Perhaps the most fundamental thing in reality is mind and there is no matter. Idealism: perhaps what we think is the material world, which is independent of the observer, is really dependent on the human mind after all, or some cosmic mind.
The deja vu theory tv#
The Truman Show Threat: perhaps what I think is the real world is just an elaborate tv set where the producers are adjusting my circumstances for the pleasure of the audience(could also be titled the Adjustment Bureau threat).
![the deja vu theory the deja vu theory](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C17npxMVQAAhAWm.jpg)
Solipsism/Brain in a Vat: perhaps I’m the only thing that actually exists and everything else and everyone else is just a figment of my imagination or perhaps I’m not all alone, but some scientists have removed my brain, have put it in a vat or a jar with all the requisite tools to keep my brain alive and they’re feeding me my experiences through electrodes- if either of these are the case then none of my experiences are veridical. Similar arguments have been presented throughout the history of philosophy including:ĭescartes’ Evil Demon: perhaps in all of our experiences we are being completely misled by a malevolent demon, if this is the case we can’t be said to truly know anything.
![the deja vu theory the deja vu theory](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/foVMwJtlR5s/maxresdefault.jpg)
These types of arguments seek to provide one big defeater for all of our human knowledge and leave us with the specter of skepticism looming large over our beliefs.
![the deja vu theory the deja vu theory](https://media.timeout.com/images/103660253/630/472/image.jpg)
Skeptical threats are global threats in that they threaten everything we know, think we know, or could possibly know with that ancient epistemological enemy: skepticism. This question is another in a long line of skeptical threats. But their findings suggest, New Scientist explains, that “the frontal regions of the brain are probably checking through our memories, and sending signals if there’s some kind of memory error - a conflict between what we’ve actually experienced and what we think we’ve experienced.” It’s a new way to think about déjà vu - as an unseen fact-checker for your own autobiography.By Parker Settecase / 17-minute read Is Reality a Simulation?Īre we living in a computer simulation? Are we just a video game being played by some snot-noised kid on Alpha Centauri? This idea, or family of ideas, is known as The Simulation Hypothesis and it has been gaining more and more traction since philosopher Nick Bostrom wrote his 2003 paper “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation? It’s just one study, and the researchers urge that their results will need to be confirmed before anything definitive can be said here. But the hippocampus was quiet instead, the researchers observed activity in the frontal regions of the brain, areas associated with decision-making. If, as the current hypothesis goes, déjà vu is the birth of a false memory, then as this was going on you’d expect to see activity in the hippocampus, which is involved with memory formation. The study volunteers gave their answers from inside an fMRI, allowing the researchers to scan their brains while they went through that mental tug-of-war (“I think I’ve heard that before - but I couldn’t have! But, no, I think I have!”). They felt like they’d heard the word, but they knew from the s question that they couldn’t have - still, they really felt like they had! Déjà vu, all over again. Later, they asked them whether or not they’d heard the word sleep - and this brought on a confusing pattern of thoughts.
![the deja vu theory the deja vu theory](https://images.theconversation.com/files/19076/original/yd8f954y-1357710688.jpg)
No, the volunteers answered (correctly), they hadn’t. (They didn’t.) But these researchers modified this experiment: After reading the list, they asked their volunteers if they’d heard a word beginning with s. They borrowed this from scientists who study false memories, because when you give people this list, and then ask them later if they recall hearing the word sleep, they tend to say that, yes, they did hear the word sleep.
The deja vu theory series#
The researchers read their volunteers a series of related words: bed, pillow, night, duvet.