Topic: Solipsism

[Patback399]

I've been reading about a theory called solipsism, and I'm getting really interested into this. WordNet describes it as "the philosophical theory that the self is all that you know to exist." Basically, everything you encounter is just, in a simple terms, a dream. It's as if we're all playing some sort of virtual reality game, in which everything is not real and the product of our own minds.

We do not know what other people think, right? So, how do we know they think at all? We don't! As another little teaser, how do I know you see the same colors I see? What I see as blue, you may see what I call "red". There is no way of telling. So, there are many different facets of this theory.

My question is: Is this theory really plausible? There are many responses and opponents of this theory. I myself am not totally certain this is real. But by doubting this is a true theory, I am believing in it. The theory states that nothing can be known but one's own self. So... your opinion?

[IceFox]

For the color thing, there is away of telling.

Is this font color red? Or is it Blue? I see Blue.

As for the rest of theory - it is plausible but not very likely - it's more of an idea that took time to come up with rather than anything that should be looked into over-seriously.

[Patback399]

For the color thing, there is away of telling.

Is this font color red? Or is it Blue? I see Blue.

As for the rest of theory - it is plausible but not very likely - it's more of an idea that took time to come up with rather than anything that should be looked into over-seriously.

In response to the color, my eyes may perceive that color as red. In other words, our eyes interpret things in different ways. You grow up learning that color as blue because your others tell you it's called blue, but you see it a different way as others do. You see it as what they call red. But it doesn't matter to you. You were told it is blue and you believe it, because there is no way of proving or disproving the one who told you it was blue.

It's hard for me to explain.

[carterhawk]

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[Patback399]

Exactly.

Most people don't understand The Matrix is about solipsism.

[spongehead 32]

About the red/blue thing, I always belived that everyone sees the world in a different spectrum as no two human minds are the same but since we are brought up to react to certain colours in a certain way it makes no difference.

So if someone where to trade that part of the brain with someone else they will find that what they know as blue may apear red or green or anything.

Another idea I got from this is that everyones favourite colour is the same but we are brought up to call it by a different name.

[VulturEMaN]

I already came up with that color theory at a young age (like 6-7) after pondering how animals saw different light arrays than us. I realized that our feeble knowledge of color is absurd.

Sopholism reacts back upon itself in the sense that you came up with the idea of sopholism, or someone else told it to you. Therefore you do not know if it is true or not, because it is not apart of you.

Meh...i think it's a good starting point, but it's quite streched in some areas. I enjoy Kant way more and could never find an error in his reasonings...

[DiE HaRrD PuNk]

I already came up with that color theory at a young age (like 6-7) after pondering how animals saw different light arrays than us. I realized that our feeble knowledge of color is absurd.

Sopholism reacts back upon itself in the sense that you came up with the idea of sopholism, or someone else told it to you. Therefore you do not know if it is true or not, because it is not apart of you.

Meh...i think it's a good starting point, but it's quite streched in some areas. I enjoy Kant way more and could never find an error in his reasonings...

When I was younger, about 6 or 7, I also thought that I may be the only "real" thing or person around. And that everyone else around me was not real, or robots, or not like me. I cannot explain it.

Its weird for someone of such a young age to ponder such things.

[carterhawk]

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[VulturEMaN]

About the red/blue thing, I always belived that everyone sees the world in a different spectrum as no two human minds are the same but since we are brought up to react to certain colours in a certain way it makes no difference.

So if someone where to trade that part of the brain with someone else they will find that what they know as blue may apear red or green or anything.

Another idea I got from this is that everyones favourite colour is the same but we are brought up to call it by a different name.

Yeah um no. Each type of cell in your eye sees a certain frequency of the EM spectrum. Color isnt defined by names the way you think. color is defined by its wavelength frequency. At most you might get minor variation in the intensity of certain colors under certain conditions, but no one is mixing up blue and green like your thinking.

as far as I know, it's pretty hard to know what someone else is seeing
what if your brain interprets that green EM spectrum frequency to look like my purple? you'd think that it would be green, would be told that it was green, and would think that everyone else saw it as green. But if i could see what your brain is interpreting it as, then i would be like "OMG WTH PURPLE *dies*"

[spongehead 32]

Yeah um no. Each type of cell in your eye sees a certain frequency of the EM spectrum. Color isnt defined by names the way you think. color is defined by its wavelength frequency. At most you might get minor variation in the intensity of certain colors under certain conditions, but no one is mixing up blue and green like your thinking.

So you say the brain has nothing to do with the perception of colour.

And ok, colour is defined by wave length, but how we perceive the colour to look like may be different though it makes no difference as we are brought up to call that colour by that name.

Example, there is a ball on the table, one mind perceives the ball as green and so they describe it as green, the mind teachers younger minds that the ball is green however the young minds perceive the ball as a different colour but since they know no better, they refer to that colour as green and so whatever colour the young minds perceived the ball to be they refer to as green.

Sorry if that example is confusing.

[carterhawk]

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[VulturEMaN]

About the red/blue thing, I always belived that everyone sees the world in a different spectrum as no two human minds are the same but since we are brought up to react to certain colours in a certain way it makes no difference.

So if someone where to trade that part of the brain with someone else they will find that what they know as blue may apear red or green or anything.

Another idea I got from this is that everyones favourite colour is the same but we are brought up to call it by a different name.

Yeah um no. Each type of cell in your eye sees a certain frequency of the EM spectrum. Color isnt defined by names the way you think. color is defined by its wavelength frequency. At most you might get minor variation in the intensity of certain colors under certain conditions, but no one is mixing up blue and green like your thinking.

as far as I know, it's pretty hard to know what someone else is seeing
what if your brain interprets that green EM spectrum frequency to look like my purple? you'd think that it would be green, would be told that it was green, and would think that everyone else saw it as green. But if i could see what your brain is interpreting it as, then i would be like "OMG WTH PURPLE *dies*"

The thing yoru all looking for is Qualia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia and more specificaly the concept of Inverted Spectrum.

To put it bluntly, the possiblity of such a thing is extremely low simply because humans are built almost all identicaly. Its allowable that some variation in strength of percived colors will exist due to differences between the makeup of each persons eyes. However to allow the possiblity of total inversion invites doubt into the perceptions of every one of our senses. Does my apple pie taste like your spoild milk? The fact is that our senses are all evolved the way they are because of the need to survive. If we didnt all taste bitter the same way then people would be out there eating all kinds of poisonus plants because it tasted sweet.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia-inverted/

Well said and researched.

But, taste is a whole different ballgame. Our species (and pretty much every other slightly-larger-than-1oz creature) has definently evolved their sense of taste to recognize something bad or good...and this has led to our survival...no doubt.

But sight...ahhh...have we ever needed to spot out a specific wave spectrum and interpret it a certain way soas we will survive? Nope.

Humans are definently built all identically, but when it comes to the mind we all think differently. Our eyes may read the spectrums the same (or not, according to your research), but we do not know what our brains interpet wave patterns as because we cannot record what our brains are thinking. We can see electrical pulses flying all over the place, but that's about the extent of our ability to record what happens 'up there'.

I believe that this theory would be a definite explanation for blue/green colorblindness being hereditary. The visual cortex and thalamus have already been proven to being altered by hereditary features, and this would be no exception.

[Dragon Of Grief]

Things like solipsism and nihilism are considered forms of Psychosis by some doctors and people working in the medical field... people with those types of thought process need help like any schizophrenic or bipolar person.

[Patback399]

Schizophrenics and the insane know more than we ever will.