[meteorite-list] On the other hand...

[Meteorites USA]

:)

Like I said it's endless... I guess I'm not smart enough to figure out 
if we're really real or not, but that's not "really" what I care about. 
I care about knowledge. That's what I seek in my never ending quest for 
understanding.

Now regardless of the reality of our own existence, knowledge is real. 
We are conscious, aware, and we think? Someone said that already though 
didn't they, a guy that was probably way smarter than me. A quick search 
and I realize it was Rene Descartes that said it first.

Matter does exist, or rather we perceive the effects of matter to be 
measurable. Even if it is only in our minds. We see it, touch it, feel 
it, experience it, mold it, form it, and in some cases are controlled by 
it and surrounded by it.

Does it matter? ;) Yes. because if matter isn't real, then your argument 
is moot. And if your argument is moot, then it doesn't matter, because 
our perception of the effects of matter is one that not only makes it 
exist, but makes it measurable. Does that make sense?

Our own senses and the observable effects that our brains control tells 
me that when I drop that meteorite on my foot it's gonna hurt. And it 
would in fact cause measurable physical damage. Which is an effect we 
perceive. We do in fact think, Therefore our own thoughts are our proof 
that we exist.

If you perceive something to be real, it is... Even if only in your own 
mind.

Does this mean we're all having one mass hallucination? ;)

Regards,
Eric




Rob Matson wrote:
>> ... there is no way for you to prove that I exist or you exist,
>> or anything that you experience is real.
>>     
>
> You might want to try a modern, meteoritical spin on the rhetorical
> approach taken by Samuel Johnson in the 18th century, when he responded
> to Bishop Berkeley's claim that matter doesn't exist, but only ~seems~
> to. Just drop a 10-kilo Campo on your foot from a height of one meter
> and proudly announce, "I refute it thus!" (and then have someone take
> you to the hospital)  ;-)  --Rob
>
>
>