Believing that other people exist

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Does/did anybody else have enormous difficulty believing that other people actually exist -- that they have thoughts, feelings, aspirations, etc. just like us?

This is a concept that I am very slowly accepting in my mid-late twenties.

I have trouble with the fact they don't think exactly like I do-they should see exactly what I see and think exactly what I think.

I did actually, and as a result i alienated people and gave them the wrong impression of me. I actually was oblivious to a crush a girl had on me and as a result left me depressed.

There was a time, yes. I realized different elements of this over time, but I tended to go on really solipsistic philosophical trains of thought when I was 8-9.

I was in my mid childhood(6-9 years old) when I realized everyone had their likes and dislikes and feelings but it felt alien to me. Theirs weren't the same as mine.

I remember when I was younger I thought they were possibly robots but then I had seen them bleed so they must have skin like in the terminator.

I'd like to think that I'm a character I'm controlling in a video game that is Life, and that everyone is an NPC, but it's unfortunately neither realistic nor practical to act as if I believe this. If only it was, I could find cheat codes for life and everything would be wonderful. Sigh.... A man can dream....

It is strange to believe other people exist, but I guess they do. I guess this is kind of a mind blindness or something that goes hand in hand with AS.

I think that, when you've met one aspie, you've only met one aspie. Ever aspie is about as different as how every NT is different then each other. You cant even group us all together very well.

At times, I just assume, everyone around is different when you add everything together.
Im borderline aspie/NT, Im also kinda half female/half male. Im a unique blend of more opposite things. So it depends how you look at it. I can relate to many people on very small things but its very limited in how much I can relate to a person. Its hard to relate fully to someone. Ive only met 1 person who Ive considered myself similar to.

Yes, I am constantly reminding myself that other people exist and that they are the same species as me. It feels often like i am just realising that I am part of humanity or part of life, but I never quite believe it. Solipsism they call it.

When I was younger I used to have thoughts like:
'Am I special or am I the only person in the world? Here I am, in a relatively wealthy country. I've never gone hungry or without clothing or shelter. Of all the places in the world where I could have been born, most of which are less appealing, why here? This has got to be more than just good luck. Maybe I am the only real person here and the rest are just characters.'
It's very philosophical and I think it's origins are related to my catholic education. I don't believe that I'm the centre of the universe anymore, but I still wonder about this amazing fortune.

I've realized that in reality it's impossible to actually know 100% that other people are real or even that any of the world around us is real. This could be the Matrix. This could be a virtual reality program. This could be a drug trip. This could be a dream. Maybe it's just endless dreams within dreams.

In the end it doesn't matter, the only thing that makes sense is to assume and treat it like it's real, but sometimes I remind myself that the statistical odds actually fall in the other direction(compare all the possible fake worlds to just 1 possible version of "this is all real") as a reason not to take all this so seriously.

But when did I get "theory of mind"?

Probably reading my parents' encyclopedias as a kid and stumbling upon "Psychology".

It makes a lot of sense to me that people have minds of their own(at least relative to what ever "reality" we are in), but then I sometimes get interested in thinking about what's going on in other people's heads, but deeper and narrower than what NTs do and most of the time I'm thinking about a person's mind over a period of time that has already passed rather than in the moment. I find when I try to socially or psychologically analyze and do it at the same time it doesn't work. It's better to just not worry about it when socializing and then think about it later.

Yes, I do often think I'm the most non-sheepy person in the world, besides us. I know quite well that it's not true. Something tells me that all members of humanity thinks the rest of the world is just a crowd of sheep. From the outside, our figurative shells are similar colors. It comes with being in the same species. We have so much in common with each other that I still get astounded at how not-alone I am in some of the things that I originally thought were negative quirks particular to myself. Like obsessions. No one else I know has mind-consuming, back-to-back obsessions with fictional characters, and I always felt a little like there was something wrong with me.