What is "reality"?

[oldschool]

This does not exclude, that "Ultimate chair" exists not conventionally but also objectively, as a kind of interaction between parts of reality: human part and physical (chair atoms) part. Of course, there will be no "Ultimate chair" in this case, without humans (who know the meaning of the chair).
There are probably several consistent meanings of reality.

The way I use "conventionally" is like your objectively. Normally a chair is used for sitting, but its meaning (function) can change as needed. It can also be a step ladder, or a weapon in a fight. Anyone observing these uses would agree that they are still chairs. A different example is a man who sees a length of black tubing on a floor and becomes afraid, thinking it is a poisonous snake. This is a mistaken appearance as perceived by this man. Or a man walking at dusk who sees a dark figure, thinking it is a wild and dangerous animal.

Or the man who dreams of a beautiful woman and who becomes enamored of her. He then wakes up with this strong feeling/experience of the woman which is quite real , followed immediately by the recognition it was only a dream and is dismayed and saddened. We could say most or all of our daily experiences are like this, except in most of our daily experience there is some measure of predictability.

Of course, it does not mean that people cannot find out something better in the future.

Absolutely.

Dear Guillermo Schwarz, please do not talk/write about things that you do not understand at all.

 

[Prorootect]

Andy Ful wrote: ..."based on Quantum theory"
- ah yes? I'm not the physicist.

 

[Sampei Nihira]

What is what we call reality? How can we define it?

Is reality what's supossed to be? What it is? Or do we construct reality? Maybe is reality a social construction?

Can we define our and others reality?

I can stand up right now and say @BoraMurdar has seven fingers on his right hand, and none of you will be able to verify it, so if the correct circumstances are given, you will just believe my statement, and I would have constructed a reality for all of you. You will live by my fake reality.

We assume reality is just there, and whatever we do we cannot change it, we can just participate. But how true is this? Isn't our reality what society imposed upon us? What others forged for us to live?

Is reality even real, or is it just a made up version of what's suppossed to be?

if a tree falls in the woods, but nobody has seen it fall, is it possible to say that this tree never fell?

If a woman is raped in the woods, but nobody has witnessed the violence, is it possible to say that this woman was not raped?

 

[Andy Ful]

Andy Ful wrote: ..."based on Quantum theory"
- ah yes? I'm not the physicist.

There is nothing wrong with it.

 

[Andy Ful]

if a tree falls in the woods, but nobody has seen it fall, is it possible to say that this tree never fell?

Yes, it is possible and No, it is not possible. That can depend on your meaning of reality.
It is even possible to say that the tree (quantum particle) is in the superposition of two states: "not fell" & "fell".

If a woman is raped in the woods, but nobody has witnessed the violence, is it possible to say that this woman was not raped?

Yes, it is possible. There were many such events.

 

[Sampei Nihira]

But in both cases 2 living beings suffered damage.
The tree cannot tell anyone what happened to it.
Yes, the woman.

The law is unfair and fallible because created by equally fallible human beings.
We have to accept it because nobody has created anything better so far.

 

[Prorootect]

Reality is what exists (regardless of our often erroneous perceptions).
So reality exists, even if we don't know everything about it sometimes.

 

[Andy Ful]

Reality is what exists (regardless of our often erroneous perceptions).
So reality exists, even if we don't know everything about it sometimes.

Yes, this is a more consistent definition.
But still, there are some things to clarify.
Does information exist? Does color exist? Do human thoughts exist? Do mathematical objects exist (lines, planes, numbers, etc.)? Do physical objects exist? Does electromagnetic field exist (it is not material)?

For example: Can the microscope exist, if there is not any creature who knows what it is and how to use it. Will the microscope be a hammer if the living creatures will call it a hammer and use it as a hammer?

 

[mlnevese]

The discussion about quantum physics reminds me of an episode of Stargate where the team meets a more advanced human civilization and when they mention quantum physics one of the scientists of this civilization remarks with "Yes, a common mistake of some less developed civilizations"

 

[Andy Ful]

The discussion about quantum physics reminds me of an episode of Stargate where the team meets a more advanced human civilization and when they mention quantum physics one of the scientists of this civilization remarks with "Yes, a common mistake of some less developed civilizations"

If so, then this "common mistake" would be the most productive mistake in the history of humankind. More productive than the previous "true" theories.
It is also possible that the alien's theory will be even harder to understand as compared to the simple QM.

 

[bribon77]

The discussion about quantum physics reminds me of an episode of Stargate where the team meets a more advanced human civilization and when they mention quantum physics one of the scientists of this civilization remarks with "Yes, a common mistake of some less developed civilizations"

It is possible that one day we will find a door to go to other places.
And the door is there, but we don't know how to find it. ( for now )

 

[mlnevese]

i think it's interesting so many people think we need speed to go from one place to another... Even our primitive science recognizes there are other ways for going from Point A to Point B without speed being involved, We just do not have the technology to use these ways but we know they exist.

 

[Andy Ful]

i think it's interesting so many people think we need speed to go from one place to another... Even our primitive science recognizes there are other ways for going from Point A to Point B without speed being involved, We just do not have the technology to use these ways but we know they exist.

The simplest way is to walk somewhere, drink a beer, and next travel back in time.

 

[mlnevese]

The simplest way is to walk somewhere, drink a beer, and next travel back in time.

Or forward if you drink enough to go into a coma

 

[bribon77]

The simplest way is to walk somewhere, drink a beer, and next travel back in time.

Yes, if you don't go to the toilet to the third Beer, then your kidneys are not well.

 

[show-Zi]

In just a few hours, a little chat on this topic had turned into something like a university lecture.

Isn't real reality composed of complex factors, physical and personal? The reality of the sensibility of recognizing the reality that a substance exists. I think we can assume that matter is the greatest common divisor of reality.

 

[mlnevese]

In just a few hours, a little chat on this topic had turned into something like a university lecture.

Isn't real reality composed of complex factors, physical and personal? The reality of the sensibility of recognizing the reality that a substance exists. I think we can assume that matter is the greatest common divisor of reality.

The problem is matter isn't even the major part of the mass of the Universe. Why could it be a definition of reality?

 

[plat]

Indeed. Who needs elaborate and wisdom-filled discussions when Merriam-Webster has provided the ultimate definition? Prepare yourself. This could blow your mind.

Reality

 

[oldschool]

Indeed. Who needs elaborate and wisdom-filled discussions when Merriam-Webster has provided the ultimate definition? Prepare yourself. This could blow your mind.

Reality

b: something that is neither derivative nor dependent but exists necessarily

The above is true in part only in a conventional sense, e.g. the chair is there, etc., Also true is the reality that everything is dependent-related, even the chair, e.g. its parts, its construction, its location in a room, the mind that imagined this particular chair, etc... It could not be otherwise.

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

Morpheus got it right !



“What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."