> That was how I thought for a long while. Of course, I'm probably a lot younger than you, too. Sometimes when things seem to work out just so, it seems somebody/thing is controling the dream/hologram. But this cannot be verified, which is major suck.

OK. When I toyed with a solipsism (for a year or two or three when I was a teenager) I came up with numerous ideas for what the world was like. My personal favorite was that I was somebody, maybe myself, maybe something completely different, and that I was in some sort of simulated environment. My simulated environment was almost identical to the one in The Matrix, only mine predated theirs by ten years or so, and mine usually did not involve floating in a tank of liquid with the entire world being created electronically in my brain. Usually, I tried to come up with methods by which my real body could be moving as my "dream" self was with tactile feedback provided by some sort of mechanical means. I never really got that part to make much sense, though.

Anyway, I eventually dropped my belief in solipsism, because it does not seem to hold up to scrutiny, and because I feel that there are much more likely explanations for the Way Things Are™. I even have an explanation for why things work out "just so" at times--and yes, there IS somebody controlling the "dream/hologram". But I'm sure you all knew that I thought that already. :-)

> Oe"'I do not know if I was a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or if I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.' or somesuch"ras

Don "I would assure you that I am real and independent as a way of ending any leanings you may have towards solipsism, but I know that when I was embroiled in those thoughts, I knew that any such assurance would just be a natural thing for my mind to come up with in an attempt to maintain the illusion of reality and prevent me from becoming aware of the "true" reality, my point being that my reassurances won't help you. But I AM real. :-p" Monkey