ForumsThe TavernWhat is Real?

30 4943
fireangle
offline
fireangle
176 posts
Nomad

What is really real and how do we know it?

This question has been bugging me for a while. So I figured I might as well ask.

  • 30 Replies
GhostOfMatrix
offline
GhostOfMatrix
15,595 posts
Herald

Is this enough?

Minotaur55
offline
Minotaur55
1,373 posts
Blacksmith

Real? What do you think is real? What do you think could be real? Why? What do you not think is real?

If you want to know what is real, you know it is real. If something doesn't feel real, then its not. Of course it is more detailed, but some people are not yet ready to be unplugged yet....

fireangle
offline
fireangle
176 posts
Nomad

Really? *slaps self in face* I should have known people were going to make Matrix quotes.

Is this enough?

No because your mind is easly tricked.

xeano321
offline
xeano321
3,152 posts
Farmer

How do you mean "What is real?"... My computer monitor seems real enough, my job seems real enough, and this thread seems real enough... Can you clarify for me?

Freakenstein
offline
Freakenstein
9,504 posts
Jester

What is really real and how do we know it?


What is real is anything able to be observed, whether through natural or scientific constructs. Which is everything. We know this, because this is what is shown when light reports to us any matter that it comes into contact. There are exceptions to this in which something we may not necessarily know is real but instead can be feasible. Whether aliens exist, another universe is present, what have you is all theoretical; we don't know if any of these are real, but they are feasible.
rayoflight3
offline
rayoflight3
437 posts
Nomad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism

Nothing for sure other than my awareness.

But I consider anything that appeals to any of the five senses as "real" since I might as well. That doesn't mean, however, I consider some monster real because I see it in a movie. I just consider the image on the screen as real, if that makes sense. Also, as far as information goes, anything that has been rigorously proven. Otherwise, it's a theory. Unfortunately, many of the things I've been learning in chemistry and physics these days have been theories. Well thought-out theories, but theories nonetheless.

Freakenstein
offline
Freakenstein
9,504 posts
Jester

I agree. Dreams and imaginations are quite real.


Especially since they can be recorded, influenced, and constructed by psychological technologies.
R2D21999
offline
R2D21999
18,319 posts
Treasurer

Your face!!! (Sorry couldn't resist)

But in all seriousness faces are real.

handlerfan
offline
handlerfan
185 posts
Nomad

I consider fantasies and scientific theories to be real because they exist in my experience and at the same time not real because they have nothing to with what I experience with my senses.
I think that it's a paradox that a lie is real [The Queen is a man] because it exists and at the same time false because the verbal statement is at odds with the physical evidence.

HahiHa
offline
HahiHa
8,255 posts
Regent

I think that it's a paradox that a lie is real [The Queen is a man] because it exists and at the same time false because the verbal statement is at odds with the physical evidence.

Not exactly. As I see it, a lie is a statement, and even though it is wrong, it is still as real a statement as any other. Whether the assumption of a statement is true or not, does not influence the reality of the statement itself, as 'real'=/='true' in this situation.
VonHeisenbourg
offline
VonHeisenbourg
377 posts
Peasant

Everything you can touch, feel, sense or imagine is real. Even if it's a hallucination, it's a real hallucination.

ProfessorOak
offline
ProfessorOak
991 posts
Nomad

Everything you can touch, feel, sense or imagine is real.


That is rather contradictory. Your imagination is basically the ability to experience senses without having them actually happen. Such as imagining a hippo, the hippo isn't actually there, but you can "see" it. This does not mean it is real.

If what you're saying is true, a better question would be "what isn't real?".
HahiHa
offline
HahiHa
8,255 posts
Regent

That is rather contradictory. Your imagination is basically the ability to experience senses without having them actually happen. Such as imagining a hippo, the hippo isn't actually there, but you can "see" it. This does not mean it is real.

The thought of it is real. Besides, many imaginations can actually trigger some receptors and stuff, for example watching a ballet show activates your own muscles too to a certain degree, without moving them.
daleks
offline
daleks
3,766 posts
Chamberlain

Something that you are imagining is real to you, but not to everyone else. Therefore most people would consider it not real, no matter how much you believe it is real.

If what you're saying is true, a better question would be "what isn't real?".

Technically, in my opinion, everything is real somewhere in a different dimension. The important thing is what is real in this dimension.
Salvidian
offline
Salvidian
4,170 posts
Farmer

The square root of -1 isn't real, but not by the same definition.

Showing 1-15 of 30