I think therefore I exist

I completely agree that this debate will not be about who's correct but about who did a better job at debating. Thanks for clearing that up! INTRO TO REBUTTALS This debate is called "I think therefore I exist" because this is Pro's reasoning for his existence, and initially I thought my job is to disprove his reasoning. Evidently I am only supposed to refute his existence--this is funny yet confusing. Pro must understand that I am attempting to refute his existence by way of Rene Descartes' quote (upon which this debate is named after). I'd rather that Pro did not dismiss my first and second contentions because they fit right along with this debate, but I will go along with how he is formatting this. REBUTTAL 1 "Quantum mechanics make it impossible to for someone to know 100% what I am going to do so I clearly cannot be controlled by anything that isn't in control of quantum mechanic." This is where things get tricky, if they are not already! What if I told you that your whole world is simply a figment of someone's imagination and that everything you do, think, and say are controlled by that person's mind. You are not you, rather just part of the person's brain, and "your" whole "world" has already been thought up by that Higher Deity someone. Quantum mechanics are just part of the distractions from the truth which is that you are not real. But in order for this to be true would mean that everything in your world, including me and all your friends, is part of that someone's imagination also. I am willing to believe this because there is nothing that disproves the possibility. "Also any higher deity that could fully and completely control me would be some form of god. I do belong to a religion that believes in a god, but my religion belief is also that this god gave us free will, thus isn't fully controlling us." Remember, Pro, that what YOU "think" you understand and believe do not actually matter when I figure whether you are real or you are existing in the brain of a higher deity. Whether you are part of a religion or not doesn't change whether a god exists and is controlling you or not. REBUTTAL 2 "Is a computer getting input of what it does, thinking or a conscience? I would say not, do to the fact there has not been evidence that computers have a conscience that works in the same way as human conscience." Oh, but that's what robots are. (They are computers right?) Robots "think" about what they are going to do/say next but it is all programmed. "You" could very well be a robot in a simulation, and your existence is false because your thinking is all programmed. However, a more feasible explanation would be that you are a figment of someone else's imagination and your so-called existence is all a lie due to it only being a part of that someone's brain. REBUTTALS 3 "Yes our brains can be damaged by accidents, drugs, and disease, and these inhibit or alter the process of thinking. But under these conditions you can still think just not clearly, not fully, and with no recollection of it happening." What if I told you your brain is a lie, and everything you believe you "think".is not actually there, just part of someone else's thought process? If that was the truth then everything you do would be false because it's not in real existence. Scratch everything I said about your brain being damaged, because if you are just part of a simulation or someone's dreams then your supposed "brain's thought process" is not real either. The point of what I had said was to demonstrate the fact that if "thinking equals existence" is true, then our thoughts may be hallucinations that are twisting the truth into something that's a lie, therefore everything we know about reality is false. REBUTTAL 4 "There is even evidence that we think when we sleep, are in comas, and even when we are legally dead. Now do I have a actual self that isn't just the brain?" Evidence does not matter in this context, since, after all, everything we "know" could possibly be hallucinations or made-up by someone else's imagination and lies. Our "idea" of "thinking" could easily be another detailed part of a simulation which determines that we are just parts of someone else's thoughts, but then again the concept of "thinking" could be a lie as well because everything we do is made up. " Is there something that goes that can impact what I do that isn't physical?" Watch the video I gave a link to in first Round and tell me what you "think." ;) "Now you said in the end of contention 4, you said it is my job to prove exactly what reality is. This is not my job, and if it was it would be impossible for me prove." Since you cannot know exactly what reality/existence is, your statement "I think, therefore I am," is wrong. And furthermore since you do not know the definition of existence you cannot prove to me that you or anything truly exists. However, I cannot prove directly to you that you do not exist because neither am I completely certain that you are in virtual reality. What I can do is explain how, because the brain manipulates the body and the body is what you believe exists, the brain could be "thinking" just because that's what a Higher Deity had in his dream (you are part of his dream and in his dream you were a person who was thinking). When you created this debate you were only a character in Someone else's imagination. The reason you are aware of your surroundings is because the simulation or imagination (doesn't matter which) has tricked you into believing everything is real and that you yourself are a real, physical "human being," when in fact everything you see and 'think' you feel is part of someone's dream. Once you try to explain to yourself what reality is you find yourself "thinking" about what "thinking" is, but it is actually all a section of the Person's dream. Everything you "think" of in your "life" is actually what the Person is thinking about, not you. "Probably the most important reason why con can't convince me that I don't exist is that I have beliefs that I have a soul." The simple explanation for your soul is that "you" don't actually have one, "you" are tricked into believing you do but instead everything you do/believe/feel is part of that Someone's imagination ("you" are inside/a character of His dream). Now that you have processed that, you are not fully certain that you really have a soul or not. P.S. I apologize for the wide usage of quotation marks but I find it hard to write without them. I look forward to the next round!