I was about ten years old when I first became aware of that thing called “death” and it terrified me. I remember my fears rising as I watched an episode of The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling was a masterful dispenser of nightmares, and his story sent me (and no doubt many others) trem-bling to bed that night. I don’t blame him—my discovery of mortality would have occurred eventually.
What scared me most was that some day I would not exist. I wasn’t worried about purgatory or heaven or hell—but I didn’t like the idea of being snuffed out like a candle. Like many others, I spent a lot of my life pondering the inevitability of death, without knowing what to do about it. I’d say it was a waste except that over time it led me to think seriously about the meaning of “death” and its counterpoint, “life.” I had a lot of questions and I sought answers, mostly in books.
Eventually, I took a serious look at one question that seemed to call for a yes or no response: “Does reality exist outside of us?” Most people, including the younger me, would probably reply, “Of course it does.” The sanity of that approach, however, didn’t seem to get me anywhere. When I decided instead to try answering the question with a “no,” I found that it led to simple, concise, elegant replies to all the other big questions. I’m no longer terrified of death, though I still try to avoid it. May this book do the same for you.
What is Philosophy?
Your philosophy is the silent operating system behind every choice you make—friends, careers, obsessions, even which streaming show to binge next. Most people don’t name it, but they live it. A worldview shaped by experience, fine-tuned by instinct, and modified by a thousand whispered (or shouted) influences since childhood. We all have a philosophy, whether we know it or not. It’s our own way of looking at our surroundings, trying to explain the situation, and determining our reaction. Many people inherit or adopt a religion to form a large part of their philosophy. You may already follow a philosophy similar to Virtual Immortality and for you this work may provide helpful confirmation. If you feel you don't already own your own philosophy, you're welcome to borrow from this one. in any case, this book will stimulate your thoughts on the topic.
Roots
Western philosophy, in all its classical glory, began with Socrates and Plato arguing about whether what we see is real—or like shadows on the wall. Socrates, as portrayed by Plato, argued for a world separate from our own thoughts about it. Plato, building on Socrates’ ideas, developed the Theory of Forms, which describes the physical world as merely an imperfect representation of reality.
The irony? That centuries later we’re still debating the same thing, only now with quantum physics, virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and simulation theory thrown into the mix.
That’s where Virtual Immortality comes in, not only to answer the question but to show how that answer leads to practical results.
