From: nospam@example.net   
      
   Some random thoughts from an email discussion targeted toward the   
   solipsist. Enjoy! =)   
      
   Ask him if he believes: "Every rule has an exception."   
      
   If he says no, then there are rules thay have no exceptions. I.e. there exist   
   inviolable laws. So in addition to the existence of his mind there are also   
   laws.   
      
   If he says yes, then the rule "Every rule has an exception" would itself also   
   have an exception, which again implies there are some rules without exceptions.   
   Which are inviolable laws. Therefore laws exist.   
      
   This might seem like a parlor trick, but it is just showing how the logical   
   inconsistency of the statement "Every rule has an exception." Forces us to to   
   see that it is false, and therefore the converse of that statement is   
   necessarily true.   
      
   The necessary truth of the converse "not every rule has an exception" implies   
   there are rules that have no exceptions, so there are laws, there is order, and   
   reality is law-governed.   
      
   Now, if only we can work out what those laws are.. And that is what science is   
   about: figuring out the laws that explain the kinds of experiences we have.   
      
   OR   
      
   Even if this conscious state is an illusion, there still must be something   
   responsible for that illusory conscious state.   
      
   OR   
      
   Functionalism might be another path. If the solipsist accepts functionalism,   
   then even if the other people they see are only figments of their imagination,   
   then their imagination must be performing a process at least as complex as is   
   necessary to generate the appearance of intelligent conscious behavior, and   
   such processing would necessarily invoke the consciousness associated with   
   such a complex process.   
      
   Fun thoughts to play around with. =)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)