Well, by that logic, if we're not alive, then we can't exactly be dead, either. We'd have to exist entirely outside those binary concepts. Which is possible, and we could probably speculate about it all day, and you'd probably love that. [He grins.]
But personally, whatever kind of existence this is, it's got enough similarities to being alive, as I'm familiar with it, that I'm fine with categorizing it as such. The only real difference I know of, after all, is that it's impossible to transition from this state into death here...and, okay, let's be fair, we don't know that the transition doesn't happen, do we? Something happens when people get killed here, right? That's why they suddenly disappear and end up in a pokécenter. So the transition could happen, and then it just gets reversed somehow. Which doesn't seem impossible at all in this world. After all, this place can pull people in from different points in time, can't it? So by that logic, this place - or the powers behind it - have some control over time itself. And control of space is obvious enough, being able to move us all from our own worlds to here. So in order to prevent - or reverse - our deaths here, all that'd be necessary is to move us backwards in time a little...and then shifting us in space to a pokécenter, probably to make sure we don't immediately die again from whatever killed us, would be child's play.
The way I see it, we can't be dead, because this is too similar to being alive; it's hard to believe there'd be no discernible difference. This place has the capability to resurrect the dead, so our inability to stay dead doesn't necessarily mean we can't die. And if we're not alive, as per your theory, then we also can't be dead, because only things that are living can die. So from where I'm standing...concluding that we're alive makes the most sense. I guess you could speculate that we're just in some indistinguishable facsimile of life, but let's be honest - if we are, the only reason for splitting hairs enough to make the distinction between that and 'true' life would be so you could speculate endlessly about it. It wouldn't actually serve any constructive purpose.
no subject
But personally, whatever kind of existence this is, it's got enough similarities to being alive, as I'm familiar with it, that I'm fine with categorizing it as such. The only real difference I know of, after all, is that it's impossible to transition from this state into death here...and, okay, let's be fair, we don't know that the transition doesn't happen, do we? Something happens when people get killed here, right? That's why they suddenly disappear and end up in a pokécenter. So the transition could happen, and then it just gets reversed somehow. Which doesn't seem impossible at all in this world. After all, this place can pull people in from different points in time, can't it? So by that logic, this place - or the powers behind it - have some control over time itself. And control of space is obvious enough, being able to move us all from our own worlds to here. So in order to prevent - or reverse - our deaths here, all that'd be necessary is to move us backwards in time a little...and then shifting us in space to a pokécenter, probably to make sure we don't immediately die again from whatever killed us, would be child's play.
The way I see it, we can't be dead, because this is too similar to being alive; it's hard to believe there'd be no discernible difference. This place has the capability to resurrect the dead, so our inability to stay dead doesn't necessarily mean we can't die. And if we're not alive, as per your theory, then we also can't be dead, because only things that are living can die. So from where I'm standing...concluding that we're alive makes the most sense. I guess you could speculate that we're just in some indistinguishable facsimile of life, but let's be honest - if we are, the only reason for splitting hairs enough to make the distinction between that and 'true' life would be so you could speculate endlessly about it. It wouldn't actually serve any constructive purpose.