David Bailey
Member
Remember that I feel more in tune with Behe than with Don Hoffman. Behe's argument undercuts the main premise of Hoffman's theory - we did not evolve by RM+NS. Nevertheless, I see Donald Hoffman's ideas as interesting because they undercut evolution by natural selection, when you really think about them.David, surely reality can't be a state apart. Even 'bare reality' has to be thought of. Can we get away from the proposition that what is 'real' is only real to us? The nature of reality in any absolute sense has to be uncertain until examined. How can you assert that reality is uncertain and still make sense?
Real to whom, and on what basis? We can take the placebo effect and fundamentals of psychology and argue that 'reality' is what we say it is, so long as it generates an effect - because is not real can't generate effect. That may mean that 'reality' is layered, hierarchical - a spectrum rather than an absolute state.
Who is to say what is or is not real? We can argue about what is shared, or agreed upon as a common experience. When I was 16 I was walking near Cradle Mountain in Tasmania solo. It was a clear day, and yet I was struck by something akin to an electrical current. I came to some time later [no idea how long], flat on my back. I remember being zapped, and I remember recovering. There were no witnesses. It wasn't lightening. I don't expect anybody to believe me if I tell them of my experience. Its mine and it happened. It is no less real for the absence of witnesses. If somebody says they do not believe me, I do not give a damn. They weren't there. I was.
After years of being here on Skeptiko, I have come to realise that some people have all kinds of weird experiences. Some people would call such people crazy, but ultimately that is just a label (and an ad Hominem) - it explains nothing.
I think one example of an underlying reality being utterly different from what we perceive, is a computer game. I rather think that is closer to what Hoffman has in mind, however, if reality is a computer simulation - as some speculate - that still doesn't explain consciousness with its qualia.
David