We now know that sensations and experiences are nothing but codes
that our brain creates to identify distinct and relevant interactions that our
bodies have with external objects.
The brain thus creates a virtual reality environment with sensations
and experiences as codes stored for all types of relevant interactions that we
have with the outside world. So, what we perceive as reality is a façade that
the brain creates for us to navigate in the world and survive in it with
minimum efforts. Let us dwell on this point a bit more to sink in its import.
Consider a smartphone with different icons on its screen (e.g., the WhatsApp
icon). The icon opens to an interactive environment where we can easily and
intuitively message something important to a group of friends (staying with the
WhatsApp application). We can easily do that because the user interface hides
all the complexities of the world inside the software and the hardware of the
device. Just imagine how difficult it would be for anyone to type a message by
controlling the voltage and current parameters of the ICs inside the device. Reality
of the system is not the user interface but voltage and current fluctuations
across the VLSI circuits inside the hardware of the device.
Similarly, our brains give us a facade of sensations and experiences
using which we go about doing our normal activities in this world. The façade
of sensations and experience do not capture the reality of the external objects.
Instead, they hide the complexities of the external world. The more we try to
understand the reality of this universe through our sensory perceptions, the
farther away we go from the true nature of that reality. Well, the above
statement is not completely true because we are able to capture some aspects of
that reality during our interactions with the external world, but a large part
of that reality is designed to be hidden.
Pragmatists say that we will believe only what we see, but the truth
is that at best what we see is only an anthropomorphic assessment of the reality.
It is not the reality.
If what we perceive with our sensory apparatus is not the reality,
then what is the reality of the external world that we dwell on?
We understood the motion of objects as we perceive them and interact
with them. This is the realm of Newtonian physics. Once we look deeper into the
reality of the objects in the Newtonian realm, we realise that these objects
are a conglomeration of a vast number of molecules held together tightly and
perceived as a single entity. Peek further in, and we understand that molecules
themselves are build-up of atoms. The atoms are further constructed by
subatomic particles using the laws of quantum physics, a realm so far away from
our perception of reality that it is an alien world. We cannot relate to it
with anything in our arsenal of sensory perceptions. The laws here are completely
counter intuitive to our day-to-day experiences.
The question of the reality of objects does not however end here.
One still asks what these subatomic particles are and how do they interact with
each other to construct the atoms and the molecules. The answer is said to be given
by the quantum field theory where everything is said to be a wave and particles
are entities created by the interactions of these waves with each other. Is
that the final answer to the question of what is the reality of an object? No
and the quest goes on.
So, we don’t know the complete reality of the external world, at
least not yet. Our sensory perceptions, which do not capture the true reality
of the external objects are however good enough for us to navigate in the world
that we live in, survive, and procreate. From the evolutionary perspective, this
is all that matters but the fact remains that our experiences are hiding the truth
and telling us only a story, a fantastic story but a story none the less.
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