Something to ponder.
So, here's an interesting thought.
Let's say that you were to find significant evidence that the reality that you perceive is nothing more than a product of your imagination. This evidence, while overwhelming, would not fully convince you. However, you'd know that in order to find out, you'd have to fully accept the truth, which is the one that what you've experienced so far isn't the absolute reality, and everyone you've ever thought you've known has been nothing more than some electrical reactions in your almost disabled brain. Now, if you accepted this, and the evidence turned out to be correct, this world would disappear and you would wake up in the real world, where your family might be waiting for you. Everyone you'd ever known, anyone you'd ever heard about, the physical laws, every philosopher, every book, every cookie recipe would seize to exist.
Would you take the chance to leave everything you've ever known, even though you knew it wasn't real, to enter the world that all the evidence pointed to?
Let's say that you were to find significant evidence that the reality that you perceive is nothing more than a product of your imagination. This evidence, while overwhelming, would not fully convince you. However, you'd know that in order to find out, you'd have to fully accept the truth, which is the one that what you've experienced so far isn't the absolute reality, and everyone you've ever thought you've known has been nothing more than some electrical reactions in your almost disabled brain. Now, if you accepted this, and the evidence turned out to be correct, this world would disappear and you would wake up in the real world, where your family might be waiting for you. Everyone you'd ever known, anyone you'd ever heard about, the physical laws, every philosopher, every book, every cookie recipe would seize to exist.
Would you take the chance to leave everything you've ever known, even though you knew it wasn't real, to enter the world that all the evidence pointed to?
Tags: philosophy, reality, truth
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michel-san on -
I'd definitely follow the evidence to find out what's at the bottom, for any situation. Maybe the Riemann hypothesis is proven in the real world!
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Permalink Reply by Doug Reardon on -
Hey Dude, every morning is just like that, sheesh!
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on -
I'd like to think I'd jump down the rabbit hole, but to be honest, this scenario doesn't seem to be a far cry from reality as I know it now.
A great deal of the world we interact with on a daily basis is imaginary. It's an accumulation of imperfect perceptions and interpretations of things and events that conforms to our current needs -- a fabrication of sorts. The impression of the world that we're left with in our brains really isn't a perfect reconstruction of reality on quite a few levels. On a certain level, I think we all pass up opportunities to take a more objective look at the world around us only because it can be unsettling and we might be displeased with what we find.
Then again, I'd probably view this hypothetical opportunity as a chance to escape all the things that piss me off about the world I'm living in now. Three cheers for escapism! No? Oh well.
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Permalink Reply by Graham E. Lau on -
So, would I take the red pill or the blue pill?
I prefer to see it how it really is: there is no spoon. Our human curiosity led us to science and the pursuit of knowledge. If we were to be given irrefutable empirical evidence (more than just a large-scale group delusion or a suggested thought that has spread throughout a given population) that what we experience is not the true reality, then we should definitely pursue the knowledge of what's really going on.
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on -
Sure, although attaining that might be a bit difficult, as how would I know that the evidence that reality is not real, but rather a product of my brain, is not itself a product of my brain? If I'm imagining the entire universe, then I may well be imagining that evidence as well.
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Permalink Reply by Kris on -
Yes, the evidence would be a product of your imagination. Still, it doesn't matter what source the evidence comes from. If it's valid, it's valid.
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on
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Ah, but how would I know that it is valid? Or, in fact, if this brave new reality I awoke to was not also a product of my fevered imagination and no more real (or even less real) than the one in which I previously resided?
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Permalink Reply by Eoganacht on -
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Albert Einstein.
Ironically, he also said, "Raffiniert ist der Herrgott, aber boshaft ist er nicht." Which means, 'Subtle is the Lord(or Lord-God), but malicious He is not."
It is ironic how perhaps one of the most intelligent men in the last hundred years said that this god was not malicious. This was, of course, before he escaped the rising Nazi party and the mass killing of the Jews. I wonder if he regreted that statement in later life?
Personally, I would try to find more evidence and try to understand this 'real' reality before plunging headfirst. In the case of rabbiholes: One size does not fit all.
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Permalink Reply by Cara Coleen on -
As far as men like Einstein goes, it really sucks that they have a long list of quotes to refer back to sometimes. I'd hate it if someone quoted something I said even five years ago; fortunately, I'm not Einstein so no one's going to go back in time and use my statements out of context to prove their point. I think he was constantly frustrated that theists tried to contort what he said to mean he believed a god existed.
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Permalink Reply by Cara Coleen on
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Hell yeah I'd leave this world. It'd be almost like traveling to another planet! Plus the fact that I'd be a super-genius for having such an incredible imagination! I could be the next Stephen Hawking (assuming this brain damage left me paralytic). In fact, I'd steal all his ideas since he doesn't really exist anyway... not to mention Darwin's and Einstein's ideas! I'd be a prodigy. Who knows what the world I really come from would be like? It could be way more advanced or far less advanced. In any case, damn! I'm a genius! ;)
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Permalink Reply by Kris on
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Most likely though, none of the laws of any scientist would apply, since this world would most likely be vastly different. :p
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Permalink Reply by Cara Coleen on
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Even still, I could write some bad ass sci-fi, right? I doubt the "real world" would be so different that I couldn't convey some of what I've been dreaming about. :) Since this is MY dream, I demand that all dissenters be silent and not challenge my ideas!
JK :D
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