Thia is really weird!?

Question

If suppose each living thing on this planet is a recieving 'device', meaning all that we see around us are nothing but signals transmitted to the 'brain' by all our senses-eyes,ear,mouth,skin,nos... So the whole world is just an image formed in our brain made by these signals. So even our brain, body everything is just an image formed in that recieving 'point'. We cannot even be sure if all of our 'past' was just fed into us at one single moment, or if it really did exist.How can we know for sure that the world really exist or if we are 'something' stationary and just that the signals are continuosly being fed into us?The dream state gives more proof for this, coz even in a dream we can feel, touch, hear, smell and see our body someplace else(a different world),which actually doesn't exist in reality!And what happens when we r in deep sleep- no senses,no world, no people-nothing!

I found this to be a bizarre concept, but couldn't find anything to prove it wrong either. What do u think

Answer 1

Have you seen the movie the Matrix?

Answer 2

Yep. I will second that comment regarding _The Matrix_ and raise it:

Do a Google or Amazon search for "Stephen B. Wolfram", and his book "A New Kind of Science."

The fellow's theory basically boils down to: Science, and physics in particular, work so well, because the universe is calculable, right? Ok then, it may well be that the universe is calculable *because* it is at bottom all a very complex form of "software" running in some manner of computation device existing in someplace (outside our universe) called "Other".

In other words, some folks (not I) would argue that it is all mathematics, calculation, and *software*.

So why don't I share this opinion? Well, I think if you take it *too far* (and I have before), then you risk getting caught in an infinite regress wherein you can't *tell* where the maths and "software" ends and "real reality" or the firmware begins.

But....that doesn't mean I disagree with the point totally, just that I think it can be taken too far. I mean, you are fundamentally correct. *To the degree* that the brain and nervous system's activities are *electrical*, ok, they are about electrons and protons, which are sub-atomic entities. Which are *squarely* in the realm of nano-scale, *quantum* physics. :)

Which means *everything* we see, hear, think, perceive, feel and *do* is to some degree *tainted* or corrupted by quantum mechanics, wherein the *nature* of what reality is, is determined by what you look at and *how* you choose to look at it.

Everything. In other words, while your mileage may vary, there is just *no* guarantee that the reality that presents itself to us *is* in fact trustworthy. Object permanence--peek-a-boo--is a *lie*. Time is imaginary (either that or the third dimension of *depth* is, cutting-edge physics has yet to make up its mind on this one).

That is not to say that nothing is real....some things do seem to be real or at least *write-protected* from the quantum-tainted nature of our own conscious observation. But....reality is a lot less static and write-protected than it seems to be.

After you are done with the Stephen B. Wolfram links, do a search on "Law of Attraction" sometime--it is a philosophical concept that borders on a religion with some folks, but the freaky part is, it seems to be a half-reliable method of *hacking the real* on the quantum level....

Hope this helps. ;) Oh, and keep some aspirin or tylenol handy, the searches (and the rabbit hole) get pretty deep. Contrary to what your paid-for skeptics and outright professional nay-sayers would have you believe. :)

Answer 3

I think the area you are heading for is epistemology, the theory of knowledge, or "How can we know things?". You might want to check it out. One viewpoint, set out by Karl Popper as a principle of scientific enquiry, is that if there is no imaginable test that could potentially disprove your theory about something, then your theory doesn't qualify even as potential knowledge. For example, you might speculate as to whether all your perceptions of the world are signals fed from some giant alien computer directly into your brain, which is suspended in a tank of brine in a laboratory on the planet Zarg. Is there any test you could carry out that would show this idea to be wrong, if it is wrong? No, this idea cannot be falsified, in principle, because you cannot do any test, or perceive any test results, without them simply being data fed to you as seen fit by the alien computer. So, according to Popper, this idea would not be a valid theory, it would not provide any knowledge. But there are other ideas of what can constitute knowledge. It's a whole branch of philosophy!

Answer 4

What you asked is the 2nd question("doubt") Descartes presents himself when he was trying to prove that he existed(which after 6 questions we end up with the famous: I think, therefore I am)

He said in effect(2nd question): I will doubt everything I think is knowledge because I could be asleep & dreaming.
Retort: Dreams are not vivid so how can I be asleep?
(but your going a step further -> like towards the matrix so descartes also will go further)

3rd question: I will doubt everything I think is knowledge because it could be a very vivid dream(a la Matrix)
Retort: Dreams represent the real world, so there is a real world, so why doubt?
(if you'd like to hear the rest email me)

Answer 5

I think you've picked up on something there, no-one can answer except perhaps the actual puppet master himself. Wether that be God or a mere Human being. It boils down to, what you've never experienced you're never going to know, only perhaps second-hand.

Answer 6

I SAY WHO CARE JUST LIVE LIFE....... THOUGH I DO AGREE ON EVERYTHING YOU SAY ITS REALLY COOL AND INTERESTING BUT IT JUST BOILES DOWN TO ENJOY LIFE AND IF WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT THE IMAGES BEIGN FED INTO US THEN FED THE RIGHT IMAGES AND IMAGINE WHAT YOU WANT TO CREATE THE LIFE THAT YOU WANT...... JUST A THOUGHT AND MY OWN OPINION..........

Answer 7

Ok matrix boy lol....take the red pill.

Answer 8

Don't let on you know about this. Dangerous. You might cross over....