Reality and its silly trees
Show Notes
When it comes to the nature of reality, which, is about as vague as it gets, it becomes necessary to narrow it down for the sake of a podcast. I believe it’s important to start here, however, because what we discover will create a more solid foundation going forward. These concepts pervade everything you choose to believe in, whether you’re aware of it or not.
So, where do we start? As much as I would love to break down the definition of “REALITY” piece by piece, go through all the little caveats of each subset of study, each subset of each subset into infinity, we just don’t have the time. For our purposes, let’s first make an overview of the categories in which we can divide the two most prominent camps of thought:
First off, there is REALISM, meaning, in short, that there is an OBJECTIVE reality beyond our perceptions and beliefs. Things occur outside of us. Outside of our choices. Outside of our senses, our thoughts. A tree falling in a forest still DOES make a sound if no one is around to hear it. Why? Because, obviously, events occur all the time in nature without us there to witness them, right? A cloud can still produce rain over the ocean without a soul watching. The assumption that the universe still exists is a fundamental assumption in classical physics. Object permanence: ie/ a baby thinks peekaboo is hilarious because when you hide your face, you essentially cease to exist. Most of science is built upon the notion that the universe is real whether or not we’re looking at it.
Second, there is ANTI REALISM, or IDEALISM, meaning there is no reality beyond our own perceptions and beliefs. We create reality, our thoughts and feelings literally build the world around us. The tree is only there because we can see it, touch it, perceive it, believe it is there. If no one is around to perceive the tree, it effectively does not exist AT ALL.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality
https://philosophyterms.com/realism/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism/
Double Slit Experiment:
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/seeing-the-double-slit-experiment-for-the-first-timeSchool of Athens: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/stanze-di-raffaello/stanza-della-segnatura/scuola-di-atene.html
Neil deGrasse Tyson Interview (Star Talk):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmcrG7ZZKUc&list=LLBq9a3RDr7Asi_i4waHKfTw&index=2&t=305s
Randonauts:
