Proof that reality is not real?

Question

Quite simply, we must establish first that reality is an opinion. An opinion is stated as something that cannot be proven to be true, and as so there is only a probability that it is true, not a certainty. Since nothing in reality can be proven to be certain, then all perceptions of reality are just an opinion. While you may THINK that you are 100% correct (as most religions do) you cannot actually be correct. This leaves us with three options.

1) All versions of reality are true. All opinions are correct. Or, more then one opinion is true. This cannot, of course, be true, because all versions of reality contradict each other... they are each different in some way.

2) One version of reality is true. This cannot be true, because there is not such thing as a 'true' opinion. That is the definition of an opinion. You might like the color blue, and you might like the color red, but which color is true? Neither. There is no such thing... it is an opinion.

3) We are left with only one option, and that is that reality is not real. More then one version of reality cannot be true, and only one cannot be true, so in the end, all of them must be wrong.

But that's my opinion. What's yours?

Answer 1

Good analysis.



Anything perceived as "real" is real to at least one person, although it may not be real to anyone else. So more than one "reality" certainly exists. And since there is no way to prove that my reality is more or less "real" than your reality, we know reality exists but we just don't know which reality is the true "real".



Kinda like every religion in the world.

Answer 2

You're assuming that truth is an all or nothing proposition. It isn't.



All of our perceptions of reality are subjective, or as you put it, opinion. That does not mean there is no reality. There is just no absolute knowledge of reality. All of our perception of reality is partial.



This is why science doesn't deal with "proofs". That is left to mathematicians and logisticians who create very defined realms in which to posit their proofs. Reality is much more grey than that and we never get the whole story. This is why science creates theories to explain evidence then puts that through a peer review process. The idea is that we can approach knowledge of reality if gather evidence and try to negate personal bias. We may never reach absolute knowledge about anything, but we get a pretty good idea of how this universe works, or at least seems to work.



It might be that all of this is false and we're just some kind of slug in a futuristic machine, but the consistency of our experience seems to imply a reality that our senses give us pretty good information about. And even if we are such a slug, this perceived reality is the only thing we really have to go on. It is real to us, and the extreme slight change that it is just a manufactured reality is not of much importance.



There is also the question of what "real" means. If I'm playing World of Warcraft, obviously that is a realm that is wholly made up. The characters in that world are not real, though there are real people running those characters. Or are they? That world has its own rules and is self-consistent. If my only view of the world was that one, it would be just as "real" as this one, though a bit more cartoonish. It doesn't matter that the reality disappears when the computers are rebooted, as happens on most Tuesdays these days. While I'm playing the game, I treat the world as a real world. It has its own physics, its own inhabitants, a space of its own, and so on. In a sense, the world in that game does exist and is real.

Answer 3

I think your more talking about the social consciousness. Reality is constant, it is your perception of that reality.

1) your in a store with 7 other people. The store gets robbed. All 7 of you have similar but different stories. Your Perception of reality changes from person to person, but when you look at the video, that is what really happened.

2) You can not deny reality. If you deny reality what are you left with? Reality is space, the universal constant. Says physics. I agree there are many views of reality but that is all they are views of the same picture. How you interpret that is up to the viewer.

Answer 4

1) No. All versions of reality are not necessarily true or false. It depends on what part of reality you're questioning.



2) Opinions may be true. Opinion just means that your claim cannot be proven, but it doesn't mean it's false.



3) Sometimes we share reality; sometimes we experience our own subjective reality. It is nonetheless real for the individual.

Answer 5

No, one version of reality is true. Reality at the base of it is unaffected by human perception. There are many different PERCEPTIONS of reality, not many different realities. Whether anyone has a fully rational perception of reality is another matter.



EDIT: No, we all have basic, personal proof that reality EXISTS. If it didn't, we wouldn't have minds to think about it. There would be nothingness. We'd all agree reality exists. Our perceptions of it are what cannot always be proven, but our perception a subjective thing. Reality itself is objective.

Answer 6

The fact that people have subjective opinions which differ from each other, and have views on objective facts which may be mistaken, doesn't mean that reality doesn't exist independently of what we think or feel about it. Ultimately you can't prove that reality exists as we perceive it, but equally there is no valid reason to believe it doesn't.

Answer 7

So who are you talking to? My fellow answerers and I are elements of reality, and hence are not real.



But if you're interested in what this figment of your imagination has to say on the matter, I would point out that even if everyone's perception of reality is false that doesn't actually mean that reality isn't real. And even if the accuracy of someone's opinion cannot be confirmed, that doesn't mean it's false.

Answer 8

If there are 6 milliard people in the world, there are 6 milliard realities in the world, one reality in my opinion is different from that reality in your opinion, reality is relative like beauty and ugliness that is a relative reality.

Answer 9

Infinite realities provides infinite possibilities.



This is rather trivial though, since we cannot observe other realities. We can't even observe our own from a 3rd person perspective.

Answer 10

The Matrix!



so i will answer 3.

I believe we don't know squat about what's reality .

Like someone said:"The truth is out there....."

Answer 11

I'm sorry, but I think that type of thinking is flawed.



Why do wrong opinion cancel out one true fact?

Answer 12

You're confessing reality is real by speaking about it.

Answer 13

You are wrong, You base your options on experience only.

Answer 14

"Nothing is less real, than realism."

- Georgia O'Keeffe

Answer 15

god is real!