Does anyone know of a theory of reality?

Question

Reality to me means somthing that I can see, touch, talk about, know to be there or have been there and information from reliable sources ect. BUT! what about existance, what about space, what about infinity and the boundries of the universe. Are we real or only real in our minds. Will we evolve into another species with minds that are able to actualy understand our position in the cosmos

Try this Bommer, Take away everything you know of our world enen your body. Remove matter and place your conscious mind in the middle of the space or whatever you conceive to exist after all is gone. Then start to think, what would reality be if you were in that position. remember your mind is only stuck in a vacume. What exactly would be reality be

Answer 1

Reality can be viewed as like an onion. But what is at the core? Nobody knows. That *is* the question.

There is an outside layer, the reality of everyday life, but as you look beyond that outer layer you find not just one "reality" but many as the daily-life reality of different cultures and different people is considered. In addition, examination of reality leads to more sophisticated definitions of reality as we move from everyday reality to sophisticated theories of philosophy.

Here's an overview of a few of those theories:
__The Physiological Creation of Reality__
Probably none of us perceives reality directly (even if a single physical reality can be agreed-on by everyone).

Our brains receive information in a variety of ways, all of which are more limited than they seem. This causes optical and other sensory illusions. It's thought that our information-processing capacity as far as the external world goes is a few hundred bits per second of conscious information.

In spite of this, we live out our lives with the *illusion* of a hi-fi 360-degree full-color full-motion sharp-focus external visual reality. This reality is assembled from a series of gazes and fixations of our limited visual fields which are combined with blurry low-resolution surrounding vision and peripheral motion-detection.

The rest, as many experiments in human vision have shown, is supplied by the imagination. It's reasonable to describe the whole human visual field as a hallucination, albeit an active hallucination that is kept up-to-date and consistent with "reality" wherever information is available.

Illusionists manipulate these mechanisms to generate their illusions, by generating misleading and distracting stimuli designed to spoof the visual and perceptual systems into generating the impression of unreal events. And we believe them.

__The Social Construction of Reality__
All cultures have differences. It is these difference that spawn alternate realities, and some of them are quite complex or hidden or mystic.

Listening to the disputes of groups with widely separated points of view, it's clear that they actually have different points of view about what is "real". Often, they reveal their biases by describing their viewpoint as the "real world" or their views as those of "real people", showing that they consider the beliefs of their opponents to be disordered and unreal.

Some commonplace examples are Israeli reality versus Palestinian reality; Democratic Party reality versus Republican Party reality; and male reality versus female reality. Surrealist beliefs about the nature of reality are radically different from those of most people. There are also semi-real virtual realities such as within a multi-player online game.

__Consensus Reality__
Consensus reality is one approach to answering the question 'What is real?', a profound philosophical question, with answers dating back to prehistory. It gives a practical answer - reality is either what exists, or what we can agree by consensus seems to exist.

The term is disparaged by some because it means little more than "what a group or culture chooses to believe," and may bear little or no relationship to any "true reality". Actually, the term challenges the notion of "true reality". Is there ANY true reality at all, anywhere?

The difficulty with the question stems from the concern that human beings do not fully understand or agree upon the nature of knowledge or knowing. It's often argued, therefore, that it's not possible to be certain beyond doubt what is real. This line of logic concludes that we CANNOT in fact be sure beyond doubt about the nature of reality.

We can, however, seek to obtain some form of consensus, with others, of what is real. We can use this as a guide on the agreement that it seems to be some kind of valid reality.

Consensus reality therefore refers to the agreed-upon concepts of reality which people in the world, or a culture or group, believe are real (or treat as real), usually based upon their common experiences as they believe them to be.

Throughout history this has also raised a social question: What should we do about those who do not agree with consensus realities of others, or of the society they live in? Answers have varied from concluding that such people are eccentrics, mentally ill, divinely inspired or enlightened, or evil or demonic in nature. Reality enforcement is a term used for the coercive enforcement of the culturally accepted reality, upon non-conforming individuals. It has varied from indifference, to incarceration, to death.





~grin~
And then there's this: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=577284

The theory of reality
by artfuldodger
Sun May 28 2000 at 23:27:43


We made this up.

No, you really need to listen to this. You've heard it before, lost in a sea of the obvious, but try it again:

We made this up.

We made time up. We made space up. We made logic up. We have forgotten that we made it up, and then forgotten this forgetting. But we did create it, and we can uncreate it and change it, if we remember.

The reason I am so emphatic about this is that I am trying to remember.

Reality is a theory. It is a theory we use to make sense of the universe. To make sense of our Self. Like any theory, it is useful, to a point. The Theory of Reality lets us share a common set of rules and bounds, of language and logic. But it is just a theory.

As with any theory, there are cracks and holes. There are things beyond it which it does not explain.

Newton's Laws are theories, too. They have been disproven, but they are still useful. They now function only in specific cases. Near the speed of light, they break down.

So it can be with us. Knowing that reality is not real does not kill it. You just expand your sense of reality. The assumptions are still there, but they are a part of you, you can turn them on and off. Some would call this insanity. Some would call it freedom.

Take any word and repeat it enough times to yourself, and it becomes meaningless. No logic is complete.

These are holes. Let's step through them.


~~
Science no longer identifies reality with the physical universe, for mind and consciousness belong to the unseen world.
-- Sir Arthur Eddington
~~

Answer 2

Tall order here, my friend.

Because a theory of reality must be a Theory of Everything, what scientists consider a TOE, which is kinda sort related ultimately to the Unified Field Theory (which won't be happening this week.)

The THEORY of EVERYTHING must include an explanation of the mechanism that operates the Universe; the process that has created the Universe; and it must also include an explanation of how it was explained. Meaning--- it has to include the formation not only of the Universe, but also of Minds that conceive of it.

While it's doing that, it has to explain all the leaves on the bush outside your house; the female voice singing on the radio, on and on and on.

The variables are stupendous. Science can only do so much -- and the best chance for only some of it is String Theory; but we're going to be stuck with philosophy and religion for quite some time.

Send me a postcard when you reach the GodHead, and tell me how it was done. Thank you. I'll pour a shot of the finest single malt Scotch in your honor...

Answer 3

This question has been answered many times, and it is a simple matter of scientific instrumentalism. The short answer is basically the following:

Even if we had a complete theory of everything, no one would ever use it because the math would be too complicated. Instead, we would just approximate it back down into the simple equations we all know and love.

I have already written a lengthly essay on this topic, which can be found at:

http://www.casualentropy.com/observations.htm

Answer 4

To rephrase your question, you will consider something really only if you are able to perceive it through your senses. There is one problem with this. Senses can be deceived. For example let us say you go to a movie where your visual sense is continuously deceived. Hence, something which is perceived by the mind and has an existence of itself will only be real. Pure mathematics approaches the closest to this. Hence the concept of space, infinity etc. has more "real" existence that something which can be "touched", "seen" etc.

And one more thing. I exist because "cogito ergo sum". But I am not too sure of the existence of other entities ;-)

Answer 5

Here is my take on this one. Probably everything you see is made of only one thing in different guises. I suspect that nothing exists beyond that. "I think therefore I am" is a famous quote but no ultimate test for reality is known. You may be the only one that exists in which case my reply is a figment of your imagination.

Answer 6

Hi. We struggle. That what makes us human. Reality? Touch your tongue. The tongue is real. The words formed by it are semi-real (if that's a word) because they only REPRESENT what your thought was. Reality is the warmth of the sun on your face, the water you drink to sustain you. The fact that the Sun is powered by the fusion of hydrogen into heavier elements make water (with it's oxygen) real. Are quarks real? Superstrings? Maybe, maybe not. Hold your lover's hand and just enjoy what you have for time is precious because time is your creator. THAT is reality.

Answer 7

Good way to communicate difference between theory and practical.

Answer 8

Yeh:
The reality is due to my being poor in a working class family, i have to slog my guts out till i am 65.
Thats my theory on my reality

Answer 9

This question more properly belongs in philosophy. Reality is whatever makes you react to go on living.

Answer 10

this is a very philisophocal question that probably can't be answered by science or anything else