Thinking about how our "normal" experience is deeply analogous (isomorphic) with virtual reality. We all have a different idea of what is going on "beneath the surface" but much of this depends on language. The "Matrix" idea is not as interesting as people think. In that fantasy people still have a real brain. Whether or not we actually do have a real brain or just an illusion of one seems to be hardly worth discussing. What is worth discussing is how interaction with the real world (or something!!) turns into the rich "gold standard" VR of everyday life.

BOXES One fanciful vision of the (flat) Earth was that it was supported on the back of a turtle, which was, in turn, standing on another turtle and so on:  Turtles all the way down . Similarly, I find it useful to think of "boxes within boxes all the way down." Box 1 is the world we experience "in our head," which includes all experience and everything we know. In particular, it includes what we have been taught and what we have been taught to assume, which is, to a certain extent, " programmed ". Box 1 is the " matrix " of individually shared reality. But, unlike the Matrix of Science Fiction fame, our matrix depends deeply on the "real world" outside and our senses within, as eloquently explained by Antonio Damasio . Our evolutionary survival strategy involves survival as a member of a group, or " super person ". Not only do we not "think for ourselves," we can't . We experience ourselves as o...

Glen Adamson caught my eye with  this Aeon article caught my eye . He expands this view in his book: " Fewer, Better Things ... ". Adamson's views are relevant to this blog in a number of ways: The disconnect between value and cost. How the way we manufacture things makes this matter- in detail; The man-made world of the "matrix" we live in; Insight into the structure of modern society - where "things" come from, who makes them, how they become "ours"

Religion is (and still is) a means whereby cultural norms are enforced through means of authority derived from "off planet". Zero-cost credits for carrots and sticks are offered to be cashed in in that alternate universe. Religion justifies the infliction of terrible punishments in the here-and-now and has sponsored genocidal wars. Religions that we generally regard as "peaceful" seldom live up to their own reputation. Good Christian folk brought their kids to watch lynchings in the US South. Buddhism is playing a key part in the genocide of Rohingya in Myanmar and a similar role in the violent suppression of the Hindu minority in Ceylon. Religious authority is behind the rape of thousands of children and the coverup of these crimes. Religious authority enthusiastically participated in the attempted genocide of indigenous people in Canada in the residential school system. If these are the benefits of religion, we can clearly do without them. Rational human being sho...

For the moment, let me talk about the world of human experience as "E". The world that Science investigates is assumed to exist a part from human experience , although we can only know it through human experience. Without really thinking about it, we imagine the "real world" to be about the shared experience: verifiable, consistent and augmented by what we call "reason". But we have long admitted that Universe, which I will call U, is not the same as "E". In fact, we assume that we can never know "U" entirely, directly or completely. We all know that "E" is not the same for each of us. In fact, it is quite remarkably different between different cultures and different times or even for a single individual throughout his or her lifetime. The question at hand is, is there anything "out there" apart from E and U? In most religious traditions the answer is "yes".  Most religions postulate a universe in ...

Many of the "Matrix" ideas can be seen as just a slightly different angle on ideas presented elsewhere in this blog - especially here , where I summarize "progress to date". Art is a useful species of simulation. It allows us to imagine different worlds using no more hardware than our senses and our brains. The result can go beyond what we usually think of as "metaphor" - even extending into the realms of myth and religion. The Matrix movie series provides a challenging dramatization of metaphors that are so commonplace that they have become tropes for empty speculation and dead-end philosophy. The movie updates some old ideas in dramatic new ways: Many religions, including the "Abrahamic" and Hindu traditions, regard reality as some kind of dream, with the "real", important reality being the realm of the gods. The "soul" is separable from the body and travels on after death into the more important realms of the gods. In such ...

good piece. Sooooooooooo, do we build our own matrix, or is built by others and the way they interact with us? Is this a simulation or is it and illusion? ...and how do we when our matrix comes in touch with reality. Is the matrix our physical body or only partly (your reference to surgery while awake) How does the illusion relate to our spirituality? Stuff for another blog.  1. We build our own matrix with the constant help of others - mostly indirect. Through language and the man-made environment, for example. A city may be regarded as a matrix. It exists through wide agreement on what it is, why it exists, the rules it enforces (walls, laws, roads). The city is called into existence because we all agree on what it means . To see this, imagine what a city is to, say, an e-coli bacterium or a crow. 2. It's a simulation that employs illusions sometimes. For example, we have the illusion that our eyes look out on the world constantly and smoothly. The brain allows us to miss bl...

The Matrix is one of the most successful, popular and lucrative movie franchises of all time.  I will assume the reader has watched at least some of the shows in this series, perhaps more than once. Quite apart from its entertainment value, the Matrix has provided a new "meme" for bar room philosophy: the idea that reality itself is a kind of "matrix" - that we are all living in a simulation. This has struck me as a rather stupid idea for a long time and I have occasionally bent my "back of the napkin" analysis tools to showing how ridiculous it is. But it's true . We are living in a simulation. Realizing this can be a big leap forward in our quest to understand ourselves and the universe we inhabit. How can this be true? Well, quite simply. Everything we experience is presented to our minds due to an amazingly complex set of sensations and brain processes. We never experience reality directly. We are born, live and die inside the simulated universe of...