Solipsism (Part 2)

             Is consciousness an illusion? Some people (who have too much time to think) believe 
this is a possibility; indeed, there is no substantial method to prove that there people experience
the same reality, or any sort of reality at all. The only thing that any person can determine to be
real is his or her own senses. Even then, could not signals be replicated, creating a facsimile of
life? This idea is solipsism (for more information, Google “solipsism” or see my prior post, which
is titled “Solipsism”), something that has puzzled  thinkers and philosophers for many centuries.
             This sort of thinking can be very dangerous. People act differently if they think they are
just in a dream; after all, is there really anything wrong with killing a person if you are living out a
fantasy? The idea of doing something without any repercussions has the potential to get people caught up in delusions of being untouchable -- things that happen in dreams don’t have effect
in reality. Cases of solipsistic delusions can occur in victims of schizophrenia and dementia; to
a certain extent, delirium and perception-alteration lower the individual’s defense against the
landslide of doubts and paranoid beliefs that can come about from solipsism. Although there is
no way to tell for certain whether the world is real, causality is certain to exist: there is no way to
escape from the consequences of an action, everything that is said or done will have an effect,
from direct actions such as throwing a ball to less active doings such as sleeping or sitting.

Reality cannot be negated; people experience events even if the do not actually occur;

open accusations of the contrary will be interpreted as insanity. Even while dreaming you know
your actions will have effect, and as you have no way of telling when the dream will end; with
eyes on the horizon, you explore your dream, regardless of whether it is real. With momentary
look at some possible outcomes, accepting that reality exists seems better than getting locked
up in a hospital’s mental ward for declaring that the world is a lie and that nothing really exists.

To be precise, reality most likely exists but its existence cannot be conclusively proven;

the only way to prove that it exists would be to end your own existence with certainty (Clear blue
skies above the Pearly Gates and whatnot), but you cannot possibly end your life conclusively
and verify your death, because any afterlife could be a coma-induced dream. In the end, you may
see, the safest choice would be to simply have faith in the world’s existence.


   

Tangency

    


   The phoenix is a mythological bird that achieves immortality through rebirth; when it approaches the end of its life, it sets itself ablaze and is reborn from the ashes as a hatchling. There is an actual animal that also lives forever by returning to the beginning of its life, the Turritopsis nutricula, the immortal jellyfish. When the translucent creature reaches sexual maturity, it transforms back into a static polyp and attaches to a solid surface on which it matures again into a medusa. The nutricula reverses its life cycle by metamorphosing every cell in its body to its polyp form -- this process allows it to be biologically immortal, should it not succumb to predation or disease. The same process, however, makes measuring the jellyfish’s age nearly impossible outside of a laboratory setting, as a reborn nutricula is identical to a larvae that has recently formed a polyp.
    The Portuguese Man o’ war is not a jellyfish. The creature, or rather, colony, is an amalgamation of polyps, four varieties that carry out the various processes to ensure the continuation of the colony. The most noticeable polyp is the pneumatophore, the air-filled  “sail” on the dorsal side of the man o’ war that allows it to float, guided by the ocean currents and the wind. The dactylzooids compose the stinging tentacles, the gonozooids control reproduction, and the gastrozooids are in charge of digestion. Unfortunately, there is no part that controls locomotion and so the man o’ war can only drift aimlessly on the ocean surface (though it can deflate the sail in the event of an attack), feeding and reproducing until it dies.
    The definite  article “the” is the most commonly used word in the English language as opposed to “a” -- a testament to the specificity-oriented nature of English.
    Some people prefer to use the Oxford comma in lists (“Cats, dogs, and hamsters are common household pets”) while others spurn the last comma (“Cats, dogs and hamsters are all mammals”). There are arguments for boths sides, as some say the Oxford comma is redundant and unnecessarily cluttering, while others point out the advantages of articulating in text the required pause before the last element of a list (“Cats , (pause) dogs, (pause) and hamsters...”). A classic example used by Oxford comma supporters is  “I had eggs, toast and orange juice,” which sounds quite silly without the comma before “and” but would have instead been written “I had eggs with toast and orange juice” had the original writer not been a supporter of the Oxford comma. It is completely optional and can be made so by phrasing and diction, and the choice whether to use it lies with the individual writer.