All, Both Roger and Bruno took issue with my definition of reality to include theories about reality. But the proper definition of reality is that reality includes everything that exists and theories of reality most certainly exist. Roger and Bruno seem to be coming from the old dualistic definition of reality in which some things (generally the 'physical' world) are real and some things aren't real (generally thoughts e.g. about the physical world).
While this dualistic definition of reality may be useful in daily life it fails on the philosophical level. In truth the entirety of reality is computational and both 'physical' events and mental are both part of that same single computational nexus. Roger gives the example of hitting a table with his fist as something that is real as opposed to a theory about reality which isn't but in fact the reality of the experience of both is electrical signals (information computations) in the brain. They are both computations in the brain. The proper definition is that everything that exists is real and therefore part of reality. Everything that exists is a computationally evolving information state in reality and that is why it is real, however its reality is exactly what it actually is, what its computational forms actually are, and this is true for everything including both what our minds interpret as 'physical' events and 'mental'. If you must make that distinction then of course everything without exception in our thoughts and experience is mental, but the deeper truth is that its all computationally evolving information however it's interpreted by our minds. Thus the only philosophically consistent definition of reality includes everything that exists without exception, including thoughts and theories. But there is a deeper truth here in that reality itself exists independently of its particular contents as a thing in itself. In fact prior to the big bang it was empty of any actualized information at all, but it still existed in a state similar to a generalized quantum vacuum. This reality itself is what makes the computations that occur within it real and actual and have being, it is what gives them life. It is what I call 'Ontological Energy' which is simply the (non-physical) space of reality whose presence manifests as the present moment in which we and everything exists. All the computationally evolving information that exists exists like waves, ripples and currents in the sea of existence itself, in the ocean of ontological energy, the logical space or locus of reality and actuality. Reality is a single ocean of ontological energy and everything that exists exists as a computationally evolving information form within it. There is nothing outside of it because there is no outside. Therefore there is no possibility of anything being 'not real' or not part of reality. There is only the different categories of reality of different information forms within reality. Edgar -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
