Reality

There's quite a bit to unpack in the title of this blog post, but I'll try to keep it fairly simple.  "Aspire" obviously means that a radical embrace of reality is something that I'd like to be able to do, but often this is more of a hope than an actuality for me. "Radical" refers to the fact that I, along with just about everybody else in the world, chooses to not embrace reality much of the time. Too disturbing. Too painful. Too whatever. So we cling to a form of unreality instead. If we always turned toward reality, that…

A few days ago I explained why I wasn't writing about an idea I had: Embrace what's real, not an ideal. I was planning to revisit that topic tonight. But this morning I read a fascinating chapter in David Chalmers' new book, Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy.  The chapter, "Have we fallen from the Garden of Eden?," reflected the basic notion I had. That there's a marked difference between viewing life as it actually is, versus how it could ideally be. Chalmers starts off his chapter with a creative look at how science has changed the Eden-like…

A few days ago I wrote about one of the central notions in David Chalmers' new book, "Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy. Namely, that if we're in a simulation, our world is still real.  In this post I'll talk about a chapter in the book with a compelling title: Is God a hacker in the next universe up?  What I'm enjoying most about Reality+, aside from how clearly Chalmers writes and reasons, is how he integrates basic philosophical questions with the specific issue of us being in a simulation. Does God exist? The question has been asked…

As computer simulations become more and more lifelike, the question could we be living in a simulation?  becomes more interesting. Especially to fans of The Matrix movies.  But also to philosophers, since Plato, Descartes, and many others have wondered whether this world that we assume is real, actually is. David Chalmers, a philosopher who is the codirector of the Center for Mind, Brain and Consciousness at New York University, has written a fascinating book: Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy.  In an early chapter, Chalmers summarizes the central questions he addresses in the book, along with his one…

Here's an interesting post from the Why Evolution is True blog. I like how Jerry Coyne thinks and writes. https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/08/21/john-horgan-a-proud-agnostic/

Over on my other blog, HinesSight, yesterday I wrote "Covid reality: thoughts are not facts." It starts this way: Driving into Salem today, listening to a news channel on satellite radio, I heard a public health expert say something that made me grab a piece of paper and write it down as soon as I came to a stop: Thoughts are not facts.  She was referring to wearing masks in schools as they reopen after a summer break. Like when a student or parent says, "But I thought that wasn't going to be necessary since Covid cases were declining so…