The scientific method is great! It involves the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses (or guesses). For example, if I want to discover if a tennis ball bounces higher than a basketball I can design a scientific experiment to find out the answer.
Unfortunately it doesn’t always work. Some questions have no answer. One of my favourite philosophical questions is the ‘Brain in a vat‘. In short, how do you know that you are sitting there at a computer on Earth reading this post? How do you know that your brain is not somewhere completely different being fed a series of electrical stimulations by a supercomputer which is fooling you into thinking your on Earth?
The movie ‘The Matrix’ (imdb, wikipedia) supposes a similar thing. This clip shows Neo going from ‘the matrix’ back to the ‘real world’:
So my question is – how do you know you are where you think you are? And if you think you know – PROVE IT!
Tags: Philosophy, Science, Theory, Video
February 13, 2008 at 7:50 pm |
Occam’s Razor. It is much simpler to believe that I am an independent organic entity, than to believe I am an organic entity hooked up to a machine by some other entity being fed false sensations and thoughts to no apparent purpose.
February 13, 2008 at 9:10 pm |
That is a FANTASTIC answer. I love it
July 31, 2008 at 7:48 pm |
there was a famouse greek philosopher that said how do i even know i exist? he later said if i don’t exist how can i question my own existance?
i cant remember who it was