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jwong's picture

I think this discussion of

I think this discussion of reality and whether or not its existence is true or contrived by our nervous system for us to function is extremely interesting. Could it be that without our nervous system providing us with the intelligence of sense, the world around us really white silent noise? Crazy to imagine, but its something that I was thinking about this past week. I really liked the discussion about the tree falling in a forest and anyone being able to hear it; the response that someone provided to the class was that no, the tree would not make any sound because there was no eardrum available to pick up on the noise and actually hear its effect. To me, this definitely helps to substantiate the idea that the nervous system IS a storyteller, that our processed responses/reactions/interpretations of the outside environment all work together to create an image of reality unique to each person. I guess in a way, we are all living in our own little bubble, complete with the contrived concept of what reality really is in our minds. Our interpretations of the world include our nervous system painting up the rest of the missing picture, even if what it paints isn’t truly there, we make up for what is lacking so that it makes sense to us. Our understanding of the world and the idea of having logic and reason is all based on this need to ground our minds in something solid and relatable to people.

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