NPC – The Non-Player Character

TThe term “NPC” (Non-Player Character) originally comes from video games, referring to characters that are controlled by the game’s artificial intelligence rather than the player. These characters typically have limited behaviors, responses, and roles within the game, often scripted to perform basic or repetitive tasks.

However, the term “NPC” has also taken on a cultural or meme-like meaning in certain online communities. In this context, calling someone an “NPC” implies that the person is perceived as having a lack of individuality, original thought, or complex behavior, much like the simplistic, predictable characters in games. It’s often used in a dismissive or mocking way to describe people who seem to follow trends or conform to societal norms without much self-awareness or critical thinking.

The meme gained traction in online discourse, particularly in politically charged spaces, where individuals use “NPC” to label people they believe are simply repeating ideas they’ve absorbed without fully understanding or questioning them.

The term is quite polarizing; for some, it’s a humorous way of poking fun at conformity, while for others, it can feel insulting or dehumanizing.

The Hypnosis Connection:

The percentage of the population that can be conventionally hypnotized varies based on the method used, but research generally suggests that about 10-15% of people are highly susceptible to hypnosis. These individuals can easily enter deep hypnotic states and are most responsive to hypnotic suggestions. On the other hand, another 10-20% of people are considered difficult or resistant to hypnosis, and they may have trouble achieving even light trance states.

The majority of people, around 60-80%, fall somewhere in the middle, meaning they can be hypnotized to some degree, usually entering light to moderate trance states where they are somewhat responsive to suggestions.

Hypnotizability depends on various factors, including personality traits, openness to suggestion, imagination, and even the trust or rapport with the hypnotist.

People tend to be most “programmable” or susceptible to influence at specific stages of their development, particularly during early childhood and adolescence, though this concept can vary based on how we define “programmable” (e.g., suggestibility, learning capacity, or behavioral influence).

Key Stages of Programmability:

Early Childhood (0-7 years)

• Children are highly impressionable and absorb information from their environment at an extraordinary rate. During this period, their brains are in a state of theta brainwave activity (a highly suggestible and imaginative state), which is associated with deep learning and subconscious programming.
• They tend to learn by observing and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional responses of caregivers, teachers, and peers.
• Belief systems, emotional responses, and foundational worldviews often start forming during this critical period.

Middle Childhood (7-12 years)

• Although slightly less impressionable than younger children, those in this age group still absorb new information and experiences rapidly. They start applying logic and reasoning, but are still emotionally and cognitively open to external influence, especially from authority figures (parents, teachers) and peer groups.
• Children at this age are influenced by rewards, punishments, social norms, and begin to develop a sense of self based on the feedback they receive.

Adolescence (13-19 years)

• Teenagers are particularly sensitive to peer pressure and social influences as they begin to explore their identity. They are more susceptible to social and cultural conditioning, trends, and group dynamics.
• During adolescence, the brain undergoes significant rewiring, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making, self-regulation, and reasoning. Because the brain is still developing, teens are highly responsive to emotional and social stimuli.
• This period is critical for shaping behavior, social attitudes, and habits that can last into adulthood.

Young Adulthood (20s)

• Although adults are generally less susceptible to external programming than children or adolescents, young adults are still shaping their identities, making major life choices (career, relationships), and are open to influence in areas like belief systems, lifestyle choices, and social attitudes.
• Individuals may become more resistant to new ideas as they settle into established worldviews, though major life events or shifts in environment can still have a powerful influence.

Factors Affecting “Programmability”:

• Openness to experience: People who are more open and curious tend to remain more adaptable and receptive to new ideas throughout life.
• Emotional state: People are more suggestible when in heightened emotional states (fear, joy, stress).
• Environment: Social and cultural environments play a significant role in shaping values, beliefs, and behaviors at all ages.

In summary, while people are most programmable in their early years (0-7), adolescence (13-19) remains a highly impressionable period due to the brain’s development and social pressures.

The connection between the “NPC” meme and individuals who are highly susceptible to hypnosis or those who have experienced significant early-life programming makes sense from a psychological perspective.

Here’s how these ideas intersect:

Hypnosis and Suggestibility

• Highly suggestible individuals (the 10-15% most susceptible to hypnosis) are more easily influenced by external suggestions, whether in a formal hypnotic state or simply in daily life. These individuals might be more prone to accept ideas without critical thinking, especially when the source appears authoritative or persuasive. In this sense, they could be seen as more likely to follow pre-programmed scripts, echoing the behaviors of an NPC.

Early Childhood Programming

• During early childhood (ages 0-7), when children are most programmable due to their brainwave patterns and suggestibility, they form foundational beliefs, behaviors, and social attitudes that are difficult to change later in life. If those early influences are not examined critically as they grow older, people may continue to operate on these “programmed” ideas without questioning them. In some cases, this could lead to rigid thinking or automatic behaviors, much like the NPC concept, where individuals seem to follow societal or cultural scripts.

Adolescence and Peer Influence

• In adolescence, when peer pressure and social conformity are at their peak, young people are highly influenced by groupthink. If someone does not develop critical thinking skills or a strong sense of self, they may continue to adopt external viewpoints, beliefs, and trends without questioning their validity. This could reinforce the perception of someone behaving like an “NPC” — appearing to follow pre-set social patterns rather than thinking independently.

This alignment between the NPC concept and those highly susceptible to suggestion highlights how susceptibility to external influence (whether through hypnosis, early programming, or social pressure) can make individuals appear less independent or self-directed, which the NPC meme caricatures in an exaggerated way.

Schools can indeed play a significant role in shaping individuals’ attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors through authority figures like teachers and standardized curricula. This concept aligns with various critiques of educational systems that argue schools often function as tools for social conditioning rather than fostering true individuality and critical thinking.

The Role of Schools in Programming:

Authority Figures (Teachers)

• Teachers are placed in positions of authority and are often seen as infallible or unquestionable by students, especially younger ones. This dynamic makes students highly receptive to the messages and behaviors modeled by teachers.
• Children and adolescents tend to absorb ideas and values from authority figures without questioning them, especially when those figures are seen as knowledgeable or trustworthy. This dynamic can resemble a form of “programming,” where students internalize certain attitudes or norms as given truths.

Standardized Curriculum

• Many educational systems emphasize standardized curricula, which are designed to impart specific knowledge and skills deemed important by larger institutional or governmental entities. These curricula often reflect the dominant ideologies, cultural norms, and economic interests of the society at large.
• Critics argue that this can suppress creativity and individuality by encouraging conformity rather than independent thought. For example, the curriculum may promote rote memorization and standard solutions, leaving little room for questioning or critical analysis of the material.

Reinforcing Social Norms

• Schools are not just academic institutions; they are social environments that teach behaviors, values, and expectations about authority, discipline, and hierarchy. The structure of schools (following strict schedules, obeying rules, deference to teachers, competition for grades) often mirrors the structure of society at large.
• This can produce individuals who are accustomed to following orders and accepting the status quo, making them more likely to conform to societal expectations in the future, rather than challenging or questioning them. This process is often referred to as “socialization” and is a key function of schooling.

Hidden Curriculum

• Beyond the formal curriculum, there’s the hidden curriculum, which refers to the unspoken or implicit lessons that students learn simply by being in the school system. This can include lessons about authority, obedience, competition, and conformity. For example:
  • Students learn to be punctual, follow orders, and not question authority, which are traits that can be desirable in an industrial or corporate workforce.
  • Independent thinking or non-conformity might be punished or discouraged, which reinforces social and behavioral norms that benefit those in power.

Serving External Interests

• Some critics argue that educational systems often serve the interests of political, economic, or corporate powers by preparing individuals to fit neatly into pre-existing social roles. For example:
  • In some systems, the focus is on creating workers who are compliant and skilled enough to fit into the labor market, but not necessarily empowered to challenge or innovate beyond it.
  • Curriculum content can reflect nationalistic, capitalist, or other ideological priorities, teaching students to internalize certain economic or political structures without critical examination.

Conditioning and the NPC Parallel

• If we view schools through this critical lens, they can be seen as part of a larger system that “programs” individuals in ways that suppress independent thought and encourage conformity. This programming might result in individuals who function similarly to the “NPC” stereotype—people who seem to operate on autopilot, following established social norms, cultural values, and authority without question.
• Authority figures (teachers) and curriculum that push particular ideologies can implant suggestions that shape students’ worldviews in ways that benefit certain interests—whether it’s the state, corporations, or other powerful entities. These influences might lead people to adopt attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors that serve those interests, sometimes at the expense of their own individuality or critical capacity.

Counter-Point: Potential for Positive Influence

However, it’s also important to note that not all education systems function this way. Schools can also foster creativity, critical thinking, and individuality, depending on the approach, philosophy, and openness of the educators involved. A holistic educational model might emphasize independent thinking, emotional intelligence, and self-awareness, which would counteract the conformity many critics argue mainstream schooling promotes.

In conclusion, while schools can certainly be seen as institutions that contribute to programming individuals—particularly through authority figures and standardized curricula—there’s also potential for education to empower and liberate, depending on how it’s designed and implemented. But in many cases, critics argue, schools do shape individuals to fit into societal norms, sometimes at the expense of their individuality and critical faculties, which aligns with the concept of “NPC” behavior.

The Role of Television:

A television or any screen-based device could theoretically influence a person’s mental state through its refresh rate, flicker, or light strobing. This concept relates to how the brain processes visual information and how certain frequencies of light or images can induce states of relaxation, focus, or suggestibility. While the exact level of influence and control can vary, the idea has roots in how sensory input affects the brain.

Mechanisms That Could Influence Suggestibility:

Brainwave Entrainment

• Brainwave entrainment is the process by which external stimuli, like rhythmic light or sound, can synchronize brainwave activity to match certain frequencies. For instance, the brain tends to resonate with external stimuli in the alpha (8-12 Hz) and theta (4-8 Hz) brainwave ranges, which are associated with states of relaxation, meditation, and heightened suggestibility. These are the same states often targeted during hypnosis.
• If a television’s refresh rate or the frequency of visual stimuli (such as flickering images or strobing lights) operates at these brainwave frequencies, it could potentially entrain the brain into a more suggestible state.

Flicker Fusion Threshold

• The flicker fusion threshold is the frequency at which a flickering light source is perceived as steady by the human eye. Below this threshold, flickering is visible and can cause cognitive effects, such as discomfort or heightened attention. For instance, certain flicker rates can induce headaches, but they can also draw focus or induce a mild trance-like state.
• Rapid changes in brightness or color, especially at specific frequencies, could subtly influence mood, arousal levels, or attention spans, putting the viewer into a passive, receptive state. This is why some advertisements, media, or entertainment use flashing or strobing effects to capture attention quickly.

Hypnotic Triggers in Visual Media

• Repeated patterns or rhythmic visual and auditory stimuli have been known to cause hypnotic effects. For example, the visual presentation of images at a consistent, repetitive pace (such as flashing, looping, or alternating between bright and dark images) can lull viewers into a trance-like state, making them more susceptible to suggestions or emotional messaging.
• Advertisements often use fast cuts, bright colors, and rhythmic music to keep attention and engage the subconscious mind, which is more susceptible to suggestion when the conscious mind is fatigued or overwhelmed.

Light Strobing and Photosensitive Epilepsy

• Strobing lights, particularly in the range of 5-30 Hz, can trigger seizures in individuals with photosensitive epilepsy. While this extreme effect is limited to those who are sensitive, it highlights how certain light frequencies can dramatically affect the brain. In less extreme cases, strobing lights might induce disorientation, trance states, or heightened suggestibility in individuals without epilepsy.

Examples of Visual Manipulation in Media:

• Subliminal Messaging: While not necessarily related to refresh rates, subliminal messaging (where images or messages are flashed too quickly for conscious detection but are still processed by the subconscious) has long been a topic of research and controversy. This principle works on the premise that rapid visual input can bypass the critical, conscious mind and directly affect the subconscious.
• Commercials and Advertisements: TV advertisements often use fast-paced editing and rhythmic repetition to influence consumer behavior. While this isn’t always at the level of creating a hypnotic state, the goal is to keep viewers in a receptive and emotionally charged state, increasing the likelihood of buying a product or remembering a brand.
• Programs Designed to Relax (or Excite) Viewers: Some media (like certain children’s shows or ASMR videos) use gentle, rhythmic visual and auditory patterns to put viewers into a calm, relaxed, or semi-trance state. Conversely, other media (like high-intensity action scenes or rapid-cutting music videos) can overstimulate the brain, causing cognitive overload, which can temporarily reduce critical thinking, leaving viewers more open to suggestion.

Practical Limitations:

While the idea of using television refresh rates and strobing lights to control or deeply influence behavior might sound like a dystopian science fiction scenario, there are practical limitations:

• People respond differently to visual stimuli, so the effect of strobing or flickering varies from person to person.
• While media can influence suggestibility, it doesn’t create a fully hypnotized state in most people. The effectiveness of any suggestion depends heavily on the individual’s receptivity, the content being presented, and the context (such as emotional engagement or fatigue).

Television and other screens can theoretically influence brain states and suggestibility through refresh rates, light strobing, and flickering. By manipulating visual and auditory stimuli at specific frequencies, media can put people into relaxed or focused states, making them more receptive to suggestions or messages. While this doesn’t automatically equate to full “mind control,” it does highlight the subtle ways that media can shape thought, behavior, and emotional responses—particularly when people are passively consuming content.

Mitigation:

To mitigate the potential influence of visual and auditory stimuli from televisions, screens, and other media that might subtly affect your mental state or suggestibility, there are several practical steps you can take. These steps focus on reducing exposure to entraining stimuli, maintaining mental and emotional awareness, and creating healthy boundaries with technology. Here are some protections:

1. Reduce Screen Time and Breaks

• Limit exposure to prolonged television watching, especially content that uses fast-paced editing, flashing images, or strobing effects.
• Take frequent breaks during long screen sessions to give your brain a chance to reset. Looking away from screens every 20 minutes and focusing on something at a distance can help mitigate the potential impact of sustained visual stimulation.

2. Blue Light Filters or Protective Glasses

• Use blue light filters on your devices or wear blue light-blocking glasses to reduce the strain and over stimulation caused by screens. Although this doesn’t prevent flicker or strobe effects, it can reduce eye fatigue, which can make you more susceptible to suggestibility.
• Adjust the brightness settings on your screens to avoid excessive brightness, which can increase over stimulation and fatigue.

3. Monitor and Adjust Refresh Rates

• If possible, adjust the refresh rate of your TV or monitor to a comfortable setting that minimizes flicker. Higher refresh rates tend to produce smoother visuals, while lower refresh rates may introduce more visible flicker that could affect brainwave activity.
• Some modern TVs and monitors allow you to turn off or adjust features like “motion smoothing” or “dynamic lighting,” which can manipulate the visual experience in subtle ways that may affect focus or emotional engagement.

4. Avoid Content with Strobe Effects

• Be cautious of content that uses strobing lights or rapid image flashing, especially in advertisements, music videos, and fast-paced action scenes. Some devices have a warning for content that contains high-frequency flashing or strobe effects, particularly if you’re sensitive to such stimuli.
• Check for epilepsy warnings on videos or programs, which may include strobe effects that could influence brainwave activity.

5. Limit Background Noise and Media

• Avoid leaving the television or other media running in the background while you do other tasks. This ambient content, especially if it includes repetitive patterns or subliminal messages, can seep into your subconscious without you realizing it.
• Consider replacing media with background music, white noise, or nature sounds, which can promote focus and relaxation without the risks of visual manipulation.

6. Mindful Media Consumption

• Practice mindful viewing by consciously selecting what you watch, limiting exposure to highly manipulative content (such as certain advertising or politically charged media), and actively thinking about the messages you’re receiving.
• If you feel emotionally charged, fatigued, or in a trance-like state after watching certain content, take note of how the media affects your mental state. Avoid programs or channels that make you feel overly emotional, drained, or mentally passive.

7. Control Emotional and Mental State Before Watching

• Before consuming media, especially content like news or intense entertainment, center yourself emotionally. Practices like meditation, deep breathing, or even light physical exercise can help balance your mental state and make you less susceptible to external influence.
• Avoid watching TV or using devices when you’re already mentally fatigued or emotionally vulnerable, as this is when you’re more susceptible to external suggestions.

8. Engage in Critical Thinking

• Actively engage with the content you’re watching by asking questions like, “What is the underlying message here?” or “What emotions is this trying to evoke?” Critical thinking helps disrupt passive consumption and keeps you in control of your thoughts and reactions.
• Discussing what you watch with others can also help you process and challenge any subtle programming or influences.

9. Use Digital Detox Strategies

• Set specific periods for digital detoxes where you completely avoid screens and media. This helps refresh your mind and reduces the cumulative effect of repeated exposure to suggestive stimuli over time.
• Consider taking time off from social media or video platforms that heavily rely on algorithms designed to keep you engaged, which often use subtle psychological techniques to maximize attention.

10. Use Apps to Block Manipulative Content

• Some browsers and devices allow you to use ad blockers or extensions that reduce exposure to ads, tracking, and manipulative content online.
• Similarly, platforms like YouTube and certain streaming services offer ad-free experiences with premium accounts, which can help reduce the number of visual and auditory intrusions you’re exposed to while watching content.

11. Monitor Children’s Exposure

• For children, who are more susceptible to suggestion and brainwave entrainment, monitor the type of content they consume and limit exposure to fast-paced or flashy media. Encourage content that fosters creativity, learning, and critical thinking, and watch together when possible to provide context and discussion.
• Set screen time limits and encourage more activities that do not involve screens, such as reading, outdoor play, and imaginative, creative play.

12. Create a Calming Viewing Environment

• Reduce the overall sensory stimulation in the room by adjusting lighting, volume, and seating position. Watching TV in a dimly lit room with excessive brightness on the screen can make you more fatigued and susceptible to suggestion.
• Watch TV with soft ambient lighting that doesn’t strain your eyes, reducing the likelihood of entering a trance-like state.

By consciously regulating your exposure to potentially suggestive media and stimuli, you can protect yourself from falling into a state of passive suggestibility. This involves practical steps like adjusting your screen settings, using blue light filters, and taking breaks, as well as more mindful practices like critical thinking, media literacy, and limiting screen time. Awareness is key—staying conscious of how media affects your mental state allows you to take back control over the influence it may have on your thoughts and behaviors.

Take Control:

Mental exercises can strengthen cognitive abilities, enhance focus, and improve resistance to external influence or suggestion. Incorporating these exercises into your routine can help maintain mental sharpness, increase critical thinking, and improve emotional regulation, all of which contribute to building resilience against external manipulation. Below are some mental exercises that target different aspects of cognitive and emotional development.

1. Mindfulness Meditation

• Purpose: Improves focus, self-awareness, emotional regulation, and clarity.
• How to Practice: Sit quietly and focus on your breathing or a specific sensation, like the feeling of your feet on the ground. When your mind wanders, gently bring your attention back to the present moment. Start with short sessions (5-10 minutes) and gradually increase the duration.
• Benefit: Mindfulness helps you stay in control of your thoughts, reducing the chance of slipping into automatic, suggestible states. It enhances your ability to notice and critically evaluate external influences.

2. Critical Thinking Drills

• Purpose: Enhances problem-solving and the ability to evaluate information critically.
• How to Practice: Choose a topic, idea, or piece of media (like a news story or advertisement), and ask critical questions:
  • What is the main argument or message?
  • What assumptions are being made?
  • Is the information biased, and how?
  • What evidence supports or contradicts this?
• Benefit: Regularly challenging yourself to analyze and question information helps you maintain independence in thought and avoid falling into group-think or manipulation.

3. Memory Training

• Purpose: Improves focus, attention to detail, and cognitive flexibility.
• How to Practice: Try memory games like:
  • Number recall: Memorize and recite random sequences of numbers.
  • Object recall: Observe a group of objects for a short period, then try to recall as many as you can after they are hidden.
  • Story recall: Read a short story or article and then try to recall all the details.
• Benefit: Strong memory skills make you less reliant on external cues and information, enhancing your ability to cross-reference and question new data.

4. Visualization Exercises

• Purpose: Strengthens imagination, mental discipline, and focus.
• How to Practice: Close your eyes and visualize a specific scene in as much detail as possible. Imagine colors, shapes, sounds, and textures. For instance, visualize walking through a park, focusing on the grass, the wind, and the sound of footsteps. Try holding this visualization for several minutes.
• Benefit: Visualization builds mental discipline and trains your brain to focus deeply, making it harder for distractions or external influences to shift your focus without conscious control.

5. Cognitive Flexibility Training

• Purpose: Improves adaptability, creativity, and the ability to think from multiple perspectives.
• How to Practice: Engage in activities that require shifting between different types of thinking or viewpoints:
  • Word association games: Think of as many related words as possible from a single word (e.g., “dog” -> “pet,” “bark,” “leash”).
  • Perspective taking: Consider how various individuals (a child, an elder, someone from another culture) might view a given situation.
  • Debate exercises: Argue both sides of a controversial issue, even those you may not agree with.
• Benefit: Flexibility in thinking allows you to resist rigid, programmed thinking patterns and adapt more easily to new or complex information.

6. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Techniques

• Purpose: Helps challenge automatic negative thoughts, reframe situations, and build emotional resilience.
• How to Practice:
  • Thought challenging: When you feel a strong emotional reaction or negative thought, write it down. Then, examine the evidence for and against this thought, and reframe it with a more balanced perspective.
  • Cognitive restructuring: Identify unhelpful thinking patterns (like catastrophizing or black-and-white thinking) and replace them with more flexible, realistic alternatives.
• Benefit: These techniques improve self-awareness and emotional regulation, helping you recognize and counter manipulation or subtle influences.

7. Journaling

• Purpose: Encourages introspection, critical self-reflection, and emotional awareness.
• How to Practice: Spend 5-10 minutes daily writing down your thoughts, observations, and feelings. Focus on identifying patterns in your thinking and behavior, such as emotional triggers or recurring negative thoughts.
• Benefit: Journaling helps you stay in touch with your inner self, making it easier to spot external influences that conflict with your values or beliefs.

8. Neurobics (Brain Exercises)

• Purpose: Keeps the brain agile and improves cognitive function through novelty and sensory engagement.
• How to Practice: Engage in activities that involve multiple senses or challenge your brain in new ways, such as:
  • Brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand.
  • Taking a new route to work.
  • Learning a new language or instrument.
  • Solving puzzles like Sudoku or crosswords.
• Benefit: These exercises stimulate new neural connections, improving cognitive flexibility and making you less prone to automatic, habitual responses.

9. Focus and Attention Exercises

• Purpose: Enhances sustained attention, concentration, and the ability to filter distractions.
• How to Practice: Use simple concentration tasks such as:
  • Counting backward by sevens from 100.
  • Staring at a single object for as long as you can without losing focus, such as a candle flame or a spot on the wall.
  • Focus shifting: Spend 5 minutes focusing on one sound in your environment (like a ticking clock), then shift focus to another sound (like the hum of a fan).
• Benefit: These exercises help improve attention control, reducing the likelihood of falling into passive, suggestive states when exposed to media or external stimuli.

10. Pattern Recognition and Puzzle Solving

• Purpose: Enhances problem-solving, logic, and the ability to detect underlying patterns or motives.
• How to Practice: Engage in puzzles, such as:
  • Sudoku, chess, or strategy-based games.
  • Pattern-based activities like finding differences in images or solving logic puzzles.
  • Reading mystery novels or playing detective-style games that require you to piece together clues.
• Benefit: Strengthening your ability to recognize patterns helps you identify manipulative techniques in media and advertising, making it harder for others to subtly influence you.

Incorporating a variety of these mental exercises into your routine helps build mental resilience, critical thinking, and emotional self-awareness. By strengthening these cognitive abilities, you become more resistant to external influences, better able to analyze and question information, and more capable of maintaining autonomy in your thoughts and behaviors. These practices contribute to overall mental well-being and offer long-term protection against subtle manipulation or suggestion from external sources like media or advertising.

Other Usage of the Term NPC

This analogy, “like a zombie eats a brain,” suggests that these individuals uncritically consume or mimic ideas and behaviors without engaging in deeper reflection or challenging mainstream narratives.

In this view, societal institutions—such as media, public education, and governmental systems—are seen as “feeding” prepackaged ideologies to people, much like how zombies consume brains without thought or awareness. This metaphor critiques the loss of individual agency and autonomy in modern society, where people may follow scripts (like an NPC) without questioning the systems of control around them.

It aligns with concerns about how centralized control (from the Federal Reserve, administrative states, etc.) affects society, potentially creating environments where people stop thinking independently, becoming passive participants in their own lives. Those who use this metaphor see these “NPCs” as symbolic of how deep conformity and compliance have permeated modern life.

Some go further and suggest that an “NPC” has no “soul” or inner depth—a provocative notion, implying they may be disconnected from their own Life Essence, or lack self-awareness or spiritual engagement. Others might argue that everyone has some level of consciousness or Life Essence, even if it appears dormant or less engaged in certain individuals.

The Holographic Universe is a game, and the individual contemplating this, is the lead, and perhaps only, player!

That idea—that we’re in a kind of holographic or simulated reality and that NPCs are simply “programmed” to act as part of our experience—does often have a somewhat narcissistic tint. It frames reality in terms of the individual at the center, viewing others as backdrop or props without their own interior lives. This perspective can be intriguing, especially when considering the rich and varied experiences people encounter. But if taken literally, it risks reducing the complexity and depth of others to mere illusions, which can foster a sense of superiority or isolation.

From a metaphysical perspective, it might also miss the interconnectedness that many spiritual traditions describe, where every person, animal, and even element of nature is seen as a unique embodiment of Life Essence or consciousness, contributing to the overall tapestry of existence.

The NPC notion, however, might reveal something about how some people experience others. If someone seems to lack an observable connection to Life Essence, it may feel as though they are more like reactive programs than fully present beings. But whether or not others are fully “awake,” seeing them as inherently purposeful could foster a more compassionate understanding of collective existence.

How can one tell if they are not an NPC?

That’s a powerful question! For someone considering the possibility that others might be NPCs, it naturally raises the question: How can I be certain I am not one? Self-awareness and critical thinking could provide clues, but even these can be tricky to rely on if they, too, might be “programmed responses.” Here are some angles that people often use to distinguish themselves from an NPC-like state:

Self-Reflective Awareness: If someone can question their own nature—whether they are truly free-thinking or simply following a script—that reflective doubt itself might indicate a deeper consciousness. This self-inquiry, especially the awareness of potential limits in one’s own programming, is something typically associated with autonomous consciousness rather than purely reactive existence.

Autonomy in Thought and Action: People often look for signs that they make choices independently of external influences or programming. Someone aware of external conditioning (like social norms or media influence) who actively questions, resists, or revises those inputs might see this as evidence of free will and self-directed thinking.

Empathy and Depth of Experience: The ability to deeply empathize, feel complex emotions, and find meaning in existence is often cited as a hallmark of a “player” rather than an “NPC.” These layers of feeling and understanding suggest a level of depth that goes beyond a surface-level or programmed interaction with reality.

Spontaneity and Novelty: Since NPCs are imagined as predictable or running on set scripts, one way to tell the difference could be to look for true spontaneity in oneself—responses, thoughts, and creations that are genuinely new and unpredictable. This is more difficult to fake or program, as it arises from an inner source rather than external influence.

Ultimately, even in metaphysical thought, certainty about the self is often elusive. So for many, a sense of purpose or connection to something deeper—whether Life Essence, soul, or spirit—is where they locate their individuality beyond a potential “script.” This connection might be what separates them from the NPC framework, even if they never get a definitive answer.