I want to make this into a series – writing about words that in my opinion have no base in reality. It is kind of fun to think this through for certain words but it also has practical reasons.
When I talk to someone about science, philosophy or even just everyday things, discussions often run into a dead end. More and more I notice that it’s often simply a problem of word definition. And not rarely the word/topic we discuss does not even exist in reality. Having an argument about it is a waste of time.
I’ve tried here before to argue about this in the case of “free will”. Which also shows you that these “false words” are not just keeping me and my friends busy – but can spawn whole fields of philosophy and science.
This image makes everything clear!!
But before I go into tougher concepts like free will, let’s take “ghosts” as an example. It’s an easy one but illustrates really well what I mean. We could have endless discussions about ghosts… can they go through walls? Can they then fall through the ground? Can we see them? Can cameras see them?… forever and ever. If we would realize that ghosts are a mere fantasy, then it changes the whole discussion. Any argument about “what is true” becomes useless. One could still invent stories about them, but its more fun knowing there is no right or wrong.
The example of a ghost also illustrates how alluring a false concept can be. Everyone can imagine ghosts. In fact, most people nowadays still believe in ghosts. And historically it was so common, that it was accepted as part of reality.
Thats why I argue: Many other concepts are just as believable as ghosts were. But they are still around, since they’re harder to check. And this attractiveness keeps even the smartest people busy thinking about them – which is just as wasteful as if they would think about ghosts all day.
If I should indeed have the drive to continue the series, then I need proper conditions what I mean with “does not exist”. So here’s a try:
– a definition is not possible – or it’s definition has logical flaws.
– the currently existing definition is not realized in the real world (as object or concept).
I’ve shown above the logical problems with defining ghosts – and I think this definition problem is an important hint on at non-existence.
But the fact that things can exist in our minds makes the whole idea more complicated. The ghost for example does exist in our imagination and in stories. And while science can tell us convincingly that ghosts do not exist in the real world – with other concepts it’s tougher. But I do want to try to only accept words as “existent” if they are also outside our heads.
The second example of “wolves” will make the trouble clear.
I’m sure you have an image in your head. But what would your definition be? An animal with big legs, big ears, big eyes, big teeth. The Greeks believed there could be an ideal of what something is – and that’s how we know a horse is a horse, a wolf is a wolf. But we learned now its tricky, there are different kinds of wolves and it slowly developed out of other creatures. There is no easy way to tell from the outside – a coyote could be mixed up if someone just goes by a simple description.
We could go by gene code. But that’s still fuzzy. When did an animal become a wolf?
Also only a tiny percentage of the cells of a wolf we see are filled with its DNA. As with humans the majority is made of bacteria and other single cell organisms, that live in symbiosis with the actual wolf cells.
Let’s try this: A wolf is a creature made out of many organisms, but held together by cells of wolf-DNA. The skin is the boundary.
Maybe you already see problems there: is everything within the wolf a wolf then? What if he ate a bunny? And this is all just in our human head – the universe itself doesn’t care about the skin boundary. We know that around the skin is a layer of bacteria for protection. Thus wolf changes the environment – so it becomes part of him. Everything mixes. A hint at that is that if you would have to define this animal, you would have to include his environment and that he lives in packs for example. And as major fail from my side: the definition of wolf actually includes the word wolf.
Proves what I’m trying to say though: It is tough to define anything. Any concept we can define will be fuzzy in some way.
Well, we can roughly live with this description. So conclusively: Wolves are a concept. The universe itself does not really care about concepts – but we can find this equivalent in the real world. Thus we can talk about them and research them. We should not though simply take this for granted.
Ghosts are a concept that is harder or even impossible to define – and they have no representation in the real world. Spending too much time on thinking about these things, beyond entertainment, is a waste of time and may lead to wrong roads.
And to anyone who has read ’til here: Welcome to my head! :)
reminds me of this matrix thing
Neo: I just have never…
Rama-Kandra: …heard a program speak of love?
Neo: It’s a… human emotion.
Rama-Kandra: No, it is a word. What matters is the connection the word implies. I see that you are in love. Can you tell me what you would give to hold on to that connection?
Neo: Anything.
Rama-Kandra: Then perhaps the reason you’re here is not so different from the reason I’m here.
definitions are just clustered information
everything is one in the end.. all is connected
but to travel you must separate..
thus we cluster information. package them and give it a label.
this is the big “all is nothing, yet nothing is all”
the big secret as some call it
about re-ya-li-tee
we connect the ‘outside’ world to reality
our senses, seeing, hearing, touch and smell
the fact that these effects can be shared.
whatever I have in my headspace.. is my personal reality..
If I see ghosts they are real to me.
But to me the interesting thing here is to share.
If iIsee ghosts but you do not then we do not share the same reality.
Thus I separate this ghosts as part of my ‘imagination’, my personal reality.
The only way to have this shared reality to reach the ghost is through me.
The portal that is wanja to ghostland.
Definition from the free dictionary
re·al·i·ty (r-l-t)
n. pl. re·al·i·ties
1. The quality or state of being actual or true.
2. One, such as a person, an entity, or an event, that is actual: “the weight of history and political realities” (Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.)
3. The totality of all things possessing actuality, existence, or essence.
4. That which exists objectively and in fact: Your observations do not seem to be about reality.
Words are limited because the are limitations.
They break reality to make room to move around in.
I don’t see purpose in talking about ghosts.
But neither do I see purpose in talking about making the fastest trains.
Unless you connect both to a goal.
Trains move me to my Job, so faster trains make me go to my job faster.
Ghosts can be friendly guy’s who can make you happy when other people wont.
In my view everything is reality.
Reality is everything that is.. The ultimate word. The all.
Ghosts are part of this as much as the chair I sit upon.
The just are connected to myself in other ways, other dimensions are some call this.
Wasting time to me is relative to a goal.
Without a goal there is no place for wasted time.
There is just time.
So I would say, who cares?.. Just enjoy yourself, tickle your brain, make yourself laugh or cry.. whatever makes you feel good and happy about your existence.
But I also say, this text was fun to read and I enjoy digging into reality..
Please continue to talk about stuff even though I say I see no final purpose in it.
The joy is reason enough for me..
I find the many flavors of this reality we live in interesting to taste.
To see their effects and follow their connections.
This is what I enjoy about this so called science allot
And also want to say don’t forget that you can also NOT dig..
that you can just be, just exist.. to simply understand..
And to travel back to ‘Human’ thought patterns..
Wolves afaik are similar to dog’s..
There are many many variants but they are a name we give to those type of creatures..
It creates a map for our shared reality.
Ghosts do the same. even though their reality stays within the boundaries of our headspace and has never been proven to also exist in the reality our senses connect to.
I see purpose in this map.
But I get your point where it’s useless to talk about ghosts and wolves when there is a giant meteor inbound about to crush the city you live in.
but then again….
Maybe that one ghost story a long time ago sparked interest of the mysterious into kenny’s mind, where after he decided to study all the things he did not really understand. Became a meteor scientist after another spark after eating ice cream at night made him fall in love with big chucks of ice/rock flying through this giant gaping emptiness in the sky, And this caused him to save the world from damnation, because he was the one who discovered that if two types of meteor would collide, another spark would send a part of this effect flying directly towards our mother earth..
Reality is a word, What matters is the connection the word implies. I see that you are in reality. Can you tell me what you would give to hold on to that connection?
And to anyone who has read ’til here: Welcome to my head! :)
Ok, the answer took me a while – but better than rushed :)
quote: “whatever I have in my headspace.. is my personal reality..
…
If iIsee ghosts but you do not then we do not share the same reality.”
I think I understand what you’re getting at. And I would say I disagree. It is kinda funny that it is not so easy to convince people (and myself actually) that there is something outside us that is a reality.
Something that is vastly different from what is going on in our heads. But not only that. It is also the dominant force. I agree that things I imagine do exist in some sense (I tried to write that too in the posting) – but the outside reality is more powerful.
I would say that the normal state of a person is to _not care_ about these differences. People in history probably didn’t even know there is one – whatever they directly saw they took as real.
But we learn more and more that our experience is completely different from what is actually happening. I think that is what makes the invention of science so powerful.
We use the scientific method of comparing our ideas with the real world for more and more material things. But not so much about personal things. Talking about free will, love, happiness seems to me very vague, unchecked and unproven. Much of philosophy is – and that’s what I wanna kinda chip away on with this word-analyzing.
I do see that it sounds unattractive at first. But as science shows us – there is lots of great things to gain from it. And I think its time to apply it to philosophy and emotions.
quote: “Trains move me to my Job, so faster trains make me go to my job faster.
Ghosts can be friendly guy’s who can make you happy when other people wont.”
I don’t quite think so. Trains give you real options. Whereas one was before restricted to a tiny area to move in – you have now the freedom to travel the whole world.
Ghosts don’t do that. I say they limit your freedom.
Whether they make you happy or not: That would need more space to discuss. But I wouldn’t simply accept it as truth. Why do you?
I agree when you say: without any goal anything goes. I personally do see understanding and finding truth a great goal. That’s why I go this way.
quote: “I see that you are in reality. Can you tell me what you would give to hold on to that connection?”
I don’t think I’m quite yet in reality – but I’m working it.
How much would I give… phew. A lot – I feel quite uncomfortable in illusions. I want to chip away as much lies I believe as possible. About the world and about myself. I pretty much don’t see anything of equal value to me.
ok, just a quicky..
about the first part
“I think I understand what you’re getting at. And I would say I disagree
It is kinda funny that it is not so easy to convince people (and myself actually) that there is something outside us that is a reality.”
I am damn sure there is more to ‘reality’ then we can see.. (our consciousness grows every day and shrinks every day just the same in my view.
We only have so much room/hardware to compute our personal versions of reality.)
But that does not mean to me that my personal reality is a lie..
(lie, after all is just a word.. it mean that which is not true.. as far as we know if all humans you connect to agree it to be true it will be, until some other force or information package whatnot will disrupt this)
It’s as much truth as anything else to me.
It only might have the problem that it cannot be shared with other reality observers, but that doesn’t make it less true to me.. just simply unshareble unless I project it into THE REALITY.
And as I understand you your thinking goes that THE REALITY is that which can be shared, at all times…if you exist or don’t.. this reality will keep on existing…
About the ghosts.. I think the difference here is that you seem to translate ghosts into creature type information.. like a human.. only made out of plasma..
where what I meant was more of an algorithm.. a network of information..
Ghosts are an idea, the name for a package of ideas.. When I say ghost it will target information in your brain that in your lifetime has connected to the word ‘ghost’.. this most definitely has effect on what your next choices will be and will have effect on who you will become. It might be very ‘minute’ compared to a fist in your face, but it does something for sure.. therefore I see it as part of reality.
But it’s part of another ‘dimension’ if you can call it that..
You have to first access a human being who is connected to this ‘ghost’ thing to get access to the actual ghosts.. because THE REALITY does not directly contain ghosts as far as we know..
I find they are just as useful as many other words.. what is a find?.. is that a ‘real’ thing?
or an a.. or a word.. what is that?.. is that a ‘real’ thing?
a question mark?.. what is that?
To me these are simply abstractions.. an effect that cuts up the flesh of THE REALITY and put it into packages that our brains can then throw around and share to create a desired effect..
like chasing away another being because it’s raping your mate or something less brutal