Empty people, NPCs and philosophical zombies

[A L I X]

Am I the only one who finds some people to be utterly "empty"? I may not be very good with emotional stuff, but I can usually notice people's emotions. However, there are a kind of persons which it feels like staring into an abbys. It feels like they are just empty inside. Like a philosophical zombie or an NPC of some sort, except that they are actually conscious.

I dont want to sound like a "unique and different" person, but I genuinely think this is true. They are people with no critical thinking, people that have never thought for themselves, people which are all the same, people that have never developed a personal taste (what I mean is not that liking trendy things is bad, but more that this kind of person will accept it with no thought, even if it is something as illogical as drinking bear blood for fun), people which follow the same routine as everyone that is like them every single day, never stopping to reflect on this, being just like an NPC or a zombie, and not being conscious of it. They don't have any empathy, being automatically agressive at everything, and not realizing that there are people who think differently than them (if they think anything). Plus some hedonism in a lot of them. No thoughts, not even thinking about having no thoughts.

I also think that unlike the popular belief of said "NPCs" being most of society, these persons are a small minority. When I see them, I feel like I stare at an abbys, an unempathetic soul contained inside a body, that doesnt even realize the pathetic unemotionless life that they are living, which they hide with more hedonism, which stops them from thinking. Someone that is nobody, an empty soul which hasn't developed critical thoughts, and doesn't even realize they can do it, being more interested in their basic routine that they will continue doing every day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day...



Does anyone think the same as me?

 

[pickleman]

gotta be careful.
empathy is misleading, and tbh I personally do not see empathy as entirely a positive trait.

the excersize of empathy is YOU attempting to emulate the thoughts of another.
This largely means that empathy is actually an excersize of self reflection and that is ultimately the weakness of empathy.

If I wanted to demonize a people, I would do it via empathy. Because people are different from you, different people may have sterotypical charcteristics which invoke elements of disgust within the self.
ie: you cannot properly empathize with a homosexual when you are straight. To do so would be to see yourself as a homosexual which you do not have the software for, and thus a realistic empathetic response to homosexuality from the perspective of a straight person would be one of complete disgust.
Disgust is the prime driver of culture and civilization. Nearly all actions you do that you dont want to do is to avoid the self feeling the emotion of disgust.

You are disgusted by the thought of being an NPC.
Empathic responses in their true form are merely a reflection of the self.
A mirror.

The best way to excersize empathy is to see another individual as a foriegn state.
Typical NPC behavior is to not care about an individual's Social Matrices, and a englightened individual should be able to change other peoples social matrices

 

[halcyonskies]

I think fundamentally, for the sorts that you're referring to anyway, it comes down to a complete lack of self or rather the lack of any agency to develop one's sense of self to any degree. Every opinion that they harbour and action that they take is curated to fufill a certain social role / image of themselves that they want to portray (typically in emulation of someone else), in this obsession with externalisation / validation these people thus never truly become themselve.

I find with these types as well (at least amongst fellow zoomers) they are typically the most vindictive, cruel, spiteful people that you'll ever come across; again, everything that they do revolves around social advances and hence they will stop at nothing to further their status, even if it means acting in a totally callous, weird nature towards those whom they (for whatever reason) deem inferior to themselves to seek approval from those whom they deem to be superior.

You'll notice these types often have no light to their eyes.

I agree with you that these sorts are typically a minority but I can't help but feel that they're becoming more and more common.

Some people find comfort in conformance I guess desu.

 

[Dr. MacGutsy]

Although I do think there's some shenanigans afoot causing the uptick (and I hate using this term) "NPCs" I think that the reason behind most "NPCs" existing is that it's just easier. I mean, It's a hell of a lot easier to go with the flow of the powers that be and sink into a technological bliss than it is to fight it. Why get wrapped up with the feelings of your family and friends when you could stay in your room and play video games? Why be creative when you can consume what the creatives put out into the world? It's easy. Regardless of if we want to admit it or not we're almost always going to take the easiest path. Sure, harder tasks (I hate how that word is used now) are generally more rewarding but a lot of people just can't over that hump of initial difficulty.

We're all an "NPC" to someone. Everyone is a rebel in their own eyes.

 

[MindControlBoxer]

Its hip to be square

 

[Pangolin]

I lead a rich inner life even though from my outward appearance I appear to be a normie and an NPC. Is there a benefit in letting the world know that you aren't an NPC? Seems like our current insane-world punishes you for thinking outside the norm. I know If I said half the stuff I do here I'd be on the unemployment line because someone disliked what I said and make it their mission in life to cancel me.

I save up all the zingers, creativity, and love for all my agora-choombas. The world can go fuck itself.

 

[llillilll]

No, even the most "npc" people think for themselves. You might not understand their thinking or it could be soo different from your perspective but everyone has a inner life.
These kinds of generalisations will do nothing but feed narcisstic delusions and harden your bias soo it is especially bad as a idea.

 

[VaporwaveHistorian]

I don't know about people's inner worlds, therefore whether or not there are actual full-NPCS, but I do believe that a lot of people are missing out on the real world. What I mean is stimulation, mostly.

I'm not diagnosed autistic and not like I have any clue on whether or not I'd be qualified, but it runs in the family so I'll tell you my observations. Sometimes there is a need to "stim", I get it too, it's like you want to feel something. Whether it be by repeated actions or "weird" movements like hand flaps or repeated words, you just get the urge to feel something, hold the control in your hands for a while, comforting yourself. I used to get it pretty often and it'd drive me mad, but I found that baking (especially playing with bread dough) is really comforting. Washing the dishes and feeling the contrast of different plates and cutlery under my hands, the feel of warm and cold water really eases things off. I started shaking my hands less.

I believe that real-world activities like touching things, be it door handles or tree trunks or simple dough while baking, are essential for us to keep our sanity. I've had a lot of folks tell me that it's fucking stupid of me to "spend too much time cooking" instead of just eating outside. They don't understand the need to experience different stimulation. They tell me that I can spend my time typing on a computer instead, which doesn't really stimulate anything and only frustrates the brain more.

Now, that aside, I believe a lot of people, especially the newer generation, are raised without experiencing enough stimulation. My mother tells me she used to put a bucket of water in front of me when I was a baby so I could dip things into it and keep myself busy while eating. Or I'd touch other things of different textures, toys or household objects. My young cousin grew up with a tablet. He is frustrated today with the world (13 years old) and always makes a point to go out and touch the texture of nature to feel calm again. He missed out on some things, but not too much. Some folks never go out because their parents couldn't be bothered with it, and there are kids whose hand grips are not developed enough to hold a pen by the time they should be reading and writing.

It either frustrates people more, or makes them accept this as a "new reality of the modern world" and surround themselves with more of those nonstimulating activities. I live on textures, I mean. I have tons of things on my table that I love to touch. There's a flat cap with hard fabric, there are metal and plastic containers, the table itself is wood, and there is a patterned paper towel. It keeps you grounded. Many people think that it's a waste of time to pay attention to your textural needs or see the need for stimulation as only sexual. It won't work.

Back to autism or like. I've seen that the modern world in cities tends to pressure people to "act properly". They force autistic or similar folks to force themselves to appear normal, and they are never told what qualifies as normal, so they try to fake small talk or casual interactions. They appear out of place and very hollow, as they themselves are very frustrated. Only brings depression. I grew up in a big country (not in the center of the city though) but a side of my family comes from a small island village. City-side of my family will act normal, hollow or not. Village-side of my family has autism, ADHD, etc running in the line, but they will never call it that (except for one 40-year-old who is newly diagnosed, but no one believes him lol). The village doesn't pressure the autistic folks to "act normal" as much as the city does, so I've seen how you're able to flourish.

Folks argue that autism, ADHD, etc. are modern inventions. They're not. It's just that you're allowed to flourish in some places. My second dream job is being a pavement-paver. Not a joke. I like putting things next to each other for hours. Some people bake again and again, that's their way of focusing. Thus, happy bakers. People who love their job are comforted by it, the stimulation of it, etc. Many are autistic or similar.

My father claims he's perfectly normal, like, definitely not different from how modern world wants him to act. But everyone points out how "unique" he is (they call you unique if you're well loved, and if you're hated, they call you weird). He can never sit in his place, keeps repeating hand movements and words, often forgets the train of thought, can never focus on daily tasks unless it's this one obscure historical topic he knows almost everything about and keeps reading for half a day on his red couch. He has a very respected job, but at the same time, he has instances like bringing a fucking toilet home and hopping on a car to buy potted flowers so he could hot-glue the toilet on the pavement and plant flowers in it as decoration. My mother hated that but he did it.

I have a cousin in the village, the 40-year-old one, who can talk for hours about fishing. He does exactly that, and people drink and listen to him, cheers. If it was for my city-family, they'd complain behind his back and say that he is "obsessed with shit". I myself have learnt how to hand-sew in 18th-century style so I could make clothes similar to French Revolutionary style. I have a ruffled shirt and a half-made long jacket, but my city-family found it stupid so I let go. To them, I should buy my food ready-made so I can spend my time studying only the things my instructors ask for in the exam. I decide to cut from my sleep and read for hours about Ancient Roman hairstyles or legionary helmets even though I don't have a class about Rome yet, and then I cook in the kitchen for hours just because I love how stimulating it is. This is life for me and I love it the way it is. City-family wants me to master small talk, so did I. You are not expected to run a full summary on Early Modern Period Mediterranean slave trade and piracy while eating dinner outside with your family, so I learn to talk about some "thank you very much, my school is great" over and over before the conversation dies out in ten minutes max. My village family would drink and listen to me ramble, but the city wouldn't.

No wonder why I've let them all know that I'm leaving for the island village after my education is over. Some had seen it coming. Some asked me how I can even survive there. Some were shocked and wondered if I'd feel happy there. Well, I'll take my grandfather's house and flourish his garden. Get a job. Probably sew a portion of my own clothes. Cook for myself. Hopefully get into academia so I'll have an audience to pay for me to ramble for hours about all those obscure things. That's life for me. Enough stimulation and endless opportunities to express myself. I'm glad I found the problem about my frustration with the world. Many people like me can't point it out and lose faith in the world. Thus the NPC feeling.

 

[no_chill]

Am I the only one who finds some people to be utterly "empty"? I may not be very good with emotional stuff, but I can usually notice people's emotions. However, there are a kind of persons which it feels like staring into an abbys. It feels like they are just empty inside. Like a philosophical zombie or an NPC of some sort, except that they are actually conscious.

I dont want to sound like a "unique and different" person, but I genuinely think this is true. They are people with no critical thinking, people that have never thought for themselves, people which are all the same, people that have never developed a personal taste (what I mean is not that liking trendy things is bad, but more that this kind of person will accept it with no thought, even if it is something as illogical as drinking bear blood for fun), people which follow the same routine as everyone that is like them every single day, never stopping to reflect on this, being just like an NPC or a zombie, and not being conscious of it. They don't have any empathy, being automatically agressive at everything, and not realizing that there are people who think differently than them (if they think anything). Plus some hedonism in a lot of them. No thoughts, not even thinking about having no thoughts.

I also think that unlike the popular belief of said "NPCs" being most of society, these persons are a small minority. When I see them, I feel like I stare at an abbys, an unempathetic soul contained inside a body, that doesnt even realize the pathetic unemotionless life that they are living, which they hide with more hedonism, which stops them from thinking. Someone that is nobody, an empty soul which hasn't developed critical thoughts, and doesn't even realize they can do it, being more interested in their basic routine that they will continue doing every day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day...



Does anyone think the same as me?

There are 3 types of Humans:

Hylics/ Shudra: Base Materialistic, not aware of their soul or not having one or not using it

Psychics/ Kshatriya: aware of their soul and using it, but not yet absolute or complete

Pneumatics/ Brahmin: aware of their soul and absolute


Hylics may under very hard labour reach the state of psychics. Psychics can reach the state of Pneumatics similarly. Pneumatics may elevate both. Awakening kindles awakening.

This is nothing new or shocking. It was known for hundred thousands of years, from the vedas (oldest scriptures on earth), caste system and dharma, to the philosophers and Hermetics to Feudalism in europe.

Only recently this circumstance have been burried, fitting for the Kali Yuga. There is nothing bad or deplorable to it. It's the most base understanding of Spirituality.

 

[Some_porcupine]

few examples in media, my honest opinions

• jerry from r&m - he is bullied by everyone so he dont care. he is in cycle of suffering - he is (immho) hated coz he dgaf
• fry from futurama -
  Spoiler: "but!"s

  ok its all comedies, but think about it as if they werent - authors of these write characters for reason, for stereotype, for ideas/tropes it can be used for...
  - he is written as stupid (low-IQ, hi-EQ depends on episode) (by this one "accident - not THAT important to this rtalk), kinda autisti and confussed (similar to me sometimes when i dont get clues) -
  Spoiler: yap

  to my defense, i just ignore people because ... importnce delussions???)
  - he just cant help it
• shinji ikari from evangelion - npc coz trauma, abuse and neglect, no soc skills - you get the picture; rei similarly - no skills with people, in her own bubble as well as is shinji; - misato: she is npc coz she dgaf (at home mostly), she just dont want to care (too much for her (too trauma from 2I accident, but that is just everyone in eva really...)
• homer s. in the s01/02, for joke, being dumb but having good heart; idk peter griffin but thats 200% joke

...

 

[alCannium27]

in my side of the world, it's best not to express one's own opinions in fear of it offending somebody - in particularly, somebody one doesn't know but has the power to squash their career.

It is, therefore, a proper social etiquette to subdue one's emotions and respond with the most generic, vanilla opinions to a stranger or acquaintance. This being the price of living in a society that values larger social nets over stronger ones - at least nit for the little people. So no, i don't believe in real life "NPCs", just little people

Long-time friends, on the other hand, are expected to hide very little of their minds from one another, that's probably universal. What I've found is that, this latter stage of interpersonal relationship is on the declined. I dunno if it's the internet, the new work culture/gig economy/crunch/etc., or the water, we are finding relationships more and more cumbersome, and it's only really "worth it" if that relationship gets one something in return... maybe not, i have no faith in humanity; If there are actual NPCs, i don't care, in a way that's better, I've yerned for a parasocial relationship with empty husks of a meatsuit since the first time i played a RPG game

 

[ieatCDs]

What makes you sure they ARE conscious? Not like it makes a huge difference. I believe only around 10-15% (generous estimate) of people are conscious/have 'spirits'. It is the only way I can explain how things have gotten this far.

 

[赤い男]

Am I the only one who finds some people to be utterly "empty"? I may not be very good with emotional stuff, but I can usually notice people's emotions. However, there are a kind of persons which it feels like staring into an abbys. It feels like they are just empty inside. Like a philosophical zombie or an NPC of some sort, except that they are actually conscious.

I dont want to sound like a "unique and different" person, but I genuinely think this is true. They are people with no critical thinking, people that have never thought for themselves, people which are all the same, people that have never developed a personal taste (what I mean is not that liking trendy things is bad, but more that this kind of person will accept it with no thought, even if it is something as illogical as drinking bear blood for fun), people which follow the same routine as everyone that is like them every single day, never stopping to reflect on this, being just like an NPC or a zombie, and not being conscious of it. They don't have any empathy, being automatically agressive at everything, and not realizing that there are people who think differently than them (if they think anything). Plus some hedonism in a lot of them. No thoughts, not even thinking about having no thoughts.

I also think that unlike the popular belief of said "NPCs" being most of society, these persons are a small minority. When I see them, I feel like I stare at an abbys, an unempathetic soul contained inside a body, that doesnt even realize the pathetic unemotionless life that they are living, which they hide with more hedonism, which stops them from thinking. Someone that is nobody, an empty soul which hasn't developed critical thoughts, and doesn't even realize they can do it, being more interested in their basic routine that they will continue doing every day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day...



Does anyone think the same as me?

I get you, i like to categorize these peoples into two, normies and actual NPC's, normies are well just your average folk, they like popular stuff and sometimes they like to enjoy obscure stuff, common stuff, and the NPC is that said person who only consumes mainstream media, they dress, they look, they act like a disney highschool musical, they are extremely superficial, i don't feel afraid more like, dissapointed, i try to get out of these people asap because they are not only soulless bastards but also very self entitled ones, and they believe they are better than you for trivial stuff like "dressing better than you" (dripper than thou)

Due to being a highly social individual irl, in my "close friends" hierarchy i have.

1) Weird, Neurodivergents, Chronically Online poeple etc (that's the people who gets me and i can have actually comfortable conversations with)
2)Normies (they make up for good chill and short conversations, unlike the first group they are up to going for drinks, they are cool as fuck, i'm not close to them but is people fun to hang around to)
3) NPC (nah i avoid these people like they were radioactive bc of how disgusting they and as so do they aswell so is cool i guess)

 

[EzzyCrafts]

Why do 90% of random people I meet always speak like they're a complete black gangster even if they're not black? Is this just zoomer mentality?

 

[Eden]

The NPC factory by suragu (2022-09-13)​

 

[InsufferableCynic]

from my experience, most people have the capability of being NPCs at least some of the time.

People think it's a binary state - either you're an NPC or you're not. But this isn't the case.

Many Acedemics are prime examples of this. They can talk at length and very intelligently about their areas of expertise, but the moment they stray off topic, they simply talk nonesense. Neil Degrasse Tyson is probably the best example of this.

The reality is that humans aren't actually stupid, we are lazy, and will only engage our brains when we feel we have to. Most people from my experience seem to go through life actively avoiding thinking as much as possible. My guess is that most people find thinking difficult and annoying, whereas I find it enjoyable so I go out of my way to engage with as many ideas as possible.

People seem to think that once you leave school/college/university, your need to think is over, and you can now use your piece of paper to cruise through life. This is likely also why so many people think university degrees are so worthless. I learned a lot from my degree and it formed a fundamental basis for learning, and has been a serious asset as a result.