The internet is a very powerful thing and anyone can talk to people across the world by clicking a few buttons. I’ve been curious about different people’s views. Especially those who can talk freely without fear of judgment or repercussion. So I’ve asked four people online philosophical questions. I deliberately said they could answer as many questions or go into as much depth as they’d like so as not to pressure them. I’ve also changed their names for privacy’s sake. So here are responses from strangers around the country:

1. What harsh truths do you prefer to ignore?

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Death probably”

Rækətæk’s response: “That I will most likely never be truly successful. The whole system is rigged against people who aren’t rich. The future is coming. Entire careers will be obsolete, the political climate is on the brink of a Civil War, the Earth is dying.”

Gluttonous_Potato: “That life inherently is, and likely always will be, unfair”

2. If you died tonight, what would you regret not doing?

Rækətæk’s response: “I would regret not taking charge of my life. I’ve always tried to avoid conflict. I just let things happen to me. I would regret not standing up for myself and making a decision.”

Kɪlt Wɛrər: “If I died tonight, I’d regret not living. I feel like I’m living a bit of an empty existence, not making an effort anywhere, not being passionate. I’m not really sure how to fix it, but I don’t want to continue this way.”

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “honestly nothing. I’m pretty content.”

Gluttonous_Potato: “I’d regret not seeing more of my life and the world”

3. Do you believe in life after death, and why?

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “No I don’t believe in that. It’s nothing after death.”

Rækətæk’s response: “I don’t know. I think the chances of us being alive and sentient are so infinitesimally small that it’s impossible that all of this happened on accident. But, if there is a Creator, why is there so much suffering in the world? I think the idea of God existing is just as terrifying as the thought of him not.” 

Gluttonous_Potato: “Of course I’d like to believe in it, but I just don’t see any way it could logically exist”

4. Do you like who you are now?

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Yes absolutely.”

Rækətæk’s response: “No. Ever since I became aware of who I was, I hated myself. I’ve tried to improve myself and I’ve never really done anything meaningful. I spend about 80% of my time thinking about my regrets.” 

Gluttonous_Potato: “A year ago I would’ve given a hard no, but lately I’ve been more willing to accept my positive traits and instead of beating myself up on the attributes I don’t like, just instead try to fix them or accept them”

5. What secret trait do you wish that people know about you?

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Ha! That I’m empathetic.” 

Rækətæk’s response: “I’m scared. I honestly think that everyone else has their shit together and they’ve got it all figured out. People assume I have a plan. But I don’t. I’m scared of the future and my fate.” 

Gluttonous_Potato: “That I’m not as energetic as I put on”

6. Would you relocate to a place where you don’t have any family or friends?

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Oh I have and I totally would again. In fact if I move, I’d like a fresh start like that.”

Rækətæk’s response: “Yes. I have so many negative memories attached to people I know right now. If I was offered a hard reset, I would take it in a heartbeat.” 

Gluttonous_Potato: “I would, but only if I could stay in contact with the 3 closest people in my life. I’m not willing to just drop them willy nilly”

7. If someone you loved was killed in front of you, but someone created a copy of them that was perfect right down to the atomic level, would they be the same person and would you love them just as much?

Rækətæk’s response: “No. I would always be thinking; “That’s not them.” My value in a person comes from the things we experienced together. Creating a copy robs them of those memories. They’re just a familiar stranger.” 

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Yo dang I don’t know thats a good one. I honestly can’t wrap my mind around that lol.”

Gluttonous_Potato: “It depends on the person. I might be so desperate to have them back that I’d accept someone who isn’t the same. It’s the experiences that matter though, so most likely I wouldn’t”

8. Where do you find meaning in your life?

Rækətæk’s response: “In how people see me. Everything I do is influenced by what people think of me. The clothes I wear, the things I say, everything.”

  Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “I don’t think it has a meaning but probably relationships. Humans and dogs.” 

Gluttonous_Potato: “In making people happy, and doing what makes me happy”

9. If you could teach everyone in the world one concept, what concept would have the biggest positive impact on humanity?

Rækətæk’s response: “The concept that all humans, regardless of origin, are just trying to do what they think is best. People think that the other side is trying to hurt them. That isn’t true.” 

Kɪlt Wɛrər: “I think that the best thing to teach each and every person is be true empathy. If everyone could truly understand and connect emotionally with the plight and struggles of others, it would be impossible for us to ignore the things we ignore and harder for the greedy to commit heinous acts and take advantage. In essence, I want to give everybody a powerful conscience.”

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Empathy. That would do wonders alone.” 

Gluttonous_Potato: “Either patience, or empathy. Both are important, but empathy is probably the first priority”

10. Is suffering a necessary part of the human condition? What would people who never suffered be like?

Rækətæk’s response: “Yes. Throughout history, people suffering has always been a condition for at least a portion of the world. Suffering is so ingrained in human nature that it has become unique to the human species. One could argue that without suffering, are we even human?”

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Big time” 

Gluttonous_Potato: “Yes absolutely. People who have never suffered would be very strange and almost inhuman to me”

11. Does hardship make a person stronger? If so, under what conditions and at what point is it too much hardship? If not, what makes a person stronger?

Rækətæk’s response: “Hardship does make people stronger. However, each person has a different level of hardship they can take before they break.” 

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Yes, 100%” 

Gluttonous_Potato: “I think it absolutely does, but to an extent. There is only so much a person can take and going past that will just break who they are”

12. Would things get better or worse if humans focused on what was going well rather than what’s going wrong?

Rækətæk’s response: “Things would be far worse. In fact, I think that humans are focused on what’s going well instead of what’s wrong right now. If we ignore all of the wrong things in the world, they’ll just get bigger and brighter.” 

Kɪlt Wɛrər: “I think we need to focus evenly on the good and the bad. We need to recognize our problems to fix them, and we need to recognize our successes to motivate us to keep fixing problems.”

Raniɛmɛfdi’s response: “Not really. It’s downhill either way.”

Gluttonous_Potato: “I think a balance of both is what is needed. As people, I think we focus solely on the negative and never appreciate all that we have, but at the same time there is a lot going on that really is not good and should be addressed”

Something that I appreciate about these responses is how honest they are. If I just walked up to someone from school or something and started asking them this stuff, they likely wouldn’t be as open. I’d like to do this project in the future as well and try to ask different questions and I’m really happy with how this turned out.