Is life just an illusion?

[ModernArtist25]

Everything is made up? Without our minds and the things we create with it, the universe and everything in it wouldn't exist?

What's your opinion?

Edited August 21, 2016 by ModernArtist25

[StringJunky]

I think that has shades of Buddhism, whereby we project out what we see.

 

Certainly, what we see is a construction of our minds and not a literal photograph-like image where we passively record all what passes into our eyes and we see that with our 'mind's eye'; it is selective as to what data is used and how it is used.

Edited August 21, 2016 by StringJunky

[Strange]

Everything is made up? Without our minds and the things we create with it, the universe and everything in it wouldn't exist?

 

 

How would you tell the difference?

[StringJunky]

 

 

How would you tell the difference?

That brick, that the brickie has just dropped above me, will not hit my head. Yes, as per HSE directives, I've got a lid on.

Edited August 21, 2016 by StringJunky

[dimreepr]

Everything is made up? Without our minds and the things we create with it, the universe and everything in it wouldn't exist?

What's your opinion?

 

 

Tell that to a sparrow.

[Strange]

 

 

Tell that to a sparrow.

 

 

But the sparrow only exists in your mind...

[dimreepr]

I don't know, I'm not a sparrow.

[Phi for All]

How would you tell the difference?

 

Usually, this question presupposes you can't tell. Which makes it fairly meaningless.

 

I don't mind that a question doesn't have an answer, but it bunches my undies when it CAN'T have one.

[iNow]

I was going to ask the same thing. How would you tell, and why would it matter? In essence, nothing changes.

Edited August 21, 2016 by iNow

[Strange]

I don't mind that a question doesn't have an answer, but it bunches my undies when it CAN'T have one.

 

 

It is probably worth spending a bit of time (e.g. in an intro to philosophy class) understanding why it can't have an answer. After that, it becomes pretty pointless.

[Lyudmilascience]

no it cant be all in our minds because if i did not exist it would not be in my mind yet it would exist for everyone else, or if i existed but did not believe in the universe it would still exist. sometimes i wish it didn't exist if i stop believing in it but that never happened.

[Ten oz]

Is life just an illusion, a dream, a simulation, or etc? The question gets asked many different ways. iNow and Phi for All bring of good points. In my opinion the question opens a door and then fails to peer through it. Unless I can wake from the dream or see the illusion as one than what difference does it make?

 

Peering through the open door how can one test reality to see if it is real? If it isn't real than what is on the otherside?

[Delta1212]

 

 

But the sparrow only exists in your mind...

Perhaps you only exist in the sparrow's mind.

[Jvee86]

I dont know about an illusion...But I am still on board with the Matrix idea. ;-)

 

Why can't we entertain the fact the we are just Super-intelligent -Super-sensitive Artificial Intelligence of some sort. You have to figure the advancements of each generation in technology have been astounding. Every Century, mankind has taken their base starting point of technology and grown on it exponentially. From your basic slack jawed caveman advancing from here starting point of squat...To building things and using tools. From us playing pong to now burning Dvds and running advanced machines. The advances are in leaps and bounds and continual. So in 300 years, won't we have created an Ai that can learn grow or feel on its own. Already we have computer software and life like video games and software where people can create virtual worlds. Won't we advance in no time and grow on that to having Superintelligent Ai in no time. So we will be creating this most likely for sure......So who is to say this hasnt been done by our ancestors or a intelligent "alien" life. And we are that by product.....And the Ai we create will go on to multiply and grow and create Ai of their own eventually and this will reapeat and repeat...Like it already has...like a tangled web of creations creating creations..and we are somewhere in the middle... But then again I am crazy.

Edited October 9, 2016 by Jvee86

[m_m]

If you think that life is an illusion, don't eat, don't go to the shower. Because your hunger and smell are illusive. And they are made up by your mind.

On 10/9/2016 at 6:00 AM, Jvee86 said:

But I am still on board with the Matrix idea. 😉

We don't live  in the Matrix, we live in concepts. You can substitute them, playing with words. 

[dimreepr]

2 hours ago, m_m said:

We don't live  in the Matrix, we live in concepts. You can substitute them, playing with words. 

What is your concept of hunger?

[Imagine Everything]

On 8/21/2016 at 4:47 PM, ModernArtist25 said:

Everything is made up? Without our minds and the things we create with it, the universe and everything in it wouldn't exist?

What's your opinion?

A very clever person once posted this link to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley

You might find it interesting.

 

I'm not a believer of nothing though.

Edited Sunday at 05:06 PM by Imagine Everything

[dimreepr]

21 hours ago, Imagine Everything said:

A very clever person once posted this link to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley

What version of clever, did they want to convey???

[m_m]

On 3/16/2025 at 3:16 PM, dimreepr said:

What is your concept of hunger?

I don't know how to answer to your question. I just don't understand it.

*

Think about the concept of hunger when you are hungry. 

23 hours ago, Imagine Everything said:

A very clever person once posted this link to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley

You might find it interesting.

 

I'm not a believer of nothing though.

Yes, George Berkeley. Yet his philosophy was called "idealism", another concept. 

I think that if nowadays scientists confirmed  his philosophy, people wouldn't be interested. They would laugh at this information. They just don't care. 

 I once asked a friend of mine about the origin of man, and she said "I don't care". 

And some people want to be bytes. It is believed that people are apes, and suddenly can become bytes. But who cares. And this is the saddest part of this story. 

Edited Monday at 05:25 PM by m_m

[swansont]

On 3/16/2025 at 6:58 AM, m_m said:

If you think that life is an illusion, don't eat, don't go to the shower. Because your hunger and smell are illusive. And they are made up by your mind.

Made up by your mind? An illusion?

So if I open a vial of some noxious transparent gas, but say it’s air, you won’t smell anything?

On 3/16/2025 at 6:58 AM, m_m said:

We don't live  in the Matrix, we live in concepts. You can substitute them, playing with words. 

I don’t know what “we live in concepts” is supposed to mean.

[zapatos]

On 10/8/2016 at 10:00 PM, Jvee86 said:

Why can't we entertain the fact the we are just Super-intelligent -Super-sensitive Artificial Intelligence of some sort. You have to figure the advancements of each generation in technology have been astounding. Every Century, mankind has taken their base starting point of technology and grown on it exponentially.

I believe that is called Begging the Question.

You are saying we could be living in a Matrix, and the proof that a Matrix is possible is based upon the fact that while we were in the Matrix we were able to have great technological innovations over the centuries that could lead us to create a Matrix, in which we would develop technology over the centuries that could allow us to create a Matrix...

If we are in a Matrix those centuries of exponential technology growth never really happened.

Edited Monday at 07:29 PM by zapatos

[m_m]

1 hour ago, swansont said:

Made up by your mind? An illusion?

So if I open a vial of some noxious transparent gas, but say it’s air, you won’t smell anything?

I don't think that life is an illusion. It is absolutely real. 

And my response was sarcastic, because of the title of this topic.

Though our perception is made up by our mind. 

 

[swansont]

9 minutes ago, m_m said:

I don't think that life is an illusion. It is absolutely real. 

And my response was sarcastic, because of the title of this topic.

Though our perception is made up by our mind. 

 

And the “we live in concepts” comment?

[m_m]

2 hours ago, swansont said:

I don’t know what “we live in concepts” is supposed to mean.

Concepts like terms, definitions, words, language. 

They create the world and our reality. And changing terms, definitions, you change a sense. 

Like in the novel "1984" by G. Orwell

For example, the word "human". It has displaced another word - man. But you can't say 'he is a kind or good human, or a human being', you say 'he is a good man, or a decent man.'

Decent human being... nonsense.

I think that the modern sense of the word "human" distances people from who they are. 

[swansont]

5 minutes ago, m_m said:

Concepts like terms, definitions, words, language. 

They create the world and our reality. And changing terms, definitions, you change a sense. 

Like in the novel "1984" by G. Orwell

For example, the word "human". It has displaced another word - man. But you can't say 'he is a kind or good human, or a human being', you say 'he is a good man, or a decent man.'

Decent human being... nonsense.

I think that the modern sense of the word "human" distances people from who they are. 

So if I hit you upside the head with a club it would hurt less if I called the club a pillow? Or I called it a hug instead of a vicious blow?

Propaganda works, but only to some extent. as in “don’t piss on my back and tell me it’s raining”