16th November 2006, 2:40 PM
It "could be" does not equate to "is". Science isn't math, "proof" is what math deals with. That's where you can prove things absolutely (you can't square the circle). Science is, and always has been, tentative. It bases it's conclusion on the best currently available evidence. As such, all evidence points to reality NOT being an illusion. Absence of evidence IS evidence of absence (though not PROOF of absence). We MIGHT be in the matrix, but without any evidence to point to it, there's no reason to think that's the case. This is tentative though, so the moment you show me Neo or an Agent, this will change.
Examples to show my point: We have no absolute proof of gravity. Every instance of something falling could merely be a coincidence, chance happening, or perhaps it was "intelligent falling" to quote the Onion, and invisible fairies drag everything to the ground on their own whims, and without them nothing would ever fall. However, there's no evidence of that being the case. We base our knowledge that gravity exists on these observations and that gravity is the most probable conclusion to reach. Is it perfect? No, but it's the best method humanity has yet developed for finding things out. Further more, if it's true that there are invisible fairies puling everything together but there's no way to tell, that is, they have no effect at all on us in any way and they operate exactly the same as one would expect if gravity was the correct hypothesis, then it really doesnt' matter anyway does it? Might as well live our lives as though there are no fairies. I have an invisible dragon in my car hole. Prove me wrong.
So again, evidence?
Examples to show my point: We have no absolute proof of gravity. Every instance of something falling could merely be a coincidence, chance happening, or perhaps it was "intelligent falling" to quote the Onion, and invisible fairies drag everything to the ground on their own whims, and without them nothing would ever fall. However, there's no evidence of that being the case. We base our knowledge that gravity exists on these observations and that gravity is the most probable conclusion to reach. Is it perfect? No, but it's the best method humanity has yet developed for finding things out. Further more, if it's true that there are invisible fairies puling everything together but there's no way to tell, that is, they have no effect at all on us in any way and they operate exactly the same as one would expect if gravity was the correct hypothesis, then it really doesnt' matter anyway does it? Might as well live our lives as though there are no fairies. I have an invisible dragon in my car hole. Prove me wrong.
So again, evidence?
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)