Do other people have minds? The normal answer is, well of course they do.

Solipsism is the position that says, wait, no, how can you know that? The only mind you can be sure of is your own. The existence of other minds is unprovable.

I’m not here to talk about that. I have a far less serious proposition: what if there were exactly two minds, you and everyone else?

So there’s you with your mind, and there’s everyone else with the Other Mind. One mind, for eight billion people, minus you, plus a whole lot more animals. Every different being you interact with is a manifestation of the Other Mind. A vast hive mind in which every being ever to exist, except for you, plays a part. The story of the world is but a dance between you and the Other Mind.

Your moral directive in this world would be simpler: Don’t do bad things to anyone, otherwise everyone else will know immediately (because, you know, they all share a mind).

Come to think of it, that’s pretty much my operating principle in this world already. Assume that all of the secrets you share with anyone are only secrets for a matter of time.

I wonder what it would be like to be part of the Other Mind. There are exactly two minds: you-and-everybody-else-except-Sally (hereafter, “You”), and Sally. Anybody Sally is not, You are. You are her friends, her hairdresser, her parents, her boss, her crushes, her exes. You are all the actors she adores, all the world leaders she despises. Among a trillion trillion other intelligences, You are also the family of raccoons camping out in her backyard. The only being You are not is Sally, so naturally the only other interesting agent in the Universe is Sally. The story of the world is but a dance between You and Sally—she is the only unknown.

You will occupy Your mind(s?) trying to model her mind. Which of the people who comprise You are most relevant to her mind to-day, and how best to orchestrate their actions to gain her coöperation and ensure she’s not a threat? If You decide You want to embarrass or shame Sally, or otherwise just play pranks on her (which You definitely could, being literally Everybody Else in the World to her), what compromising situations could You concoct or choreograph her through?

Oh dear, now I am paranoid. Oops. Time to end this thought experiment.