Last class, we were discussing technology that could alter peoples' states of mind to convince them they were in a simulated universe. Dr. Carter posed an interesting question to me: what is reality?
Well, Dr. Carter, I've been trying to figure that out. I watched this video (can't post the full video in this post), and honestly...
I'm not sure any of it was too revelational. It was moderately interesting, though. My curiosity was piqued in a couple of sections, including how three dimensions can be represented in two.
Either way, I guess I'm going to stay conservative on this one for now, and to quote the man at 3:30 in the video, reality is "the set of things we know to be the case." Like this website. And my fingers that are typing it.
-Kevin
Wow, I didn't know YouTube videos could be that long. haha.
ReplyDeleteTo the comment that reality is, "the set of things we know to be the case", these things are often changing. Back when they thought the world was flat, that's what was "known to be the case," so did that make that their reality? I guess for them it was. If you were somehow raised in some sort of hologram or fake world, it would be real to you, because that's all you would know. Kind of trippy when you think about it. I hope I'm not just imagining the world around me, and I'm actually some test experiment. Then again, would it matter if I had imagined all of this? It seems real to me, so I guess it's whatever I make of it.
I think it's kind of interesting that they're talking to physicists about what reality is, but maybe psychologists might be the proper people to ask, since a lot of it has to do with what you /think/ reality is. Hmmm.
This is a very interesting topic to think about, but very hard to find an answer. You and Brandi both make very valid points...I personally cannot think of a way to explain reality.
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