Why Science Cannot Let Go Of Naive Realism

[Scholar]

First, what is Naive Realism?

Naive Realism describes the fundamental way human beings comprehend reality, meaning our way of projecting properties of our awareness onto reality itself. For example: Looking at an object and believing that the objects color is actually a fundamental attribute of that object. So from a naive realist perspective, the object would be red, blue or whatever color it seems to be. 

So, we take attributes of our consciousness and project them onto our idea of what reality is. Again and again we have dismissed more and more naive realist notions. We know for example that objects do not smell, that they do not taste, that they aren't cold or hot. We also know that for example sound does not exist. All of these things are simply ways of our brain to measure accurately and have the ability to then use the attained information for the purpose of survival.

An important notion in this is the following:

Try to describe the color red in words to someone who has never expirienced red. Quite quickly you will realize that it is impossible. No word can describe a color, a word can simply be a symbol for a color. So, we only know which colors we are referring to because we all agreed on calling the same colors the same words. This is very important because it goes for every aspect of our awareness. You cannot describe a smell, a feeling, a taste, you cannot describe anything whatsoever.

 

This is how far the paradigm of science has gotten, but there is one aspect that they seem to completely overlook, and for that there is a very good reason. We have taken everything in our consciousness and disproven that it actually is part of the "outside" reality. Colors do not exist outside of the mind, feelings do not exist outside of the mind, taste and smell does not exist outside of the mind. There are things though that we truly believe exists outside of our mind, and that is form, motion, time and location.

We truly believe that there are atoms that move through space and time. We believe that objects exist, that they are made of matter, of "form". This is a notion scientists seem to be unable of letting go of, and our entire scientific paradigm is based around that. Feelings, colors and any other awareness expirience are non-existent to us, because we have proven that they are not actually what the "outside" reality is made of. Clearly, as we see, the outside reality is made of matter, of form that moves, and time that directs all motion. This is our view and the reason to hold this view is very simple.

As we have done for thousands of years, yet again we are as naive as we have been from the beginning. We project attributes of our mind onto what reality really is supposed to be. We project awareness of "location", "motion" and "time" onto our idea of reality. What else would we project onto it, it's literally the last "properties" we have left. If we would admit that this is a projection, we would admit that our minds are completely incapable of comprehending reality. We would admit that we have absolutely nothing to describe reality with. Why? Because the only things we have left to describe reality with is motion, form and time. Everything you will find in physics is describing these attributes. No matter what words they use, whether it is energy, particles or fields, on all of these words we project our mind attributes of motion, form and time. 

With quantum physics we have pretty much disproven the last naive realisim notion that way left. Matter, form, time and space do not exist outside of our minds, and what reality really is made of is inaccessable to us, for eternity. Yes, we cling to our naive realist notions, we cannot let go of them. Infact, we make up new naive realist paradigms. Theories of our reality being a simulation, of our reality being holographic. It's getting even worse than it was before. We are literally taking a cultural aspect and projecting it onto reality. Without computers this notion would not exist. It's far naiver than anything we came up with before.

 

It seems like human beings have a problem. We cannot admit that our device, our brain, is not capable of creating truth. We cannot admit that any of our projections onto reality cannot be what reality really is. If we did, we'd admit just how clueless we are, and we'd admit that our brain cannot do much more than predict. The last man standing, prediction, is what we hope to bring us the truth. We have created prediction machines, computers. We have created prediction systems like mathematics. And we claw ourselves to that notion, that prediction is what reality is. This is what they starting to claim.

 

We cannot admit to the true mystery that reality is and will forever remain. In the end all we have of reality is our consciousness. It is the only thing we will ever have of reality. We are projecting our consciousness onto reality and we always did. It's really the only thing we CAN do. Believing in reality itself is a notion of mind. Belief itself is a notion of the mind. And notion is a notion of the mind aswell.

I think the ultimate investigation into the "outside" reality is leading us to the same, inevitable place that spirituality leads us. The simple recognition that there are no words. That we cannot describe reality and that any description of it is merely a description. It leads us to silence, to the absence of truth itself.

 

But I do not think we are ready to accept that. Most spiritual teachers, including Leo, I think, cannot accept that. Even if they are shown the absence of truth, they find a way to make a truth out of it. Call it truth with capital T, call it god, call it anything. It seems like the mind just needs that, it needs the soothing notion that it finally understood, that it finally is awake. That it has seen the ultimate truth, which cannot be seen. That it has expirience the ultimate expirience, which cannot be expirienced. Still an ape babbling about, isn't it?

Edited September 6, 2017 by Scholar

[Laputan Machine]

because a)science gets results b)the existence of the universe is either assumed to be true or not discussed due to it being impossible to prove true or false. sure, everyone's perception of reality is different but a 2 is a 2 for most people and that's what science uses as a starting point, that we can agree that some things are true, exist, can be proven and are universal.

[Joseph Maynor]

Science is concerned primarily with testable theories, which puts it squarely within the arms of the Mind-Matrix.  This is not bad, it's just pragmatic.  The Mind-Matrix evolved to be pragmatic.  Problems can arise when the Mind-Matrix tries to solve non-pragmatic problems.

[Nahm]

All science happens in an illusion. Ironically, science 'proved', or revealed, a hundred years ago, that there is indeed no matter. Is that hilarious to anyone else?