# Are we living in a fake reality, and if so, what are the consequences? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 26, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250 "2019-02-26T17:34:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/21 "2019-02-26T21:20:49Z")
> [@Kamaski](#): > > I’m not trying to insult them, I’m saying that they struggle a lot. Everyone struggles a lot. “Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” – The Man in Black ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/22 "2019-02-26T21:22:39Z")
> [@Kamaski](#): > > The reason I would like to live in that reality is that often times when I see a blind person walking on the street with the stick they use to guide them, I think to myself “what is their purpose to go on living”. Their exisentence must be so shallow and pathetic, unable to experience the world around them. > > It would be ironic if the blind person was actually able to experience a much deeper n-dimensional reality. And that the the person who can only experience three space dimensions and one time dimension is actually the real person who is blind. > > Therefore the blind person would not experience feelings of existential dread, they actually might feel free and happy. You’ve already been called to task for your rather unpleasant devaluation of persons you perceive as disadvantaged, so I won’t beat that drum beyond saying that I, too, find it distasteful. And, why _wouldn’t_ they feel existential dread? They’re the ones who know that there are Lovecraftian extradimensional monsters out there that are incomprehensible to the mortal three-dimensionally calibrated mind, who at best are drifting unaware of the bugs they have not yet squashed, or even worse are well aware that there are disadvantaged people out there who they are choosing not to help, and who they are in fact taunting with the knowledge that the extradimensional beings exist and are deliberately _not_ helping them. And this isn’t even getting into the fact that most of society would probably consider these people insane, held in the grip of a mad delusion, and would probably react accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/23 "2019-02-26T21:55:22Z")
> [@Kamaski](#): > > I’m not trying to insult them, I’m saying that they struggle a lot. > > Where I live (New York) people drive like manics and if you are blind and try to cross the street, you very easily could get hit. Just living a single day is hard for a blind person. > > If they didn’t have to have the existential crisis that most people have in their lives, that would be a great relief. Look up Ved Mehta. He was a writer for the New Yorker, a graduate of Harvard, and blind from an early age. I know for a fact he writes better than you do. I saw him speak at Princeton, and I’ve read a lot of his books. He talks of a thing called spatial vision which lets him sense objects in front of him based on changes in air pressure, something you and I can’t do. So in a sense you and I are the ones who are impaired. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/24 "2019-02-26T22:34:24Z")
The reality is that we live in a world where people can read science-y words and use them as magic powers to invoke any miracle they want to believe in. We need better science education to get people to differentiate science and magic and sheer wish-fulfillment fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/25 "2019-02-26T22:44:24Z")
Op, you need to learn origami with all that paper. Plus it’s calming for a fevered brain. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/26 "2019-02-26T23:59:46Z")
I’m surprised at so many people taking this seriously. I can think of dozens of easily-observable phenomena (which means there are probably hundreds) that would disprove the OP’s theory. Okay, everyone, catch up on your meds and then revisit the thread (I refuse to take the oxycodone I was prescribed for surgery, and I’m way behind on my Ibuprofen, so I’m a little critical right now… I’ll take a handful and be back later tonight). ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/27 "2019-02-27T00:10:07Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’m surprised at so many people taking this seriously. I can think of dozens of easily-observable phenomena (which means there are probably hundreds) that would disprove the OP’s theory. > > Okay, everyone, catch up on your meds and then revisit the thread (I refuse to take the oxycodone I was prescribed for surgery, and I’m way behind on my Ibuprofen, so I’m a little critical right now… I’ll take a handful and be back later tonight). I’ve yet to hear of any phenomena, easily observable or otherwise, that would prove there are other locations beyond the ones we can observe. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/28 "2019-02-27T00:35:11Z")
Just want to point out that technology exists which allows blind people to see with their tongues. > **[Tasting the Light: Device Lets the Blind "See" with Their Tongues](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/device-lets-blind-see-with-tongues/)** > > A pair of sunglasses wired to an electric "lollipop" helps the visually impaired regain optical sensations via a different pathway ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/29 "2019-02-27T00:43:27Z")
Ack! I just noticed I mistyped. I meant to type that I’ve yet to hear of any phenomena, easily observable or otherwise, that would **dis** prove there are other locations beyond the ones we can observe. It’s not possible to disprove things like other dimensions, alternate realities, monstrous gods and the like, presuming that these things never, ever, ever, ever interact with reality. They simply remain outside the realm of disproof, because they’re outside the realm of observation, leaving them to exist in the realm of speculation. _Pointless_ speculation, admittedly - because the thing that makes them undisprovable also indicates they don’t _matter_. Things that don’t impact reality…don’t impact reality. ---
**Author:** ![Kamaski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9d8465/32.png) [@Kamaski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamaski)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/30 "2019-02-27T00:45:43Z")
I’m not trying to devalue disabled people, I actually live with a lot of them and I can assure you I don’t think low of them, I actually think they have a better perspective of the world. Let’s say 5 million people, one million from Russia, China, Brazil, The US and France are suddenly able to see the higher dimensional beings/experience the higher dimensions/have contact with God. All in a single day. And they are able to remember their experiences vividly. How does that change the world? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/31 "2019-02-27T00:57:58Z")
I mean…have you every really…_looked_ at your hands? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/32 "2019-02-27T00:59:31Z")
> [@Kamaski](#): > > I’m not trying to devalue disabled people, I actually live with a lot of them and I can assure you I don’t think low of them, I actually think they have a better perspective of the world. > > Let’s say 5 million people, one million from Russia, China, Brazil, The US and France are suddenly able to see the higher dimensional beings/experience the higher dimensions/have contact with God. All in a single day. > > And they are able to remember their experiences vividly. > > How does that change the world? What’s the god like? What are the other dimensions like? 'Cause I gotta tell you my default assumption for things like this is straight out of Lovecraft. And if 0.066% of the world’s population suddenly started ranting about eldritch horrors, I’d assume that there was something in the water in their areas. Presuming I heard about it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/33 "2019-02-27T01:00:10Z")
I can see the OP’s point…if there were another sheet of paper that didn’t have any angry atheist, shrilly sanctimonious cowards on it…I would totes want to be on that sheet. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/34 "2019-02-27T01:29:09Z")
Yeah, and I can make an origami crane\* with that paper. Does that make me the God of that sheet/world? Sweet. - I can probably do it with my eyes closed ( blind) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/35 "2019-02-27T01:34:19Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I can see the OP’s point…if there were another sheet of paper that didn’t have any angry atheist, shrilly sanctimonious cowards on it…I would totes want to be on that sheet. The rest of us would want you there as well. A win-win! ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/36 "2019-02-27T01:53:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The rest of us would want you there as well. A win-win! Pony up the cash and make yourself a cultural hero, Harpo. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/37 "2019-02-27T02:58:03Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Pony up the cash and make yourself a cultural hero, Harpo. Wow, you’re still barking up that tree, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2019, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250/38 "2019-02-27T04:03:41Z")
I’ll cut to the chase. There are no consequences. The reality we live in is the only one we experience, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s controlled by nothing at all, the laws of physics, or a superior being. And if five million people see the face of their creator, it’s called a “religious experience.” Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus. How has that changed you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-living-in-a-fake-reality-and-if-so-what-are-the-consequences/830250.md?page=1)