True existence is that which is perceived by all minds?

[Martini]

Let's say that every being in the universe, including me, believed that I could float up into the sky like a soap bubble, would I?

Who would be there to say I would not?

 

[WaveJumper]

Let's say that every being in the universe, including me, believed that I could float up into the sky like a soap bubble, would I?

Who would be there to say I would not?

If you can't float up in the sky, what does it matter what someone or all the people believed? Or are you saying that if everyone was crazy and dreaming/hallucinating something that fundamentally did not exist or was not as it manifested to our minds, this would become a sort of consentual reality indistinguishable from what we'd regard as true reality?

We can only test our logic with our logic and that's a severe limitation.

 

[Martini]

Or are you saying that if everyone was crazy and dreaming/hallucinating something that fundamentally did not exist or was not as it manifested to our minds, this would become a sort of consentual reality indistinguishable from what we'd regard as true reality?

.

Yes, every single being was hallucinating, or something of that sort.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Yes, every single being was hallucinating, or something of that sort.

There are many gaps in the capacity of human perception and there are examples of things which we 'see' or believe we 'see' that are not necessarily reality. Human perception is not the end all and be all of conceptual reality.

 

[Anticitizen]

Let's say that every being in the universe, including me, believed that I could float up into the sky like a soap bubble, would I?

Who would be there to say I would not?

Why would that be the case? Let's say everybody in the room believed you can, would that make it so? What if you believe you can and you're the only one in the room?

 

[apeiron]

Yes, every single being was hallucinating, or something of that sort.

Its not about belief but having a reason to believe.

A belief implies a choice, a chance reality could be otherwise. And bad beliefs - bad models - are found out in the long run.

 

[DaveC426913]

Let's say that every being in the universe, including me, believed that I could float up into the sky like a soap bubble, would I?

Who would be there to say I would not?

There is a missing element in your logic.

Everyone in the universe believes you can float.
You try to float.
You fail.

Note though, that - them believing you could float - does not directly translate into them seeing you float and subsequently believing that you did float.

They would need to succumb to a second delusion for that to happen.

Alternately, they would observe that their belief was flawed, and would have the opportunity to change their minds.

A more airtight question is:

Let's say that every being in the universe, including me, believed that I did float up into the sky like a soap bubble, did I?

Who would be there to say I did not?

Unfortunately, this doesn't empower you to float either.

 

[Sorry!]

I was just about to make the same point that Dave just made. It would be better had this been in the past tense. So everyone believes I did float up into the sky.

I don't think that this makes it true (objectively) that you did float or even that you could ever float. It does however make it real. Why does it have to be everyone on the world though... We all live in our own realities I think with a lot of common ground (since we are all built similarily)

So yes it is possible that to me it is real that I can shoot lasers out of my eyes... alas, it isn't truth (objectively) though.

Then what is truth and does it even exist? A whole other thread.

 

[DaveC426913]

I don't think that this makes it true (objectively) that you did float or even that you could ever float.

it isn't truth (objectively) though.

Then what is truth and does it even exist? A whole other thread.

I tihnk that's the point of thread. Is there any such thing as 'objectivity' beyond 'what everyone in the universe thinks'.

 

[WaveJumper]

I tihnk that's the point of thread. Is there any such thing as 'objectivity' beyond 'what everyone in the universe thinks'.

Agreed, our objectivity is subjective. It would have been hilarious if it wasn't sad.

 

[Gear300]

Let's say that every being in the universe, including me, believed that I could float up into the sky like a soap bubble, would I?

Who would be there to say I would not?

So what you're implying is that objectivity comes from the collection of all subjective perceptions?

 

[Sorry!]

I tihnk that's the point of thread. Is there any such thing as 'objectivity' beyond 'what everyone in the universe thinks'.

Yes, I understood the point of the OP.

My point however is that we can't just assume 'objective truth'. We're smarter than that I hope. Considering we here in this thread acknowledge that all truth is subjective we shouldn't posit that it's also objective.

If objective truths do exist I feel we will never 'know' of them.

 

[Martini]

I just realized something.
This question is kind of similar to the age old question "If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?"

 

[DaveC426913]

I just realized something.
This question is kind of similar to the age old question "If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?"

Not really. Yours is a fair bit more simplistic, and is quite answerable with some conditions placed on it.

Itr is only ambiguous semantically: "what does one mean by 'sound'?" Once one determines what sound is, the answer follows directly.

The tree makes vibrations in the air. They become sounds when they are interpreted by a creature.

 

[Martini]

Not really. Yours is a fair bit more simplistic, and is quite answerable with some conditions placed on it.

Itr is only ambiguous semantically: "what does one mean by 'sound'?" Once one determines what sound is, the answer follows directly.

The tree makes vibrations in the air. They become sounds when they are interpreted by a creature.

You're right, I was thinking about it a certain way.

I must say, I got myself over my head with this one.
I am only 14 :p

 

[DaveC426913]

I am only 14 :p

14? Jeez. I wish I was participating in physics discussions when I was 14! I think I was still playing with GI Joes!

 

[Martini]

Yeah, my debating skills aren't quite high enough to really get across my point.

 

[Willowz]

I tihnk that's the point of thread. Is there any such thing as 'objectivity' beyond 'what everyone in the universe thinks'.

Yes, if we would be talking about the third man argument., but that would go into infinite.

I just realized something.
This question is kind of similar to the age old question "If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?"

Not really. Yours is a fair bit more simplistic, and is quite answerable with some conditions placed on it.

Itr is only ambiguous semantically: "what does one mean by 'sound'?" Once one determines what sound is, the answer follows directly.

The tree makes vibrations in the air. They become sounds when they are interpreted by a creature.

Sound is not the point. What is important in this metaphor is about reality in the sense of that-which-exists-with-or-without-conscious-awareness-of-its-existence. True existence is that what you see and do not see. It does not matter if conscious wasn't there to hear the tree fall. The tree was there, then it fell. How do I know this? Walking along a road I saw the same tree that fell. Deduction does the rest. The point is it does not even have to prove it's own existence. It exists and that's it.

 

[ValenceE]

Sound is not the point. What is important in this metaphor is about reality in the sense of that-which-exists-with-or-without-conscious-awareness-of-its-existence. True existence is that what you see and do not see. It does not matter if conscious wasn't there to hear the tree fall. The tree was there, then it fell. How do I know this? Walking along a road I saw the same tree that fell. Deduction does the rest. The point is it does not even have to prove it's own existence. It exists and that's it.

what if you were blind ?


VE

 

[petm1]

what if you were blind ?

We could stumble over the tree.

 

[Willowz]

what if you were blind ?


VE

Or even better, the tree starts dancing and I can't see it! That would suck.

 

[Martini]

Hooray for dancing trees!

But back to the topic :]
do you believe if every being in the universe believed I was floating like a soap bubble, would it be construed as reality?

 

[petm1]

Hooray for dancing trees!

But back to the topic :]
do you believe if every being in the universe believed I was floating like a soap bubble, would it be construed as reality?

If you were a soap bubble.

 

[bleedblue1234]

Hooray for dancing trees!

But back to the topic :]
do you believe if every being in the universe believed I was floating like a soap bubble, would it be construed as reality?

Well it may be contrued as reality to a certain subset or viewing population, just like many people believe religion is reality and there are many others who believe it doesn't constitute reality, but by definition reality is:

1. the state or quality of being real.
2. resemblance to what is real.
3. a real thing or fact.

therefore its not real, and therefore it is not reality? I don't see the point in your argument as it makes no logical sense that an entire population of peoples could believe you were floating in the sky in a magic bubble...

 

[Sorry!]

Well it may be contrued as reality to a certain subset or viewing population, just like many people believe religion is reality and there are many others who believe it doesn't constitute reality, but by definition reality is:

1. the state or quality of being real.
2. resemblance to what is real.
3. a real thing or fact.

therefore its not real, and therefore it is not reality? I don't see the point in your argument as it makes no logical sense that an entire population of peoples could believe you were floating in the sky in a magic bubble...

The example is far fetched. But hey, do you believe that people can walk on water? Can you PROVE that it has NEVER happened?

It reminds me of the novel 1984, where they can change history to be whatever they need it to be. It then becomes REAL because they population has been trained to just accept these changes to history (what used to be reality).

Of course it's not the fundamental reality, but who cares, seeing as we can only know the world through perception anyways.

 

[Martini]

The example is far fetched. But hey, do you believe that people can walk on water? Can you PROVE that it has NEVER happened?

It reminds me of the novel 1984, where they can change history to be whatever they need it to be. It then becomes REAL because they population has been trained to just accept these changes to history (what used to be reality).

Of course it's not the fundamental reality, but who cares, seeing as we can only know the world through perception anyways.

I actually got my inspiration for this topic form 1984 :]

 

[Willowz]

I think that if every conscious being believed just hard enough that pigs can fly, just hard enough. Then pigs would fly.

 

[Martini]

I think that if every conscious being believed just hard enough that pigs can fly, just hard enough. Then pigs would fly.

Exactly, there is no proof that pigs are not flying, but everyone in the world believes they are, so they must be.

 

[WaveJumper]

There is proof that pigs are flying, contrary to what many may say. It's a consequence of them undergoing phase transition and spontaneous symmetry breaking in a situation of extremely low entropy.(read steak with mushrooms) http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3092/flyingpigt.jpg If they weren't flying, we wouldn't now be talking of their flying.(anthropic principle)

 

[Willowz]

Would that be a true belief? Belief and truth are not the same. If it were not true, then it would be pointless to believe in such magical pigs.

EDIT: If only we treated the pigs better. They wouldn't be so sick!

 

[WaveJumper]

Don't worry, a large portion of the most revered physicists believe there exists a universe where pigs evolved wings and are flying. This is something you could present at physics conferences without causing any confusion. MWI is pretty friendly towards flying, swimming and singing pigs, it's just that they have decohered from us and there is no way to see them.

Universe where pigs have evolved the ability to play soccer:

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/2760/62975230.jpg

 

[flatmaster]

y = y0 + v0t + .5gt^2

Let g>0

There you go, you're flying