09 Aug '05 10:59>1 edit
Originally posted by lucifershammerIt's tricky, by your mere existence, you can potentially have some causal influence, be it unmeasureable by human means (chaos theory I suppose) and your energy consumption, even if you are just thinking, will diminish the resources of the planet. I guess it's a bit like Schrödinger's cat.
But even if the person is inert, would he not still be aware of the world around him and of himself? Would he still not think? Does "being" imply "doing"?
However I believe Bosse de Nage was alluding to the interactive part of consciousness. On this level I agree with him. If an entity does not interact with other entities on a conscious and active level, his existence may as well not be. In this way 'being' is relative to those beings around you.