Reality Definition and 435 Threads

Hi, I was wondering if someone could share their experiences of doing an undergrad degree in maths in the UK, and particularly the way the subjects are introduced at the start. (Directions to more info would also be appreciated :)) I am originally from Germany (but have lived in the UK...

The term "reality" is merely the sum of our perceptions, nothing more. What are your guy's thought on this above statement. Also, what are some ideas from other philosophers that support or oppose this statement.

I can't connect my mathematics with "reality" I'm in a school where we work a lot with electrical circuits, which include a lot of math. Sometimes the teacher tries to connect the circuits with reality, like giving them a "physical" meaning, like trying to explain how a stove works. When he...

In a recently released computer game there is a scene where a nuclear bomb goes off in space over the active war zone on the east USA coast (too high for anything but EMP). Moments later, it starts raining helicopters and everything that uses electricity, from lights to laser sights goes out...

do antibonding molecular orbital exist in reality or is it an empty space in which an electron can move about freely and not involving itself in bonding. if they exist then how can the 2 atomic orbitals interfere both constructively as well as destructively simultaineously to give both...

I just had a thought what would a picture that did not use words that most people would say represents consiousness look like? Also I was wondering if every concept could be drawn in a way that most people would agree with what its describing? What do you think the drawing for conciousness...

"His book The Nature of Experience (1927) contained his arguments that space, time, and matter cannot possibly be real. In his Studies in Hegelian Cosmology, Cambridge, 1901, p. 196," What you think about that? What if if everything do not exist, but comes enterly from nothing? I mean nature...

Is there a firm boundary? For example, if a scientist makes an observation which is probabilistically determined, his actions (for example recording data) are altered, although we would generally think of a scientist as a deterministic system. How do physicists deal with this conceptualy?

I’m reviewing my mathematics knowledge, except I’m looking for a different reason. I understand how it works you know, 1 plus 1 so on, I’m trying to understand why it works. Pure and applied mathematicians and physicists have tied our understanding of reality with mathematics. They believe...

So this is the deal, I'm 17, and I have a passion for science, especially Astrophysics, and I want to major in that department, but the thing is, a lot of people that I know tell me Astrophysics is way too hard, it's not stable, you need to be a genius to make something out of it, not enough...

I am interested in the correspondence between reality and the mathematics of spacetime and wonder if that is an issue with anyone else? How is the question of correspondence handled in teaching students about General Relativity? I characterized the issue of correspondence as follows and...

Hi, I'm new here and I apologise in advance for any perceived abruptness and hope I am not causing offence :) I am debating a guy, religious philosophy type, who claims that virtual and real universes would be indistinguishable from each other ... to some degree I suppose that is true i.e...

I would like to get some opinions from those of you who prefer a One-World interpretation of QM (CI,Bohm,Transactional,Relational, etc) about the following: 1) I understand it is already clear that QM puts a limit on our ability to predict the future. But if you believe that the universe is a...

Abstract This post introduces a holistic approach to the description of the physical reality. The solution, referred to as the Dynamic Universe (DU) [1], is based on a zero-energy balance of motion and gravitation in spherically closed space. The Dynamic Universe allows the derivation of all of...

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-07/lu-pro070309.php Well, according to this article, at least. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1174962 Just thought I'd share. Problem is, they didn't entirely describe high temp superconductivity. O well.

Hello all. I apologize for not following the exact format requested... I honestly have little to no understanding of any of these subjects. I come here as member of a gaming community that has been presented with a problem as part of an ongoing puzzle. I hope I'm posting this in the most...

Antimatter excotic particle or another reality? Is it a mirror of matter or just another form of matter?

As I was reading some information on Quantum Mechanics, I came across the following statement: (http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Quantum%20mechanics.htm) From this, several questions arose, but I'll only share a few. If indeed nothing is real until it is observed, and something must exist...

Hello all. Forgive me, this has been piling up inside me for-- years. I tried a few other forums and no one can do anything but agree with me and express their equal ignorance. After reading quite a few post here, I think I may have found a group with the knowledge to answer my question...

I am looking to make a career shift. I am looking for a career track with the following characteristics: 1) Heavy use (and need to learn) advanced mathematical concepts (especially symbolic in nature). I want to be working with equations and logic in a symbolic manner on a daily basis. 2) A...

What physical theory represents best fundamental and universal experience?

I can't fully understand why a person who makes a journey into space in a high-speed rocket will return home to find his age less than an identical twin who stayed on Earth. It makes since for the twin who stayed on earth, but for the twin who traveled into space, he sees himself at rest and...

I placed this thread here rather then the politics forum because I wanted the answers of a more diverse group of people i.e. not just the politically savvy. I'm not intending it to become flagrant. Hopefully it won't , however , I imagine that some of the moderators believe this may be the...

Hello all, as far as rendering physical reality, isn't sampling frequency the main thing ?... VE

Does "mathematical reality lie outside us"? The mathematician G.H. Hardy 68 years ago expressed his belief that "mathematical reality lies outside us" in "[URL A mathematicians apology, p.35 [/URL]. I'd like to know how philosophers of the new Millennium have decided this question -- if at...

Suppose you have a fine layer of dust facing perpendicular to a strong gravitational body. If gravitons are point particles then could you expect to observe the gravitons pulling at the dust particles one by one as they come into contact with the dust or would the dust move uniformly closer to...

While I have quickly looked at Monique's sticky thread on ‘Reviews on Global Warming’ I believe the scope of this thread is still relevant. If not, please delete, as I was only making a general inquiry. -------- It appears that the media, in general, is now committed to constantly...

My webpage http://camoo.freeshell.org/roadtoreality.html" has answers to exercises in Roger Penrose's book "The Road to Reality". Many of which I worked quite hard on. Laura

arXiv:0807.1635 [ps, pdf, other] Title: Dark energy: myths and reality Authors: V.N. Lukash (Astro Space Centre of P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia), V.A. Rubakov (Institute for Nuclear Research, Moscow, Russia) Comments: 17 pages, 2 figures Journal-ref...

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20081007-17643.html It’s an assertion repeated by politicians and climate campaigners the world over: “2500 scientists of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agree that humans are causing a climate crisis.” But it’s not...

I think we can do without the whole notion of truth and reality.The traditional notion of truth is that a statement is true iff there some "correspondences" between the statement in question and reality. An attack on this conception of truth is a either/and attack on: 1) The notion of...

sometimes i wunder if time really exists. just because you can use it to callculate projectil motion or whatever, is it actually a physical issue or is it just the human way to deal with a situation? do you know what i mean? what if clocks can tell your passage from the past to now but nothing...

We are discussing the Demystifier's paper "Quantum mechanics: myths and facts". http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/0609163 Previously: Myth 1 https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=229497 Myth 2 https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=230693 Myth 3...

Has anyone found that doing mathematics actually results in a sort of soothing "disconnect" from the drudgery of everyday life? I'm being serious. Something about the numbers, variables, mathematical symbols and theorems...they seem to represent a very unambiguous "reality", entirely free...

please what is the charge and is there anything else except +ve -ve and neutral and what is the electric field? I don't want to know on what it depends but i want to know what is it matter or what and then comes my question why a force of magnetic field moves a wire from the high magnetic flux...

Is there any real difference between "reality" and a dream? You're reading this right now, and it might seem very real to you. You might truly believe that you really are reading this. Why do you believe that though? The answer must, at least in part, lie with the fact that you are...

Hello, I have a question for those of you who have read Road to Reality by Roger Penrose. I've been debating on whether or not I should read this book for ages. I have always wanted to understand science at a mathematical level rather than just a popular science and conceptual level. The thing...

Please recommend a complex analysis book for "The road to reality" Guys I am a electrical engineer who studied calculus III about 15 years ago. That time I memorized formulas to pass exams and never have much of a understanding of complex analysis. Never touched high math again after...

With some additional software and hardware modifications, this guy creates a virtual reality display using his Wii. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw&NR=1 Okay, so when are the new VR shooters cooming out? I'm tired of trying to peek around corners in vain. The technology for...

In a previous thread I asked folk in this forum the question “What is reality?” and got a whole heap of interesting replies. An early reply that proved to be the most apt was In the end it sadly turned out (to misquote Omar Khayyáám’s Rubááiyáát) that : Myself when old did eagerly...

Is anybody doing the exercises in Roger Penrose's book, "The Road to Reality".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/13/ncosts113.xml This is so much rubbish, year after year i see more fields laying fallow, one time traveling through the countryside one could see nothing but rape crops growing and empty fields, one of the local farmers takes his...

is it possible that in one persons eyes red would be my yellow and their yellow would be my red and their sphere could be my cube and so on and so forth so that we would be describing an object with a matching description but at the same time be talking about something completely diferent

Many people say that geometry is at the heart of physics. However Albert Einstein in his last paper worte that he believed purely algebraic methods will provide a framework for nature i.e unification, TOE etc. Has he got representation theory on his mind? Or something else? It raises the...

Can anyone define me reality please?Is it what we see real or it is just an illusion?

thought it would be cool to put this here to get some input from other people and possibly people who have a much beefier academic record than myself :p Basically my thesis for my philosophy course: we can only know reality from experience and perception. my arguments are: humans have a...

First, a little background. I am a senior double major in electrical engineering and physics (with minor in chem, with 2 semesters of ochem and ochem lab) at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, MI. I have a modest overall GPA of 3.45, but a physics GPA of 3.92, an engineering GPA...

I just borrowed this book, and am about to start reading it. However, I am a just a third year undergraduate, and flipping through the book, there looks like there is going to be a lot of new material, and some difficult math. How hard do you think it will be for me to get through it? Is it...

I need some help from Philosophy-oriented folk in answering this question, which I've been sounding off about in the Relativity forum in the thread "Raindrops and Gravity". After having a few of my deviant ideas ironed out there by people who know much more than I do, I've arrived at the...

Hi All ! here is a quote from the movie Little Buddha(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107426/) "Buddha could see beyond universe.Buddha has seen ultimate reality of all things." Although the statement looks simple but it didnt make enough sense to me.It is also said that "we can see only...