I do not exist... neither do you.
Does that make you feel any better about being insane? (If you think you are not insane, please go back 2 posts and read "Don't ya hate be'n dumb?")
There are many stories about those who argue about existence. One story goes that 2 philosophers were arguing through dinner. One held that nothing exists, so the other one began to eat the first one's cake. "Hey! That is my cake!" he protested. "How can that be if nothing exists?" the other answered and finished the cake. I searched a bit but was not able to remember or find who the antagonists were. If anyone knows, please post a comment to remind me!
Another story is about the "The head whacker society." The whacker looks for someone who thinks he does not exist, and proceeds to whack him on the head with a board. Of course the target protests, but the defense is that the wronged party does not exist, so there is no crime. This story was part of a radio ministry illustration. The point was that if a person believes that there is no objective reality, then they would naturally believe that there is no objective right and wrong - everything would be subjective. Every man would be a god unto himself. If I do not actually exist, than Christ's sacrifice is for nothing and God's truth is not absolute. If I believe God does not exist, then I really am insane... or deceived. In that sense, I believe that I exist. There is reality.
Never-the-less... sorry to say it, but that which we perceive of what exists, does not exist! Say What? I believe that I exist, but I do not believe that I am physically what I perceive myself to be... is that any easier? Let's try to get our heads around this idea. I can think of at least 4 simple arguments that "I do not exist" as I perceive myself to be. The first one is illustrated by the movie "The Matrix".
Think about it... My brain, which perceives my existence, does not experience anything. It can not feel, react to light, react to motion, smell, hear, taste. Nope... it is all remote sensing. Once a brain surgeon gets through the skin, he can perform surgery with no further anesthesia because the patients brain can not feel! I think that is what resonates with me in the movie... I can not know... for sure... How can I know that I am not plugged into some matrix? In the movie there was an occasional glitch in the matrix that gave some evidence that the people in the pods were not experiencing reality. In our perceived world, there are no such hiccups, but perhaps that is because our programmer is better than the evil ones in The Matrix. My existence is just perceived by this blob of gray stuff that interprets signals from some remote sensing devices... scary...
"Wait", you say, "just because I can not prove that I am accurately perceiving reality does not prove that I am not." I agree. This argument is simply to set you up for the other 3. I want to put you into the right frame of mind... so to speak...
Consider this... Many bugs do not see the visible light spectrum. They perceive reality totally differently than I do. Have you seen those IR cameras shots displayed on a video monitor so that you can watch yourself? My family recently spent an hour laughing at each other and our selves with the funny eyes, bright and dark patches in odd places... you know... but to a mosquito, that is what they think is reality. So, you see, there is some reality that is radiating energy. I perceive the energy that is in the visible light spectrum while the mosquito perceives the energy that is in the IR spectrum. Both of us are only experiencing an effect of the reality, not the actual reality. Is either receiver accurately perceiving the reality? See what I mean? How do I know that I am what I perceive myself to be? Tricky, isn't it?
Next - from the Matrix, to the Microscope, to the Cosmos, to the Condensate... hold on...
There's a similar argument which the matrix movie is founded upon. It goes:
ReplyDeleteCopmutational speed evolves at a rate of 2X every 5 years (or something like that). Thus 1960 it would have evolved to be 2^10 power times faster. It quickly approaches infinity.
Eventually then there must be an infinitely fast computer capable of solving any math problem in a nearly 0 time. And thus any virtual reality system must approach any reality system.
Any virtual reality system this powerful must be able to simulate reality to the fullest including a full world from start to finish.
In the full virtual reality we exist. And then like two mirrors facing each other, we discover computers (in virtual reality) which eventually become capable of developing a 2nd level virtual reality... and so on and so forth ad infinitum.
Thus, we can be almost 100% sure that we are in the "virtual reality" of some computer world and not the actual reality of the "real reality"
The question remains though, regardless of which reality I'm in, there must still be a reality... and thus every philosophical precept about a God and my responsibility to know him are still intact. So does my being "virtual" instead of real actually change anything about my moral responsibility?
Exactly! In trying to not be too long winded, I probably did not make it clear enough. I am also separating the "real reality" from our "perceived reality". My argument is that the we should not be lulled into thinking that our perception of real reality is the reality. I am not what I perceive myself to be. My perception of myself is not real.
ReplyDeleteSome 2012ers believe that the computer complexity singularity occurs then. That is separate from McKenna TimeWave theory, but seems related. The eLAMB blog also mentions this in a review of Ray Kurzweil’s "The Singularity is Near". ( http://elamb.org/the-singularity-is-near-for-security-pt-1/ ) I studied McKenna's thoughts enough to reject them as something I will believe, but I find the "coincidence" rich date of 2012 to be astounding. Jesus did say that when the farmer sees the clouds coming a certain way he knows it is going to rain. Of course, he also said that we would not know the day and time of his coming.
Wow, Very interesting. You can go so many places from here. What about the subconscious mind and that whole part of our own reality that we aren't even aware of. Dreams? How about video games where you create a virtual you. Great though provoking, mind blowing stuff.
ReplyDeletethat was a really neat article by the way.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading the iRobot series by Asimov lately... he brings up some really interesting points like: what happens when the machines become so smart that we can't unplug them for fear of a catastrophic economic collapse.
I think we're definitley getting to that point pretty soon. I still wonder about how intelligent machines will ever be... I'm not quite as hopeful as Kurzweil, but still it's possible.