People were dying en-masse because you had doctors not washing their hands when moving from autopsies to giving birth.
No one was aware about the germs that are causing this. It still killed people.
This is true for most of the early medicine/illneses/hygiene, this was just an example I remember. Especially in regards to germs and bacteries, the humanity wasn't even close to getting it right.
No, things outside the player's field of view are unloaded to save memory, obviously.
Obviously, yes. But now the question is, can you be aware of things that don't exist?
Yes, my one man black metal project exists and no one knows about it. π₯Ί
Yes. You aren't the main character of reality.
Object permanence is technically an axiom. The idea that things exist even when we aren't observing them.
There's also a problem with terms, particularly related to quantum mechanics. It uses the term observer. To a layman, that's a person watching. To a scientist its any collection of atoms/fundamental particles that can cause the quantum waveform to collapse.
The results of the axiom are that things do exist when we are not observing them. Our observations don't back propagate to retroactively bring them into existence. We can't prove that however, though it's fundamental to a lot of science making sense (quantum mechanics being the oddball).
Write your definition for "things" and that'll answer your question for you.
Yes, they necessarily do.
Bacteria and viruses existed for billions of years before humans ever existed and the majority of the time since. Dinosaurs existed before we were aware of them. Lots of things have.
This isn't a very well thought out Shower Thought
That's solipsism
Animals are sometimes declared 'extinct' (no one is aware of any living examples) while they still exist (sometimes for decades).
Until 1967, noone was aware of the existence of gamma-ray bursts, the result of the biggest explosions in the universe. The bursts were only visible to specialized satellites.
Right now, people are suffering from diseases caused by unknown viruses.
Well I exist, despite it seeming that no one else in the world is aware of my existence.
Yes. Because people are not the only observers.
What qualify as observers though? Or, how far divorced from an event counts as unobserved?
If a tree falls in a forest and scares a rabbit which a dog barks at which I hear... is that chain of observation enough to grant existence to the tree?
I'm not aware of anything that does.
By definition, we don't know
The atoms are there for sure, but we could argue, whether it is a thing/object without an animal being aware of it, since it's us that define things to be objects.
The universe doesn't care whether a pile of atoms behind Pluto happens to be chair-shaped. It's only when we look at it, that we declare it an object.
This isn't really an answer to your question, but I think it's more in the spirit of it than some of the actual answers you're getting;
Does something exist just because you observed it?
Technically they exist.
But do they exist for you if you don't even think of them? Theological/ philosophycal views might say no.
Tho you can still be affected by unkown therefore "non-existent" things.
Nowadays I call "tap to pay" magic. I know the very basic things to go in there - but I couldn't recreate it. Thos is kinda the same tone as your question.
Your question is a lot like this thought experiment:
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Whatever your answer is to the above text can be applied to your question.
Depends on your position on philosophical realism.
Things can and do.
Physical things exist, and will continue to exist. Energy is not created or destroyed, only converted.
Abstract things may come and go. Thoughts and ideas, understandings, etc...
Math and language are constructs we created to better understand and describe the world around us, and when the last human dies, so may all our amassed understandings.
The duality behind being both aware of something that can exist without your knowledge while also not being aware of its existence. Depending on if it's conception has been conceived first. Then it would exist without any knowledge and would count. But if you know it can exist than its already a possibility.
So, can something exist that is in no way quantium entangled with anything that comprises your experience of existence?
If you subscribe to the multiworld principle, basically anything potentially viable can and will.
Can something exist if you are not aware of it?
Most of reality. Human experience is quite limited.
Yep. There are many billions of people around the world who don't know you exist yet you do. Although how sure are you that you exist?
At one point no one knew how gravity worked and yet the earth still orbited the sun
Of course. I think there are many things that we haven't detected because we lack the instruments or even the concept they exist
Humans are constantly discovering life on Earth in places it was thought impossible, like deep underground or in very hot water around volcanic vents.
Certain cancers (HPV, EBV, HBV) have been discovered to be caused by viruses, not just randomly out of control cell replication.
IMO even astronomers suffer from short-sightedness. They tend to classify things in terms of our own little solar system when actually with billions of stars and trillions of planets there are likely very many astronomical objects and phenomenon that we have never observed or thought of.
I have a similar question: can things exist if they have no physical connection at all to their surroundings? The double slit experiment shows that light seem to be information (if we pretend waves are information) until its forced (by observing) to exist. This works with photons, electrons, neutrons, atoms and even particles. So what if i take a cup and put it in a "magic box" that disconnects it from every "observing" system? Does it vanish? Is it gas if i open that box again?
No. There is always at least one observer.
Yeah we find new bugs and animals and plants all the time. We find new planets. Stuff doesn't pop onto existence once we find it.
Girl, go read some Enlightenment philosophy, why're you askin us πππ
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