Thread: How can we be sure anything is real?

i think your example is a little flawed, your discribing one atom. ans asking why your hand can't go through a keyboard...your keyboard is not made of one atom...and frankly neither are you...it would take a great many collection of atoms to make anything. light is made up of photons, basicly energy in the form of light, its made of something we can not feel. A keyboard is made of plastic, bits of matter suspended in a soild form in the shape of, well, of a keyboard...

As for the state of reality.
Its the Matrix question, what is real? our reality is limited to what our eyes show us, what our ears tell us, and what our skin feels. information that our grey matter turns into our reality. If you plug someone into a machine to simulate the feeling and or movement from a lost limb is what that computer tells your brain any less real??How do you know what colors are? its what your eyes see and that in turn tells your optic nerve and on to the brain, but Technicly any color we see, like a red rose, is actually every single color but red...now how does this make sense?? but because of this we see a red rose...

look at the research those White coats smash atoms together and trace its basic parts the proton and neutron with in turn are made of Quarks (both up and down) one at a time and its nothing, empty space, but fill it with more. Enough to create mass, to effect gravity and you'll find billions, trillions and what ever comes after that number of atoms...

ok brain fried, Next!

The reason you can't pass through your keybord, or any other solid for that matter is the atoms have electrical fields,and how fast their moving depends wether you can pass through them, or not pass through. If atoms are moving slowly it's a solid. Solids have a deffinate shape, and deffinate volume. Add some heat to it the atoms begin to move faster, creating liquid. You can pass through liquid because it has no deffinate shape, but deffinate volume. Add even more heat its a gas. You can pass through gass because it has no deffinate shape, and no deffinate volume. So when atoms move faster things can go through them.

we exist because we are packed with millions of billons of millions of bill...let just say it higher than you can coutn with all that fancie caloucs you used that i dont under stand.well thats just my simple minded way on things

How can we be sure anything is real?

Don't worry, Dita... you're not the only one who has thought this.
(Sometimes it's comforting to be lost in an enigma with someone else)

But can you answer these? :
How can we be sure nothing is nothing?
How can we be sure nothing is fake?
How can we be sure everything is fake?
How can we be sure everything is not nothing?
How can we be sure nothing is not everything?

... I suppose if you can connect all things and admit: "Everything is the same as nothing and nothing is the same as everything" without killing yourself and thinking life is a flaw, then you'd have answered your own question.



The problem is with us humans, is

1. We try to answer a question so complicated when we haven't even answered the simplest questions yet.

2. We try to break down every single thing into pieces and put it back together and claim we know what it is. (especially true with western culture)

3. We believe we have all the answers or are the only ones who can find the answers, while every other creature on this planet seems fulfilled. And we often think this is because of ignorance, but rather, it is understanding.

Destroy those flaws, and you'll be more open to knowing how we know.

Every item in this world comprises of a collection of atoms (who knows millions or even billions!). You are asking in the perception of one atom, and frankly nothing can exist if its just one atom because everything inherently needs a collection of atoms to exist.

Sound exists because the atoms are rubbing each other. Although we can't see them we can hear them.

If anything wasn't real you'll have a gut feeling that everything around you had some serious flaws. Every state of matter, solids, liquids and gases have different volumes, density and so on. Everything around you is as real as it possibly could be, or if it wasn't, could you explain how this "dream" has been existing for billions and billions of years?

well thats quite a scientific question right there. well firstly ur just focusing on how much matter an atom has, and truth be told there are a lot of other forces that don't have any matter at all but can move things so 'how do u move nothing move something?'

truth be told there world and the universe is fill with many forces. there are forces we know and forces we don't know. forces that keep an atom together, forces that bond an atom to another atom, etc.

now ur wondering y we don't don't travel through thing like keyboard, etc right?.. well think about, an atom is nearly empty space correct. however, the electrons surrounding each atom create a boundary, since these electrons are moving at such high speeds (take a fan for example, when its spinning fast it is almost impossible to put ur hand through it). but not just the keyboard has these electrons but the atoms in ur hand. also not to mention the scale that we are working with her, there would be millions of atom in like a squared cm.

[edith also each electron has a negative electrical value, and since electrons cover the outside of each atom. then the electrons would repel each other since they are the same electrical value. but i'm not completely sure on this, just some extra info]

it also depends on an atom state and its bonds. for example y can we move our hands through air? or water? but not through solids? well firstly atoms are arrange in a crystal lattice in its solid state. atoms are held together tightly by the intermolecular bonds (bonds between atoms) therefor the atoms don't move away from each other (for example what is the differnce between sand and concrete, both are made for the same stuff but one u can move ur hand through while the other u can't, the reason is that sand has nothing keeping it together while concrete has bonds (like glue) that keeps the sand together making it a solid).

but in liquid and gasses there are weak to no intermolecular bond keep each atom connected to each other. therefore we are able to move our hand through it.

there is plenty of more force i believe that effect atoms and stuff but i don't think its really relevant + i have a feeling many ppl won't be bother reading what i just type. i hope it all makes sense.