Brain in a vat (BIV) scenario: Could it be I live in a Matrix-like world, and my brain sits in a vat of juice, and there's some mad scientist poking at different areas of my brain?
I think there is a God, BUT if I ever wake up, all that there is, is just a smiling mad scientist/chemicals and neurons?
Is this all an illusion? How do I figure out if this idea of mine of an illusory world is true or false? (You can argue there are no true ideas in an illusory world, but I beg to differ: the mad scientist can inject that true idea in me.)
My answer: It seems I can never know whether brain-in-a-vat existence is true until if I wake up one day and realize that I was, indeed, living a BIV existence.
Thus, how do I live life, in this stage of not knowing?
Everything I thought true I don't know anymore. I'm caught between a life as I've always known it (including my belief in the Christian God) and the persistent, gnawing doubt of global skepticism that I can't get rid of.
2007-02-09
19:43:10
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6 answers
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asked by
simplyxme
2
in
Psychology