What is reality?

created by cantsin

(idea) by Nanosecond (9.4 mon) (print) ? (I like it!) Tue Feb 06 2001 at 2:55:17

If solipsism is to be believed, reality is simply the collection of your sensory perceptions. If this is true, then if you were in The Matrix, the "real world" wouldn't matter. Reality is just that set of perceptions for any given moment, it doesn't discriminate towards altered perceptions. You've simply altered your reality.

On a slightly less solipstic note, there can be an infinite amount of realities, because we each have a different experience. Even if we could be fed the same experience through altering our sesnsory perceptions, we would still bad at different points in space (although that maybe changed in the future by quantum state, but even then, we may label them 1 & 2, that small difference making them slightly different).

(thing) by JerboaKolinowski (4.4 y) (print) ? (I like it!) 2 C!s Mon May 21 2001 at 11:46:47

Reality is what doesn't go away when you stop believing in it.

-- Sci-fi author (and, evidently, philosopher) Philip K. Dick, replying to the question asked by the title of this node.

printable version
chaos

If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody's around, does it make a sound?	When discussing philosophy, please don't mention The Matrix	The Matrix	The social construction of reality
Philip K. Dick	solipsism	Put that in your pipe and smoke it	A long walk off the short pier of reality
reality	More than dream?	This is the reality: It's the rest of my life that's the dream	reality deconstruction
Reality bubble	Helping a loved one with depression	sci-fi	The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick
Supporting Evidence and Faith	Can God lie?	bullshit	Wal-Mart
Julio Cortázar	Three Refuges	The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch	Apeiron

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