Do I believe who you say you are? no. That wasn’t the question. I believe that you are real because I perceive your actions, such as telling me you are who you say you are.

What claim do I or you have of being real? Who do you think I say I am? Better yet, who do you think YOU are saying you are?

I know what your doing mate, its phil101, but solipsism, while seemingly logical, is an unecessary progression. Look…we can say that we only know of our own existence, but why should we make such an unreasonable claim? We see actions and patterns similar to our own and it is much more logical to accept the existence of others as real then to deny all other entities such a quality.

Rocco. wrote:
We become attached to an idea.
We trust others because we have a desire to be trusted.
Nice.

The reason I’m asking- Well, I’m not entirely sure myself. I just like to understand the thoughts that people have. It’s kind of a… Social experiment, I guess.

Wahey, that’s my first quotable I think :)
I understand. I do things like that as well. For a connection perhaps?

Sprite, what you’ve said is similar to what I was just about to write. Reality is subjective.
You can’t know for sure what is real (my opinion), you just percieve what your senses and your mind tells you.
As for your last few questions - our personalities are arbitrary anyway, so you can’t just pin down one definition of “you.” So you define yourself by your current thoughts and emotions, your memories and experiences. That’s who I think I am. I’m not saying I’m anyone by the way, I’m just pixels on a screen to you.

What claim does anyone have of being real? Well, we’re here aren’t we? Just “being” makes us real. If that’s not real, I don’t know what is (haha that was a really lame half joke.) All this talk of reality is getting me out of my depth. You should go read some philosophy.

Rocco. wrote:
Phil101? I’m just curious.
Outside of the claim stuff, I’m just wondering with a few things.
See, I’ve got mpd, and I have other people that can take control in my head. They are totally different people, and they even have had accounts on some sites(Including this one) and I had no idea for a time. Then I realized that some people fake it and create the illusion of a person and they act out how that person would. What’s the difference? If they gain your trust, and have experiences that they talk about, are they any less real than the puppeteer controlling them? Are they any less real than you or I?

Who’s the puppeteer?

Yeah, I was just about to say to ignore that last post because it wasn’t a clever, philosophical question. That’s what I get for not sleeping.
I didn’t mean reading text books, I meant looking up the thoughts of philosophers on reality because there’s a lot out there. I haven’t either though, so :P

The difference is that this invention cannot think for itself. It hasn’t really experienced those things and it doesn’t really think that way - the controller is simply doing an imitation of a person. Like acting. The character being played out is real to other people, but the controller knows that they are simply pulling the strings of a puppet so to speak. The puppet can’t form relationships like the so-called real person can because a relationship is mutual and the character is one dimensional. It can go through the movements, but it doesn’t actually return the other person’s feelings.

So, the puppet will be real to the person on the other end, but never real to the controller, because the controller already has a sense of themself (their own thoughts etc.)

So what’s exactly is mpd? I’ve always been under the impression that the different personalities were aspects of the primary personality but they had “split off.” Something like that. I actually don’t know much about it. I can see how it’s inspired your questions.

I wonder if the people in your head are the same as the puppets we’re speaking of. Maybe not. To be a puppet, there has to be a controller. In this case, who would be the controller?

Rocco. wrote:
The puppet that is being controlled- People would eventually believe that they were real, no? People would trust the puppet and begin to love and connect with it, right? How is that? How can a person ‘make’ so-to-speak, a puppet?

Well, yes, but the puppet still doesn’t have feelings of its own, only imitations of feelings. Reread what I wrote up there ^ We make puppets all of the time to deal with different people and different situations. We take an idea and act it out whilst keeping ourselves safe, behind the scenes; pulling the strings.

Sorry if that wasn’t what you were looking for. I need to head to bed now. I’m enjoying this, but it’s keeping me up :P Please rest assured that I am real. Sorta. Read the poem I’ve got on my profile if you want - it’s related to what we’re talking about here.

Rocco. wrote:
Phil101? I’m just curious.
Outside of the claim stuff, I’m just wondering with a few things.
See, I’ve got mpd, and I have other people that can take control in my head. They are totally different people, and they even have had accounts on some sites(Including this one) and I had no idea for a time. Then I realized that some people fake it and create the illusion of a person and they act out how that person would. What’s the difference? If they gain your trust, and have experiences that they talk about, are they any less real than the puppeteer controlling them? Are they any less real than you or I?

They are all you. Just because someone has a personality disorder does not make each personality an entity. You are you because you are a biological system categorized as a human. Your perception and actions are not relevant to your existence in that regard.

Haha I think it kinda branched off into other things somewhere in the middle.

Rocco, what do you think makes a person real?

What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway? I don’t know. I hope I’m real to someone.

NO one is truly honest to my opinion… nor is there true equality in this frigid world.

it is just the appearance of honesty, cause seriously i dont think some are even honest to themselves,sorry if i offense but thats my opinion for today

but all else yep im real i have blood coarsing through my veins so i must be a living real person