Reality is Just an Illusion That We All Agree On

this video is sponsored by the language learning app babel use the link in the description to receive up to 65 off your subscription at some point in all of our timelines the lights turned on for the very first time it isn't clear exactly when or what it was like because that first moment of complex consciousness has long since lapsed our memory but at some point everything began to become some form of everything for the very first time the world or rather our mental construct of the world began and in this birth from nothingness into our subjective color of everything we became both the creator and object of our worldview we see the world not as it actually is but how it is painted by this unique lens of consciousness inexorably bound to it our view and experience and understanding of everything is created by our interior experience created by our consciousness created by the natural world in a reflexive continual feedback loop and so the world as it actually is exists at least in some major part behind a sheath of subjectivism this is not to suggest a solipsistic stance that the physical world does not exist outside of consciousness but that the particular image of the world we experience this color would not we see the world not as it is but as we are wrote 20th century author anna esnin ultimately we are in something that we can seemingly only touch through a body and know through a conscious mind forever prohibited from contacting it outside of our personally filtered experience of it forever stricken to the methods of perception our brain allows or can create forever condemned to the persistent illusions or hallucinations that come as a result for good reason likely this exact reason one of if not the primary distinct quality of our complex form of consciousness appears to be its ability and desire to inquire about and into itself the world and the relationship between the two it wants to know what things really are how they are and why they are it wants to dig and dig and dig until it hits the innermost core and knows all there is to know finally able to understand and control the mechanisms of existence toppling or rising above the very substrate force through which it is made and freeing itself from the necessity of further inquisition but what if in fact there is no such core to be reached or if there is but it cannot be reached by us [Music] of course there are plenty of things we can know and be right about in plenty of different contexts i can point to a blue pillow and say that the pillow is blue and since most of us share eyeballs optic nerves occipital lobes and human brains that generally function the same when it comes to visual processing we can agree that i am right however we can't actually know that what we see is the same blue because we cannot see into each other's minds and know that although we both agree that we see blue we are actually seeing the same mental experience or qualia of what we are calling blue this and all other problems related to the disconnect between our perception and what is really outside of our mind is known as the egocentric predicament which is further extended and made more difficult when considering what is experienced in other people's minds by the concept known as the explanatory gap which is the challenge in explaining the subjective experience of physical phenomena sufficiently well enough to translate what the experience is actually like to another person and so even here in this simple everyday obvious example we can't confirm that anybody is objectively right furthermore someone who is severely colorblind might not agree that the pillow is even any type of blue at all to them if they do agree they must agree not out of their sense of truth but a willingness to sacrifice the truth of what they see for what the majority of the rest of the species sees and tells them but fundamentally are they really wrong if they say the pillow isn't blue what if all humans were colorblind or what if the pillow is in fact a much more vibrant color of some other wavelength that we can't even imagine let alone perceive wouldn't we all who say it's blue then be just as right or wrong as the color-blind individual who says it isn't this is all to say that even though there can be derivative truths derived from sufficiently shared subjective experiences about which one can be right i.e the pillow is blue and the very same sentiment at the very same time the same someone can be fundamentally wrong and if somehow suddenly we could all perceive different higher wavelengths of color and we all agree that the pillow was in fact not blue then we would all also agree that anyone who still said it was would be wrong even though the pillow in itself never changed how many things in the conceptual atmosphere of political moral economic metaphysical and so forth are blue pillows what are we all colorblind to and what have we all agreed is true simply and only because we all agree that it's true what is underneath all the different shades of blue green red and all the rest this is not to say that such agreements of perception and value judgments aren't majorly useful and sufficient in many if not most cases but it is to point out the off-putting fragility or at the very least malleability and abstractness of all of what we think is true there are of course ways of measuring and getting closer to apparent fundamental truths of physical reality through tools theories and methods that supersede any sort of perceptual illusions biases and so forth but also of course all tools must start and end through the first and final tool and method of the human mind there is no way out of the mind and thus there is no way into the world as it actually is and moreover it would seem that if we could understand and explain what and how all the physical stuff of the material world is we still wouldn't necessarily be any better off knowing what it ought to mean and so if all human truths are based on agreements of shared subjective internal experience which are all limited inexorably by human perception then we can likely never know if there even is a core of objective truth to be reached or at the very least if we conclusively ever reach it if there is and if this is the case then would we not in every effort towards such a goal of fundamental axiomatic conclusions of reality and truth be endeavoring the impossible and consequently is not attempting to think and talk in generally true objective terms also impossible not useless but impossible in the absolute sense if we cannot arrive at any grand fundamental objective truths to life but we must build all conclusions ideas and discourse on top of some sort of foundation this places discussion thinking and believing on a constantly shifting unstable and widespanning ground of various types of subjective ideological world views and this absurdity at the core of all world views likely then spider webs into the attempt to discuss and think about even relatively commonplace ideas built on or within such a system of thinking this phenomenon potentially reveals itself when we confront another person who is so obviously wrong but has no idea how they could possibly be so while at the same time is equally certain that we are in fact so obviously wrong even though we have no idea how we could possibly be so or perhaps when we confront a sudden breaking down of what we were so majorly sure about for so long realizing that everything we believe individually or collectively is in fact entirely opposite to what is now apparently true this is learning if it ends but some kind of madness if it never does of course it is obligatory to mention that all of the aforementioned ideas could themselves be wrong they might entirely oppose what you believe or feel you know to be true but ironically if anything that would seem to potentially support the main point here in either case for the most part knowing what the real color of things are metaphorically speaking is perhaps minimally relevant to living and thriving as an individual and collective species perhaps what matters is that we can agree on subjective things sufficiently well enough and cordially enough often enough and also somewhat ironically it seems as though in order to do so if such a feat is possible the prerequisite is a willingness and embracing of often being wrong naturally and culturally the desire to be right is a deeply enduring and forceful one as often as possible sometimes at all costs and often times in spite of good reason we are both compelled by our psyche and pressured by our social circumstances to always be right and when we aren't it hurts so much so that it can often create horrible sensations in the brain akin to that of real physical pain and so we of course try to avoid it or at least admitting it at all costs and yet it is impossible to avoid and furthermore it is possibly the case that fundamentally we are never actually right at all in the words of saint augustine i er therefore i am as a consciousness in the form that we are born into we are all put up against the imperative of our mind to desire absolute truth while simultaneously the seeming imperative of the natural world that prohibits us from obtaining it we will all cling to reasons and answers and world views just to have them smash to pieces time and time again whether we know it or admit it to ourselves or not we will all likely not only be wrong often but right rarely even in the meta subjective sense and so perhaps we can and must learn how to be okay with this if we wish to be okay with consciousness perhaps we must learn how to fundamentally be okay with being wrong or we will loathe ourselves until the end perhaps we must love and accept the hypocrisy that runs through the very veins of the human condition or we will hate all of humankind perhaps we must learn how to dial back our expectations and the degree in which we dread over the inevitable failure of everything we believe and the beliefs of others just the same this is not to make light of the immense challenge of such an arduous endeavor it is an endless upward climb of surpassing one's default mode and understanding of the world but perhaps if we can at least some of the time succeed in doing so we can feel a little less embarrassed disgusted miserable ashamed bitter angry and all the rest and perhaps we can be a little less wrong a little more often this apparent impossibility of successfully thinking paired with the inability to ever not be thinking seems to beg the question is consciousness a gift or a curse or perhaps some combination of both perhaps the answer depends on whether or not all of this the ability to be curious about and discuss things like the possible impossibility of ever truly being right is worth possibly never being right about anything and perhaps such a truth can only be answered by you it is enough for me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life perpetuating itself through all eternity to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe which we dimly perceive and to try humbly to comprehend an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature albert einstein this video is sponsored by babel there is a huge list of reasons why it is useful and enjoyable to learn new languages perhaps you travel or want to travel to foreign locations and cultures where it would make navigating and conversating with the locals far more comfortable and enriching perhaps you are or want to be in business or creative collaborations with individuals across different languages or perhaps you want to learn a new language for personal reasons like interests in particular cultures and arts or to simply expand your cognitive capabilities and understandings of the mind there is no shortage of reasons to learn a new language but the problem is how time-consuming and challenging it can often be babel however is a language learning app with over 10 million worldwide subscribers that makes the learning process accessible efficient convenient and effective babel provides courses for a wide variety of different languages and unlike other apps that often use machine learning algorithms babel's lessons are created by over 100 language experts from around the world voiced by actual native speakers of the languages additionally lessons aren't filled with superfluous fluff but are focused on preparing you for situations that you will actually encounter in real life in only a short amount of time you can absorb and recall phrases pronunciations spelling cultural contexts and so forth making it great for beginners and more experienced speakers alike learning a new language is not only known to improve focus cognition and memory but it can also provide an interesting and insightful broadening of your framework of the world and mind how the utterances of different sounds can mean nothing to one person and something important to another and how these entirely separate sounds can come together and exchange shared meaning in order to learn the other whatever your reasons are for turning babel into meaning babel is a fantastic way to start and or continue your journey towards learning new languages if you're interested by using the link in the description below for a limited time you will receive up to 65 percent off your subscription and of course thank you so much for watching in general and see you next video you

Channel: Pursuit of Wonder

Views: 442,065

Keywords: pursuit of wonder, what's real?, what is real?, is anything real?, ted, ted ed, school of life, exurb1a, aperture, vsauce, is your blue different than everyone else's?, thought experiment, Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, consciousness, philosophy, science, education, universe, inspiration, motivation, philosophical, brain, theory, theories, of mind, mind, is anything true, video essay

Id: 503MHxbk97M

Length: 14min 7sec (847 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 05 2021