# What if, say, all that we have known is actually wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 14, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968 "2010-01-14T19:07:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thaelmax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/91b2a8/32.png) [@thaelmax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thaelmax)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/1 "2010-01-14T19:07:57Z")
That’s my short little question. What if everything that we (or you) have learned or found, even studied is wrong? What would that kind of thing be like? By saying wrong, i meant that all that stuffs human have come across are actually differ from what the human perceived as fact. And this is not a field-specific thing, I meant EVERYTHING. Would this even matter? I know lots of people who couldn’t care less about this, but I’m just being curious. Will being entirely, utterly, systematically wrong matter anything? On the side note: What is wrong, what is right? Please forgive my ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/2 "2010-01-14T19:13:49Z")
It’ll boost the economy, since everyone will have to be given their money back and consumer spending will skyrocket. Also - the OP is the best I have ever seen. Though I could be wrong. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/3 "2010-01-14T19:14:25Z")
Welcome to the boards, **thaelmax**. I’m moving your question to the Great Debates section of the site instead of General Questions, which is for questions with factual answers. But if everything we knew turned out to be wrong? I’d be a little embarrassed. If atomic theory was wrong I would be hesitant to touch anything and if gravity was wrong I’d be a bit nervous about going outside. ---
**Author:** ![thaelmax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/91b2a8/32.png) [@thaelmax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thaelmax)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/4 "2010-01-14T19:28:07Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > But if everything we knew turned out to be wrong? I’d be a little embarrassed. If atomic theory was wrong I would be hesitant to touch anything and if gravity was wrong I’d be a bit nervous about going outside. Well, I think I should put in another word to be more specific. What if everything we know is theoretically wrong? If what we perceived are just illusions, and suddenly someone pointed that out. All those astronomy, planet, solar system, and all those yadda yadda stuffs. For example: at my young age of five, I thought that when people talked about the expiration date of a bottle of Coke, they were talking about the expiration date of the bottle, not the Coke. It was hilarious when I found out the truth… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/5 "2010-01-14T19:29:55Z")
Ok. I think the question is, how would someone be able to just point all of that out? And would you be able to trust their version of things? ---
**Author:** ![pan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@pan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pan1)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/6 "2010-01-14T19:31:23Z")
So you’re asking what if, someday someone wakes up our bodies and unplugs them all from the Matrix? Billions of people flopping around on the ground because their muscles have never been used…that’s what’d happen. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/7 "2010-01-14T19:34:13Z")
> [@thaelmax](#): > > What if everything we know is theoretically wrong? If what we perceived are just illusions, and suddenly someone pointed that out. All those astronomy, planet, solar system, and all those yadda yadda stuffs. I’m not sure about you but I don’t assume that there is not some higher or lower level to what I perceive daily. Simply recording the details of repeatable phenomena and predicting what will happen does not preclude that possibility. There really is no difference between something that for all demonstrable purposes acts like an electron and something that really is an electron. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/8 "2010-01-14T19:59:26Z")
> [@thaelmax](#): > > What if everything that we (or you) have learned or found, even studied is wrong? Many of the things I’ve learned, found and studied are logically inconsistent so they can’t all be wrong. That is, unless logic is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/9 "2010-01-14T20:08:09Z")
> [@thaelmax](#): > > Well, I think I should put in another word to be more specific. > What if everything we know is theoretically wrong? If what we perceived are just illusions, and suddenly someone pointed that out. All those astronomy, planet, solar system, and all those yadda yadda stuffs. > > For example: at my young age of five, I thought that when people talked about the expiration date of a bottle of Coke, they were talking about the expiration date of the bottle, not the Coke. It was hilarious when I found out the truth… Plato examined this in the Republic with the [Allegory of the Cave](http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/platoscave.html). He seems to believe that people would eventually acclimate to the new truths of their observations and experiences through reason. Now if reason itself is simply an illusion, or the foundations of cause and effect, that way lies madness for all. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/10 "2010-01-14T20:12:32Z")
> [@thaelmax](#): > > Well, I think I should put in another word to be more specific. > What if everything we know is theoretically wrong? If what we perceived are just illusions, and suddenly someone pointed that out. All those astronomy, planet, solar system, and all those yadda yadda stuffs. > > For example: at my young age of five, I thought that when people talked about the expiration date of a bottle of Coke, they were talking about the expiration date of the bottle, not the Coke. It was hilarious when I found out the truth… There are a minority of people who believe the universe and everything in it (including us) is a computer simulation, and not “real” in the way we assume it to be. For the most part, these people live their lives normally and go about their business just like everyone else. It’s hard for me to understand exactly what you’re asking, but does that answer your question? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/11 "2010-01-14T20:32:15Z")
> [@thaelmax](#): > > For example: at my young age of five, I thought that when people talked about the expiration date of a bottle of Coke, they were talking about the expiration date of the bottle, not the Coke. It was hilarious when I found out the truth… Did you learn this truth while on your way to throw the bottle off the edge of the world? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/12 "2010-01-14T20:36:23Z")
[Everything You Know Is Wrong!](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/weirdalyankovic/everythingyouknowiswrong.html) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/13 "2010-01-14T20:53:04Z")
Everything I know is wrong? Yikes! Although, it could make for an interesting weekend. ‘If anything is possible, then it is possible for the statement “anything is possible” to be false.’ I hurt my brain reading that one. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/14 "2010-01-14T20:56:23Z")
Yeah, what the bleep do we know? ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/15 "2010-01-14T21:00:46Z")
Most of the things most people think they know about the fundamentals of reality _are_ wrong. It just doesn’t matter at all in everyday life. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/16 "2010-01-14T21:07:25Z")
> [@thaelmax](#): > > That’s my short little question. What if everything that we (or you) have learned or found, even studied is wrong? What would that kind of thing be like? Our understanding of everything is almost certainly incorrect, in the same way that Newton’s Laws are simply a good simulation of physics at very slow speeds. We’re simply narrowing in on the actually correct formulas for everything, possibly to never arrive at a final point. I suspect that that’s not really what you’re looking for though. Yes, it’s possible that all of reality is, for example, the dream of a giant pink elephant who is soon to awake. Unless there’s something we can do about that, though, all that matters is what is actually relevant to us. It might be that the laws of physics are simply the momentary whims of space hobgoblins, but until they decide to change those laws, the parameters of those laws are still the ones we have to live by, day-to-day. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/17 "2010-01-14T21:13:30Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > Everything I know is wrong? Yikes! Although, it could make for an interesting weekend. > > ‘If anything is possible, then it is possible for the statement “anything is possible” to be false.’ > > I hurt my brain reading that one. Fortunately, **my** head was built with paradox-absorbing shocks! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/18 "2010-01-14T21:27:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Fortunately, my head was built with paradox-absorbing shocks! Some of my favorites: Don’t go near the water 'til you have learned how to swim. Can a man drown in the fountain of eternal life? Your mission is not to accept the mission. Do you accept? Answer truthfully (yes or no) to the following question: Will the next word you say be ‘no’? This sentence is false. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/19 "2010-01-14T21:27:53Z")
If literally everything we know is revealed to be wrong, we would not be able to function at all in whatever the ‘real’ world is - we would at best be like newborn infants (or whatever is their equivalent in whatever the real world is) - because none of our experiences, thoughts, memories, reactions, senses, etc would be any use at all. ---
**Author:** ![i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/i_am_a_scientist)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968/20 "2010-01-14T21:38:58Z")
I’d feel better about sucking at pub trivia [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-say-all-that-we-have-known-is-actually-wrong/524968.md?page=2)