The reality is not as obvious and simple as we like to think.
Some of the things that we accept as true and take at face value are notoriously wrong.
Scientists and philosophers have made every effort to change our common perceptions of it. The 10 examples below will show you what I mean.
1. Big Freeze.
Big Freeze is the theory of the final state that our universe is heading toward. The universe has a limited supply of energy. According to this theory, when that energy finally runs out, the universe will devolve into a frozen state.
The thermal energy produced by the motion of the particles will gradually wear out, which means that eventually, this particle motion will slow down and, presumably, one day, everything will stop.
2. Solipsism.
Solipsism is a philosophical theory, which asserts that nothing exists but the individual’s consciousness. At first, it seems silly, but if you think about it, it really is impossible to verify anything but your own consciousness.
To check this out, take a moment to recall all the dreams that you have experienced in your life. Is it not possible that everything around you is nothing but an incredibly intricate dream? But, you may say, there are people and things around us that we cannot doubt because we can hear, see, smell, taste, and feel them, right?
Yes, and no. People who take LSD, for example, say that they can touch the most convincing hallucinations, but we do not claim that their visions are a “reality”. Your dreams can simulate sensations as well. After all, what you perceive is just a product of the information processing that takes place in different sections of your brain.
As a result, which parts of existence can we not doubt? Probably none. Each of us can only be sure of their own thoughts.
3. Idealism
George Berkeley, the father of Idealism, argued that everything exists as an idea in someone’s mind. Berkley discovered that some of his peers considered his theory to be stupid. The story goes that one of his opponents kicked a stone with his eyes closed and said, “I disprove it thus!”
The idea was that if the stone really only existed in his imagination, he could not have kicked it with his eyes closed. The way Berkeley refuted this is hard to understand, especially in these days. He argued that there was an omnipotent and omnipresent God who was able to see everything simultaneously.
4. Plato and the Logos.
Everybody has heard of Plato. He is one of the world’s most famous philosophers. Like all philosophers, he had a few things to say about the nature of reality. He argued that beyond our perceived reality, there lies a world of “perfect” forms.
Everything that we see is just a shade, an imitation of how things truly are. To learn more about these ideas, read about Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which is a sort of the ‘Matrix‘ in its ancient version.
Plato argued that by studying philosophy, we have a chance of catching a glimpse of how things truly are and discovering the perfect forms of everything we perceive.
In addition to this stunning statement, Plato, being a monist, said that everything is made of a single substance. This means (according to him) that everything – from stars in the sky to the dust under your bed – consists of the same basic material, but in a different form. With the discovery of atoms and molecules, it has been proven true to an extent.
5. Presentism.
Time is something that we perceive as a reality. Of course, we usually divide it into the past, present and future. Presentism argues that the past and the future are imagined concepts while only the present is real.
In other words, today’s breakfast and every word of this article will cease to exist after you finish reading it until you open it to read it again. The future is just as imaginary because the time cannot exist before and after it happened, as claimed by St. Augustine.
6. Eternalism.
Eternalism is the exact opposite of presentism. This is a philosophical theory that says that time is multi-layered. All layers of the time exist simultaneously, but the measurement is determined by the observer. What they see depends on which point they are looking at.
Thus, dinosaurs, Queen Victoria and Justin Bieber all exist simultaneously but can only be observed from a specific location. If one takes this view of reality, then the future is hopeless and the deterministic free will is illusory.
7. The Brain in a Jar
The “brain in a jar” thought experiment is a question discussed by thinkers and scientists who, like most people, believe that one’s understanding of reality depends solely on their subjective feelings.
So, what is the essence of this thought experiment? Imagine that you are just a brain in a jar that is run by aliens or mad scientists. How would you know? And can you truly deny the possibility that this is your reality?
This is a modern interpretation of Descartes’ evil demon problem. This thought experiment leads to the same conclusion: we cannot confirm the actual existence of anything except our consciousness.
If this seems to sound reminiscent of the movie “The Matrix“, it is only because this idea was part of the very basis of the story. Unfortunately, in reality, we have no red pills…
8. The Multiverse Theory
Anyone who has not spent the last ten years on a desert island has heard of “the multiverse” or parallel universes at least once. As many of us have seen, parallel words, in theory, are worlds very similar to ours, with little (or in some cases, large) changes or differences. The multiverse theory speculates that there could exist an infinite number of these alternate realities.
What’s the point? In a parallel reality, you may be living in the opposite corner of the world or may have already died in a car crash. In another one, you might have never even been born because your parents never met. The probabilities are endless.
9. Fictional realism.
This is probably the most fascinating branch of the multiverse theory. Superman is real. Yes, some of you would probably choose a different story, for argument’s sake, Harry Potter might be real too.
This branch of the theory argues that given an infinite number of universes, everything must exist somewhere. So, all of our favorite fiction and fantasy may be descriptive of an alternate universe, one where all the right pieces came into place to make it happen.
10. Phenomenalism.
Everyone is interested in what happens to things when we aren’t looking at them. Scientists have carefully studied this problem and some of them came to a simple conclusion – they disappear. Well, not quite like this.
Phenomenalist philosophers believe that objects only exist as a phenomenon of consciousness. So, your laptop is only here while you are aware of it and believe in its existence, but when you turn away from it, it ceases to exist until you or someone else interacts with it. There is no existence without perception. This is the root of phenomenalism.
Which of these mind-blowing theories about the nature of reality appeal to you most of all? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
H/T listverse.com
art by Victoria Audouard
To say that you believe what is written above, in science, in physics and philosophy all of which are subjective objective etc…. If reality is of your own creation or, if it is not of you creation does not change what you are reading, the words I am writing, therefore By your own statement of belief the Christian GOD must exist, why? Because you believe what is written above which plainly says you or we collectively are creating what you are reading and define Reality in a universe/multiverse of infinite possibilities, Which must by definition include the Christian God. So by your own argument God does exist. Now enough of the yogi bear mumbo jumbo. Physics says nothing can become something and explode into everything….. We Christians say God created the universe and you argue what, or who created God, you argue that we are moving the problem of the creation of the universe by saying GOD did with out asking or explaining what or who created GOD. I say to you then by your own argument ….. What or who created the Physics in your explanation, you Hypocrits.
The bible even refers to “reality” to paraphrase as a grand illusion. With a promise to the believer that he will be transformed in an instant. That the corruptible must put on the incoruptible, You are willing to believe all the trype man can conjure and then scoff at the Bible which Science despite its arrogance proves time and time again to be accurate and True. What people did not understand about it in the past was sealed for later times, these are later times and many things have been explained and revealed, Proven to be Good, Right and yes by the way proven True by your precious science, (by the way God created science too so it’s no surprise that when we do understand it that it proves the bible to be true) never not one time proven to be wrong. (Hint just to drive the point home: God created physics and the laws and processes that we call science) Something’s are still sealed, still not understood (if you read the Bible in many places the people who were writing the bible we’re told to seal certain parts of it so it would be understood at a later time), this does not make the Bible wrong to the Contrary, the Bible has proven man’s understanding of the science that God created to be wrong over and over again, making fools of those thought to be wise. (By the way The Bible said this would happen too) The more we learn the more our understanding of science changes ( it’s supposed to change its science ). The more we discover the more true anyone who actually studies The Bible realizes it to be. Sadly some due to lack of understanding, rebellion, frustration or anger cast The Bible aside, rejecting it forgetting it exists as if reality somehow does not include the Bible when clearly it being the most printed book in history exists. If you really want to understand reality, and truth then learn to understand the Bible, your problem is evident, you understand a small part, you can’t deny it is exists, no matter how hard you try to deny it, there it is. It makes you angry and frustrated, its true deep down inside you worry about it, go ahead laugh it off that is the ultimate sign of denial as any shrink. You don’t like the idea of accountability, you want to do what you want with no consequences, as if the very sciences you say govern the universe do not apply to you. In case you haven’t noticed action, reaction – cause and effect to name a few, they apply to you to like it or not, in the “Reality” Here’s one that is really going to make your blood boil maybe literally, The reality that one day we shall all stand in judgement. Some saved others lost by our own choosing . Your choice, choose wisely. The Bible explains reality better than any other book, theory or Guru. Read it study it, Test it, let it test you. Or are you affraid that you might have to abandon the fantasy that something as complex as all that is, defies the law of entropy, and just happened by the chance allowed by infinity, yet acknowledging at the same time that it had a beginning and has an end even if just and end for us as inividuals. God as a Creator makes more sense than any other theory to any man or woman who is intellectually honest with his or herself. The Bible is Truth and Christ exposed the Reality you are trying to understand when he was crucified, died and rose from the Dead witnesses by hundreds of people for 40 days until he left this “reality” as you call it to be with The father in the Real And permanent “Reality” promising to return for those of us who put our faith in him.
Has man abused man in the name of God yes just as the Bible said he would even the parts you hold against it, It predicted would come to pass that false teachers would make merchandise of him, that false Christs and Apostacy would be. and it has just as it says, Yet some of you fault it for being accurate because you do not know what it says, you do not know that it warned of all of these things. Why so the those of us who know it, who have read it, follow it and believe it will not turn from God for what evil men have done and continue to do. Also to ask that you read it, study it, it tells of things before they happened so that when they come to pass we might believe. It also warns in the later days People will scoff and Christ and his followers as some of you do. Again no surprise, It said this would be so. It also says in the last days people would depart from sound teaching and follow what ever they wanted to hear or believe. So in Reality “As for me and my house we shall serve The Lord” If you want to survive this simulation or what ever you want to call it, I would suggest you do the same. This “reality” doesn’t have much time left. The next “Reality” is forever, personally speaking I don’t want forever to be as confusing and messed up as this “reality” simulation or what ever you want to call it.
For any critics or trolls. I wrote what is above pretty much start to finish I did not spell check it or grammar check it. Why not you ask……
It’s a posting to a website not a college dissertation written with the intent of impressing some staunch academia type who can’t write his own mother without consulting a thesaurus. It’s plain English written like I would speak it. Consider the substance of the Bible not my humble attempt to defend it. I am a man it’s easy to tear me down. God on the other hand and his word, go ahead see how that works out for you. I’ll say a prayer for you in advance. God forgive he or she for they know not what they do. In Reality God is Real.
…so many words for so little Reality.
Don’t spend your whole life trying to figure out all the big questions and arguing with people because they have a different opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Hopefully something will be revealed to use when we die.
We are here, get over it. Life is for living. Be the best person you can be.
If you read this properly then you’re both right and wrong, in your perception of science OR religion it’s “reality” is subject to your own consciousness, therefore if you believe in “God” or any deity then it is real to you, while it may not necessarily be real to everyone else in the world as you cross higher echelon’s of consciousness you will discover that true freedom allows you to make anything you can think of into “reality”
to those who believe in “the” bible, ask yourself, which bible?
which bible? the ancient texts? the “great bible?” “the bishops bible?” the “geneva bible?”
which translations? wycliffe’s? how about tyndale? the king james version? which year?
“James gave the translators instructions intended to guarantee that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its belief in an ordained clergy.”
so you believe in a bible created to adhere to the tenets of the church of england?
or perhaps the catholic bible? or the protestant bible? greek orthodox? tewahedo? OR maybe the mormon bible?
and don’t forget the influence of the puritans.
so before you can ask me to believe in the one true bible, point out which bible that is.
As for Solipsism, one refuting argument is that others can make observations that can be verified with the same accuracy by another individual’s observations. So, 2 separate individuals can come up with the same exact observations. You can’t do that in dreams.
@lara I agree.
There are too many versions of the bible for there to be a real authentic version that was revealed to Jesus Christ.
But have you heard of this new book, the Quran?
It has only one version. And it answers all your questions.
It even tells you why there are so many “bibles” out there
So if you are really interested in spirituality, give the book a read.
Ask a friend for an English version. If that fails, i can get you one.
Cheers! (:
The truth is that we create our own reality as we move on in life. What you think about you bring about. You are the universe of your own very soul. Namaste
we could go on and on with peoples ideas of what reality really is or the perception of a persons reality… etc. the ideas on this page make you think that the possibilities are infinite. lets forget about possibilities and think about what is known to be fact. 1. we are born into this world with nothing except a clock that starts counting down to the time when we will die and leave this world with nothing. there is no escaping your death… money, power, popularity and all the positive thinking that you can think will not prolong your life for one second past the time you are going to die. 2. everything that is tangible you aquire over the course of your life remains here when you die. even your body remains here. interesting really because if your body remains here when you die…. what actually dies… if you weigh yourself just a moment before your body dies then weigh yourself a moment after your body dies ….. do you weigh the same? if so what does that mean. 3. nobody comes back once they experience death… not even for a short visit or a brief shout out “their ok and existing after they died here”. if you want to know the truth about these kinds of things …. read the word of god…. read it with an open mind … ask your god to open the eyes of your heart to his words and teachings… god will answer all your questions but remember you have to listen to him differently than you do with everything else here on this planet. good luck
I don’t think the notion of God fits well into discussion about this article, rSpiros. Even if it does, how can you be sure that it is ”your” God. It seems that everyone on this planet follows the only true God. Even to the extent of killing eachother over it. Sad really. On another note, these theories really do get you thinking.
send an insulting text message to a friend and see what happens. they’ll get hurt. don’t do that! other people exist too.
There is not a single concept mentioned here which I have not either heard of or thought up myself.
Try harder philosophers
Thinking about political ideologies as if they where the “software” rulling in the human society; (a fact!), one can perceive that society also probes a evolution or revolution with every new versión. It happened since we left the animal life and turned into humans, long time ago! And it will continue as such for the rest of our existence above earths face. It is foreseable that some day a new Ideology will come and by means of undoubtelly thruths will takeover the existing ones as it has happened before, history is allmost wroted about that!
Nice, but how about something like Jean-Paul Sartre’s stance on existentialism? Or other theories that don’t quite indulge in the brute force of taking the concept of reality by the horns but try to to subtly and ingeniously rework the concept of the role of the participating subject as a function of social mechanics, like Hegelianism, or its opposite in Marxist Material Philosophy?
you can only trust senses that have been proven too be easily fooled eyes ears nose touch all can be manipulated by electrical current or surgeons touch parts of the brain in neurosurgery and patients see whole other realities and chemicals can be used to alter perception a great deal.
Phenomenalism is really interesting to me because I think we exist in an elaborate computer program. Objects and places are only rendered when observed whether directly or indirectly. The program written by a seemingly all knowing creature. In this comes the idea that all things are possible because they can be added in at the creators discretion. Maybe free will is an algorithm to see how we react and respond to environmental changes. Dimensions could be explained by the layers of the computers architecture. Maybe there is a universal recycle bin that we go to when our program has ended. All thoughts are saved into a hard drive that is the summation of the entire experiment including the software to run it. Thought experiments like astral projection and ethereal projection take us outside the physical interface of then program and allow us to view the non physical dimensions of the computer. The akashic records and the various interpretations led me to think of this.
So phenomenalism requires intelligent design? It must, because if things only exist if a consciousness observes it, then some consciousness must have created everything to begin with. I wonder what consciousness created that consciousness? And I what consciousness created that consiousness? And what consciousness created that consciousness? And……
its turtes all the way down
Thomas Campbell “My Big TOE” books put sense to all this. 🙂
Phenomenalism must be true. Otherwise it will drop the framerate.
Nice…Interesting & Informative 🙂
This was a great article! However, I definetly would have included:
– Theory of Evolution by Darwin,
– Theory of memes by Richard Dawkins,
– Quantum mechanics.
These theories are shed new lights on reality as well on the process we use to understand natural/cultural changes. We live in a complex world, and these are powerful tools to help us understand a bit more.
Don’t bring scientists into this when no part of this has any sort of scientific merit. These are not scientific theories. They are pure conjecture, or at best, hypotheses. Nothing more. The only one with some credibility is the great glaciation.
Misinformation like this is exactly why people go around saying “It’s just a theory!” as if that actually discredits legitimate scientific theories. The word has two very different meanings – don’t mix them together.
Yes it’s really mindblowing and interesting
wow… this article is cool… mind blowing..
Nice and Interesting ..
thanks
Nice article. Reality has been argued since ancient times and probably will be argued for a long time. I find Phenomenalism interesting. It is related to quantum physics.
Nothing interesting to be honest. Most of it is just variation of idea, that what we percieve as reality may or not may be it. With regards to Fictional Realism. Two options are possible. 1) laws across those universes are similar or same, than magix is not possible, so no, no Harry Potter please. 😛
Very interesting. I found the phenomenalism the hardest to swallow, yet most interesting. In this case does it mean that streets at night do not exist unless someone steps on it? That would be interesting. Thanks for the sharing!
Most of the works published here have clearly no scientific basis such as Plato’s theory or st Augustine in fact alot of these can be disproved with general relativity.
All that these theories bar the first really reflect as far as I’m concerned, is the unrelenting issue with the whole of the human race that we hold a misplaced impression of self importance. Conscious thought is something that all animals are capable of so why would something only exist when we look at it and not when a dog is looking at it? people seem to be completely unable to comprehend just how small and unimportant we are.
GB: These ideas are all interesting, but mostly fallacious. Reality has to be framed in terms of Action and Argumentation categories. (A.A. and A.P.O.A. BABY! READ SOME MOTHA F@#$in HOPPE!)
Here’s a riddle for y’all:
Identity that built of man but not of wood or stone;
Expands materiality, but no matter of its own!
It may be this, it may be that, but never this or that as one;
Deny my words, to this submit, in very act, you’ve done…
There is much equivocation over the word “existence”. As if all things “exist” in the same sense! Clearly, from the point of view of argumentation, and argumentative-justification, not all “things” have existence or obtain existence in the same way. Propositions are not free floating propositions, and must be understood meaningfully in and through the constraints of propositional-logic!
Praxeologists and protophysicists (think modern scientists) do not deny that there are things we cannot know. But if you are making a truth-related-proposition (a statement OR a question challenging the validity or…truth-i-ness of a thing in some way) you automatically enter the realm of Action and Argumentation, and are limited and constrained by logic of these realms.
People are either completely ignorant of their errors in this regard, or liars, or lazy…or stupid. In any of these cases, they are mistaken to isolated their queries and theories from the practical realities of exchange-making and action. This mistake leads to grave error! But…also really entertaining fiction in many cases. So I aint hating that bad.
GreyBrrr out.
Really nice.
Great theory, but we can not over-general in thinking. For me that can hinder it is a religion. Thanks
Outside of what I learned on the Big Bang Theory, the multiverse theory is the hardest for me to swallow. It just seems hard to grasp considering we may not be able to confirm one way or the other.
On the concept of a Multiverse. The so-called multiverse theory manages somewhat conveniently to accommodate essentially ANY kind of a universe one can imagine except, that is, the kind we can plainly enough see we’re in. How odd. If [according to the theory] any kind of universe is ‘possible’, then ONE of those universes would have to be “the kind that disallows of all others”, that is, exists simply all by itself. So, unless one is fine with self-contradiction, to be pro-multiverse is necessarily to be pro-monoverse or, stated more familiarrly, is to accept that the Universe we inhabit is the only train running …because for obvious reasons the one possibility negates all the others even if you accept the premise.
On the concept of Cosmic Glaciation. At first glance, the seemingly predictable glaciation of the Universe does seem to align itself well with what the evidence suggests as to the origins of the Universe (speaking in purely mechanistic terms), as it appears this glaciation [over untold eons] could be expected to lead to the very sorts of mass scale compression associated with The Big Bang. After all, there’s no cooling of a magnitude greater than absolute zero (meaning below it), where it is known that atomic-level activities remain in tact, i.e. electrons buzzing about in their orbitals. But a frozen Universe, or the state thereof, would not in any way interfere with the laws of mass attraction central to classicalal physics. So over time, all matter would accrete. However, the unthinkably immense pressure of that amount of mass (see Boyle’ss Law) would so greatly compress its core as to cause nuclear fusion, thereby generating incomprehensibly large amounts of energy including radiant heat energy, precisely the way stars are known to be born. Thus the dilemma. Long before ALL of the matter of the Universe could ever be expected to accrete in this way, (due to our so-called glaciation), widely dispersed pockets of accretion would occur, generating heat energy, thereby blocking any path to ultimate glaciation. In other words, every trend toward comprehensive glaciation would be countered by that which reverses that trend. So while at first glance it looks like there would be an infinite loop which cycles from glaciation to singularity on the macro scale, the processes we can plainly observe and measure disallow of any such loop and, for that matter, disallow of even complete glaciation in the first place. And it’s this absence of a mechanism by which to RETURN to singularity which makes such a mess of the whole matter, no pun intended.
If the multiverse theory CAN accommodate any kind of universe one can imagine, that doesn’t mean it necessarily accommodates EVERY kind of universe one can imagine.
Existence is proving to be an extraordinarily strange place full of seeming paradoxes. I’m no longer sure that it can’t exclude the possibility of multiverses while simultaneously NOT excluding the possibility of multiverses.
Very Knowledgable Theories , it will help me in my studies. Thank You
To Sava Pervaiz ^^
Please restrain from the use of “theory” if there is not any credible, testable, and verifiable evidence to support it. A theory is a very honorable name for an idea to be deemed. Otherwise, it is a hypothesis. We, as a species, do not need to keep devaluing the honor of an idea being deemed a “theory.”
Yeah we need to be super sure what we call the ideas we’re not super sure about. We won’t ever make any progress. You’re soo dumb
To Cristian — thank you for posting your theory that something is not a theory unless there is “credible, testable, and verifiable evidence to support it.” And, your evidence for that theory is what?
As it appears to me, almost all f these have been covered in Hindu philosophy.
A HYPOTHESIS is a proposed explanation of the phenomenon. A “FACT” is an objective observation of the phenomenon. A LAW describes the phenomenon. A THEORY explains the phenomenon. Gravitation (gravity) and evolution are natural phenomenon, they are neither hypotheses, “facts”, laws nor theories. THEY ARE NATURAL PHENOMENON. For example: Gravitational “fact”; When you drop an apple it falls to Earth. Gravitational hypothesis; The apple falls to Earth because the devil is using his invisible hands to keep it from soaring to heaven. Gravitational law; Any two objects attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Gravitational theory; Any two objects partially shield each other from streams of particles exerting equal pressure from all directions, resulting in a net imbalance in the pressure exerted by the impact on the objects which then drives them together. Further more THERE ARE NO OBSOLUTE FACTS OR TRUTHS IN SCIENCE, this is why it is extremely rare to see them used in any legitimate scientific papers. I really hope that this cleared some things up. I know that all of this can become confusing, just remember,
A hypothesis postulates
A law describes
A theory explains
Five words. “THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS”
Our existence is a never-ending set of paradoxes that will always have us chasing our tail.
Knew most of them. Presentism I’m fond of, as a writer I can sense and manipulate it with every sensation – not to say memory – used in a text, but also as a social being, a keep observer I can see everywhere the fictionalization of one’s past, the rationalization of experiences so that they are explained, are logic and comprehensible.
Plato’s theory is a good paradoxical tool, especially in the arts.
Nobody knows anything. The only way to live is by faith.
Interesting, but four of those are essentially the same thing.
Really interesting article. Have been thinking on the same line for quite some time. Looking forward to read more of your stuff.
Wow….studied all these theories back in college. Plutonic school of thought is what I believe in.