Is reality fake?

[The Grene Knyght]

nothing is real and nothing has any intrinsic value. We are literally just waves of energy - in the form of matter, which gives us some weird properties, like extremely low wavelengths - who think we're somehow "sentient" (whatever that means).

[Etheriland]

nothing is real and nothing has any intrinsic value. We are literally just waves of energy - in the form of matter, which gives us some weird properties, like extremely low wavelengths - who think we're somehow "sentient" (whatever that means).

We are sentient. Self aware beings. If we weren't, we wouldn't even be able to ask such philosophical questions.

[Lansporthe]

Although we have no evidence for either side, really, I like to imagine my life is real and I'm not being tortured to insanity in a horrific, dystopian world.

[Etheriland]

Although we have no evidence for either side, really, I like to imagine my life is real and I'm not being tortured to insanity in a horrific, dystopian world.

Understandable. Many humans would choose to life in blissful ignorance rather than facing painful reality.

E.g.: Plato's Allegory of the Cave

[The Grene Knyght]

nothing is real and nothing has any intrinsic value. We are literally just waves of energy - in the form of matter, which gives us some weird properties, like extremely low wavelengths - who think we're somehow "sentient" (whatever that means).

We are sentient. Self aware beings. If we weren't, we wouldn't even be able to ask such philosophical questions.

is that how we're defining it now?

[Etheriland]

We are sentient. Self aware beings. If we weren't, we wouldn't even be able to ask such philosophical questions.

is that how we're defining it now?

How else could it be defined?

[Ifreann]

nothing is real and nothing has any intrinsic value. We are literally just waves of energy - in the form of matter, which gives us some weird properties, like extremely low wavelengths - who think we're somehow "sentient" (whatever that means).

https://youtu.be/7fGm_jg45To?t=1m43s

[Luziyca]

Although we have no evidence for either side, really, I like to imagine my life is real and I'm not being tortured to insanity in a horrific, dystopian world.

Understandable. Many humans would choose to life in blissful ignorance rather than facing painful reality.

E.g.: Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Indeed. I would feel less cynical of the state of humanity if I knew less.

[Volitopia]

To answer the topic-maker's question: Can't be objectively proved either way from our point of view with our current understanding and technology, if at all. And besides, if it could be proven, few would believe the results/way it was done either way; as per the Allergory of the Cave, as some others have stated above.

Indeed. I would feel less cynical of the state of humanity if I knew less.

Very true; especially as I have many close relatives who study or are well-versed in history. Cynicism kind of comes with the package, and yet, history still offers its own unique comforts in humanity's achievements. We may be literally nothing; yet we a beautiful and terrible nothing.

I am pretty sure that my reality exists. For all I know, you are just text on a screen with a witty flag and signature.

Nah, man, you're just text on a screen with a witty flag and signature.

This text on a screen is making its signature wittier.

[Salus Maior]

You've finally discovered nihilism, then? Good job.

[Luziyca]

You've finally discovered nihilism, then? Good job.

I've discovered it long ago.

[Lady Scylla]

Understandable. Many humans would choose to life in blissful ignorance rather than facing painful reality.

E.g.: Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Indeed. I would feel less cynical of the state of humanity if I knew less.

And people wonder why I used to be doped up on narcotics and alcohol like they were going out of style. The inability to be aware was something I wish could be indefinite, at times.

[Frank Zipper]

I honestly cant answer the question. Elon Musk however said once "There is a one in a billion chance we we are not living in a simulation." He's someone who i believe anything he says.

But then is it not the same for the creator of the simulation?
Are they also likely to be a simulation running a simulation?
Is it simulations all the way down?

[Lady Scylla]

Yeah, I meant perception of it. My bad.

It is undeniable that we all have different perspectives of reality, yes.

But you only definitely know that [i]your perspective of reality exists.[/i] People may tell you their reality, but unless you are able to control another human being like a robot, there is no way to know whether they are not just something you dreamt up.

Isn't that all that really matters? To a schizophrenic, what they see is entirely real to them. Now, don't take that as an argument that we shouldn't treat schizophrenics, mind you. But your brain is a very funny thing that constantly tries to make sense of everything. If it can't immediately make sense, it fills in the gaps with something associated (making a plastic bag look like a bunny, as an example); a guess, basically, through a method of induction.

Overall, though, the only way to be certain what is real is to go against our directives -- and that's self-termination. Sometimes it's far better to be in an alleged wonderland, I think.

[Lady Scylla]

I honestly cant answer the question. Elon Musk however said once "There is a one in a billion chance we we are not living in a simulation." He's someone who i believe anything he says.

But then is it not the same for the creator of the simulation?
Are they also likely to be a simulation running a simulation?
Is it simulations all the way down?

They would need to be 4th Dimensional. And then their simulators would need to be 5th Dimensional. Etc.

[Immoren]

You gain access to console commands of the universe when you realize you are mere figment of original sleeper's dreams.

[Volitopia]

You gain access to console commands of the universe when you realize you are mere figment of original sleeper's dreams.

This thread is a goldmine for intelligent and thoughtful words of wisdom signature quotes fodder.

[Trollgaard]

Fuck no it isn't.

Do you feel pain? Do you feel pleasure? Do you feel the wind blowing on your face? Do you feel the extremes of winter and summer temperature wise? From freezing cold to the blistering heat?

Reality is what it is....real. Don't believe it? Go put your hand on the stove.

[Luziyca]

Fuck no it isn't.

Do you feel pain? Do you feel pleasure? Do you feel the wind blowing on your face? Do you feel the extremes of winter and summer temperature wise? From freezing cold to the blistering heat?

Reality is what it is....real. Don't believe it? Go put your hand on the stove.

To use a cliché: "If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

If it does, how would you know? Is it because you heard a tree fall into the forest? If it doesn't, how would you know? Is it because you weren't around to hear it?

Only you can know for sure that you feel pain, or pleasure, or the wind as it blows across your face in the Antarctic. But what about other people? How do you know that they aren't acting as though they feel those things?

[UCE Watchdog of the Puppets]

Only way to find out is to see, feel, hear, think, and eat without your sensory organs and only with pure Platonian wisdom, which is impossible, so leeeel irrelevant question. Can't be found out.

[Luziyca]

I honestly cant answer the question. Elon Musk however said once "There is a one in a billion chance we we are not living in a simulation." He's someone who i believe anything he says.

But then is it not the same for the creator of the simulation?
Are they also likely to be a simulation running a simulation?
Is it simulations all the way down?

Perhaps it can be.

Perhaps it isn't.

But we can only know that this reality is real or fake to be sure. We can't do the same with other realities/simulations.

[The Grande Republic 0f Arcadia]

As I hear mentions of "fake news" over various issues, and the soul-crippling realization that humanity is inherently cruel and barbaric to others, I am starting to wonder if it is a good idea to find comfort in the fact that perhaps reality as we know it is just a product of your imagination. And I don't mean the social reality, I mean objective reality itself.

Think about it deeply: you have spent your whole life only experiencing it from one perspective: yours. Of course you see other people kicking about and going on their day-to-day business. But how do you know that they are not just a figment of your imagination? How do you know that this screen that you are reading this actually exists, and not just a figment of your imagination? How do you know that this is not just an illusion designed to protect us from something that is far more terrifying than we can ever dare to imagine? Or worse still, that this is actually a form of torture?

Sure, you can feel your arms. Your toes. Your eyes. You open your mouth and say some things, and you hear a response. But how do you know that response actually exists, and not just something that your brain imagined up?

Hell, perhaps for irrational numbers, which Vsauce claims "keep reality real," our brains just pretend that these numbers are infinite, and generate a new decimal place after we discover each number so to not question the very nature of objective reality itself.

So, what do you think, NSG? Is there such a thing as objective reality? Or am I, like everything you have read or heard or observed, just a figment of your imagination?



Personally, while I operate under the theory that there is such a thing as objective reality, at the same time, it is comforting to know that there is a chance that this whole reality thing is fake.

There is no spoon

[Lautrec-]

If our reality is fake,

* Why can we distinguish it from "fantasy"?
* Why can't we reform it to solve all of our problems?
* What is the real world made of and why can't we directly understand it?

[Alvecia]

Fuck no it isn't.

Do you feel pain? Do you feel pleasure? Do you feel the wind blowing on your face? Do you feel the extremes of winter and summer temperature wise? From freezing cold to the blistering heat?

Reality is what it is....real. Don't believe it? Go put your hand on the stove.

To use a cliché: "If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

If it does, how would you know? Is it because you heard a tree fall into the forest? If it doesn't, how would you know? Is it because you weren't around to hear it?

Only you can know for sure that you feel pain, or pleasure, or the wind as it blows across your face in the Antarctic. But what about other people? How do you know that they aren't acting as though they feel those things?

To answer that cliche, yes.
Sound is more than just what we hear. It's the movement and vibration of particles in the air. In the circumstances under which we would hear a noise, the noise would still exist even if we were not there to measure it.

[Minoa]

Reality is reality, but there are many people, such as Mike Adams of Natural News, that refuse to understand that, particularly when it comes to the debunked Vaccine Autism controversy that Andrew Wakefield peddled.