Q&A: Professor Hoffman’s Theory and Idealism
Professor Hoffman’s Theory and Idealism
Question
Hello.
1. What do you think of Professor Hoffman’s theory that our consciousness is the basic component of reality, and that, as he writes: ‘This is the first time we are using a scientific theory, the theory of evolution, and mathematical analyses to prove that the reality we see is entirely an illusion.’ And according to him: time, space, and matter are only an interface behind which true reality is hidden, so that everything serves as a superficial representation of things and not the true nature of the things themselves?
2. What do you think in general about the position of idealism?
Answer
I don’t know who this Professor Hoffman is, but what he says sounds very much like the talk of many people who don’t know what they’re talking about and use various scientific fields outside the bounds where they are relevant.
There are several positions that fall under this heading. In general, regarding most of them, I don’t think they are correct. I have no arguments beyond the fact that my senses tell me they are mistaken. If you want to have a discussion, bring a specific argument and define the concept of idealism, and then we can discuss it.
Discussion on Answer
1. I stopped getting excited by people who quote equations a long time ago.
2. I know. But there are distinctions between views that do not accept the existence of an external world at all, and views that see the idea as the main thing (to me that is not a well-defined statement. Main in what sense?). And there are views which, in my opinion, are trivial, and yet some call them idealism—according to which the picture we see is not the world itself but a cognitive representation of it. That is completely trivial.
3. I didn’t understand that sentence. If we do not know this, then why does he think it is a basic principle in physics?
4. I think it’s nonsense dressed up nicely.
5. Exactly the same justification as realism (against idealism). Simply because I experience it clearly and directly, and I have no reason to cast doubt on it.
That we are*
Thanks.
2. How can one not accept the existence of an external world at all? Everything takes place in the mind—and the mind itself is in what? And regarding those views that are relevant in your opinion, that is what Professor Hoffman claims, so what is the distinction?
3. He wrote that in a letter to a friend; maybe he meant that we don’t know it. Or that we aren’t aware of it.
4. Why?
A., what nonsense.
That the reality we see is an illusion has long been a known fact.
After all, you do not see atoms or electrical forces. So certainly what you do see is an illusion. No mathematical equation is required.
Human stupidity can be proven mathematically.
2. That is something you should ask those who do not accept the existence of an external world.
4. Because in my estimation there is no way at all to calculate such a probability.
1. Yes. It sounds like more philosophical nonsense, even though he claims it isn’t, and that it’s based on mathematical equations from evolutionary theory, and that colleagues in the scientific community listen to him. For them, everything he says goes against intuition, but because he bases it on mathematics from evolutionary theory they take it seriously. The scientific community also agreed to publish his theory in three prestigious scientific journals. It doesn’t affect you because fortunately you don’t have OCD, and unfortunately I do have it (and not a mild kind), and as long as there are doubts, the OCD latches onto them.
2. ‘Idealism’ means ‘idea,’ and it is a general name for schools in philosophy that hold that reality is first and foremost an idea, meaning something abstract and non-physical. From here you can take it in several directions; my question was what you think of all of them in general. Since you already wrote that ‘regarding most of them’ you don’t think they are correct, then what do you think about that minority?
3. What do you think of Einstein’s statement: ‘It is a basic principle of physics to assume that a real world exists independently of any act of perception. But we do not know this.’ And what did he mean by: ‘Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one’?
4. What do you think about the fact that Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the U.S., sent its clients a document stating that the chances that we are living inside a computer simulation are between 20% and 50%?
5. Do you hold a dualist view? And what is your justification for that?