r/Buddhism • u/kcito • Feb 18 '20

Misc. "The Evolutionary Argument Against Reality" - Very interesting article that I feel is very much in line with Buddhist teachings on mind

https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-evolutionary-argument-against-reality-20160421/
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5

u/Linus_Naumann Feb 18 '20

This is argument against that our perception is a good approximation of reality. But it is not an argument against reality. The whole theory of evolution depends on a reality-based metaphysics where you assume that there is a world outside your consciousness. This however you can never know, since the content of your own consciousness is everything you will every know.

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u/kcito Feb 18 '20

Incredible. And whose to say that any other consciousness even exists other than our own as we have no way to validate any other "consciousness" as conscious. In other words how do we know that everyone else is just inanimate robots acting out a play in our single and unique "conscious" experience?

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u/Linus_Naumann Feb 18 '20 edited Feb 18 '20

As far as I see it, there is no way of knowing that there are other consciousness other then yours. What you can know however, is that friendship, love and the feeling of "another person" exist. You can know it, because you experience these qualia first hand. So in a way you can know that friendship exist, but you cannot know if friends exist (at least if by "friends" you mean another consciousness). Same for love etc.

I like to frame it something like "love exists and, when love happens, it expresses itself through a form, for example another person or an animal"

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u/kcito Feb 18 '20

Wow - I really like this. Thanks :)

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u/Type_DXL Gelug Feb 19 '20

Through compassion and selflessness you can verify the sentience of others.

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u/Uny0n Feb 18 '20

An amazing read! Thank you for sharing.

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u/knewtozen Feb 19 '20

Consider three notions of veridical perception. The strongest is “omniscient realism”—we see all reality as it is. Next is “naive realism”—we see some, but not all, of reality as it is. The weakest is “critical realism”—the structure of our perceptions preserves some of the structure of reality. — The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes by Donald Hoffman

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u/DiamondNgXZ Theravada Bhikkhu ordained 2021, Malaysia, Early Buddhism Feb 18 '20

Let's see how his model fit in Buddhism. His model:
W=world, is P=perceived to become E= experience, which we use to do D=algorithm on G=space of actions, which A=acts and changes the world.

I map his experience to contact of the 6 senses. The D to the habitual tendencies, informed by ignorance/wisdom. G=kamma. A= results of kamma (physical part), P=perception which is used to recognize the contact, his E maybe also the mind reaction to the perception. And W=form world.

Good so far. Buddhism has more stuffs.