A thought similar to the matrix maybe?

Question

What if we are all in a sleep state.that this is not really reality.Our thoughts and preceptions are controlled through stimula and drugs.Even the answers we seek are generated to pacify us.Now for a big step.What if the solid objects we preceive to be solid are really not there but just a thought process. Everthing we think and do is judged for a final out come. What we preceive as yrs are really seconds and time has really no meaning.This may sound like a crazy person , but be assured I'm not. Its just a thought that has haunted me since I was about eight. I'm now 43.

Answer 1

I think you're probably acurate with about 90% of what you said. After all, reality is relative and time really has no meaning. It's just a form of reference. And depending on how you look at it the things we prceive as solid are not. I mean everything here is just energy in different forms.

Answer 2

I hear you! I've often thought the same thing. Actually, the human being is an elaborate receptor bank. Think of a dog's hearing, or an owl's vision. They literally perceive reality in a different way because they have better receptors in those areas.
My point is that there could be endless billions of ways to perceive reality based on what 'equipment' the being has. As for the Matrix, you may be onto something. Sometimes I think 'coincidences' are somehow created by me. I can't figure out how, but perhaps we are all dreaming from somewhere else other than our bodies. If you haven't already, watch this educational movie: 'What the Bleep Do We Know?' This puts a very scientific spin on your very question! Amazon.com probably has it.

Answer 3

Well that is possible. The only thing that you (personally) can be sure that exists is your mind and brain. “I think therefore I am.” You know you exist because you are thinking. There is no way to be positively sure that anyone or anything else exists. Even me. As far as you know, I could just be a computer-generated message. But lets assume that I do actually exist.
Throughout our entire lives we cannot be sure that we aren't in the sleep state you described, but whatever we do in this existence matters, even if one day we will wake up and resume another life. What is happening to us now matters to us now, and why shouldn't we try to please ourselves? Suppose it was true, and known by all, that when we turned 100 we woke up from this "dream" and went back to a whole other life in a different universe. Okay, so we would know that nothing we do in this life matters when we reach 100, but for those 100 years, I think most people would like to be as comfortable as possible, i.e. have a home, a job, fall in love; in other words succeed and be happy. Yes, we could do absolutely nothing and just wait for 100 to come around but why just sit on the street when we could be comfortable and have a pleasant existence?
The other thing you mentioned, that everything we sense was generated to please us; the question then becomes whether we want to be pleased and breeze through this existence comfortably, or know the truth even if it’s that our brain is simulating our entire existence (including our body) in a lab in the center of the sun. Do you think most people would want to know that nothing is real? I wouldn’t. I think it would be a curse to know that, for example, if I fall in love my partner isn’t real and will one day disappear. Some may think that those who wouldn’t want to know the truth are weak and scared of the truth, but I would want to live a happy life, free from the grief of knowing that all this is a reality.
In the end, it all comes down to the fact that even if our entire world is an illusion, obviously what happens to us here matters so we should try to succeed and live happily. If we do assume that nothing is real and therefore choose not to listen to any officials we would probably end up in jail suffering. As far as I’m concerned, I like this life just the way it is, and maybe it isn’t real, but I don’t want

Answer 4

You're not the only one to wonder this, by any means. Rene Descartes wrote of this basic worry in _Meditations on First Philosophy_ in 1641. What if we're hallucinating? What if we're dreaming? Or even worse, what if we're being controlled by a god that is all-evil and bent on deceiving us for the fun of it? We have no real *certain* evidence that god is good or even exists at all. So any or all of these things are possible.

The outcome of this kind of questioning seems to be to either accept skepticism, the idea that we don't know much of anything except perhaps the contents of our own minds; OR, alternatively, to accept our best evidence, which is highly likely to be true even though it *might* be wrong. (Descartes tried to fix the problem and show that all our common-sense beliefs were actually certain, but, well... he didn't do a very good job of it, unfortunately.)

The best evidence we have tells us we aren't in the Matrix or dreaming or being controlled. It is *possible* that we are, but how *reasonable* or likely is it, really?

Answer 5

Maybe existence is a dream state within a dream state. As the brain does not distinguish what occurs in a dream to be different from what happens in reality. Perhaps it is all an experiment? Perhaps it really is not? And if there is no God.......who controls it? who administers the drugs?
who would have the ability? Are we on a need to know basis here, hum?

Answer 6

Cut off your arm and see if your thought process creates pain.

Answer 7

Is it going to change the way you live your life whether this is real or not? Why would it? I dont think it should.

Answer 8

Wow, that's a great idea !!!