PERCEPTION: TRICK OR TREAT?
The question is: "Do veridical perception, illusion and hallucination have something in common?" Apparently (but not evidently, though) it may seem as if the three of them are completely different perceptual processes which do not have much in common! On the other hand, if we look at this issue from an opposite angle, we may conclude that these features have indeed a lot in common.
Let´s see what´s the reasoning that led us to such a conclusion; its structure is, in brief, the following one: 1- What do we mean by perception?// 2- What does the problem of perception implies on a first approach?// 3- The human five senses form a primary way of perceiving the external world and of, subsequently, transforming it into knowledge. For instance, what does really happen with visual perception? Light is reflected off the objects from the external world right into the eye of the subject; then, the image produced at the back of the eye is sent to the subject´s brain through a group of electrical impulses; finally, the brain decodes it into a given concept. That´s how we get some of the information from the outside world. 4- Example: a) there is a cat; b) the human subject sees the cat; c) the subject believes there is in fact a cat; d) the subject gets the knowledge that there is a cat// (see ex., the déjà vu cat scene on Matrix).
5- So there is a distinction between belief and knowledge. // 6- Given what has been mentioned above, we may establish a common ground among ´veridical perception´ , ´illusion´ and ´hallucination´. How? a) What happens when we´re talking about VERIDICAL PERCEPTION? The subject´s belief turns out to be justified true belief produced by normal brain chemical response and, thus, we´re dealing in fact with KNOWLEDGE; b) ILLUSION: the subject´s belief is wrongly thought to be justified true belief and, thus, we´re dealing with NOT KNOWLEDGE; c) HALLUCINATION: the subject´s belief turns out to be justified true belief and, thus, we´re dealing with KNOWLEDGE, in the exact same way it happens with ´veridical perception´! This latest situation can be verified by the fact that it is possible with Artificial Intelligence to create the experiment where a human being is completely linked to a computer programme that is running a 100% virtual reality: this virtual reality is totally experienced by the subject as being as real and actual as ´veridical perception´ can be!
It can also be of some interest to check out the, say, ´thought experiment´ produced by Jorge Luis Borges on one of his short novels where he tells the story of a man who ´is´ undergoing a real and tragic sort of catastrophe but who, at the end of the novel is unveiled, is being dreamt by another man, he´s just being a simple character of a dream. ( see as well the brain in the vat thought experiment as put by Hilary Putnam!)
After all, maybe we might say that that there is nothing else about the outside world except for WHAT WE CAN PERCEIVE in a way or another! About all other phenomena which is not yet perceived through our actual physical perceptual set, what can we say? Maybe only " I don´t know!", " I can imagine!", " I think is either impossible or quite possible to exist!", until one of these days there will be a massive copernican revolution in evolution that will change radically human physiological mechanisms of PERCEIVING the external world!!!
Then, there will still be hope for humans to hear the infra-sounds elephants do, to see the way a bat ´ sees´, to listen to the language of the whales.......
ISOLATION with MACHINE HEAD subtitleslLOL!!!...........
DEAFENING SILENCE
I´ve tried to fill this silence up/ but now it´s back again
See the pain in my eyes/See the scars deep inside/ My god, I´m down in this hole again/ With the laughter I smile/ With the tears that I cry/ Keep going down this road called life/ Don´t need your sympathy/ I just want for this silence to stop killing me
It´s deafening/ It´s deafening/ This silence inside me/ Lyrics: Rob Flynn -excerpt from SUPERCHARGER´s song DEAFENING SILENCE by MACHINE HEAD
p.s: The content of this blog is the author´s sole responsability. A larger view from the painting shown above can be seen in Unleash The Wolves pics- Maria L. Melo- Unleash The Wolves
F.U.C.K.C.S.!!! hell yeaaaah!!!
On the most diverse situations, people often talk about ´common sense´. They don´t simply talk about it, they rather strongly appeal to Common Sense. Therefore, whenever they want to state a ´final´ conclusion about any kind of argument you may be presenting, they call for a specific help/ they call for C.S.!
Plus, they also consider C.S. as being ´final´, literally speaking, meaning ´fatal´, ´final cut´, ´complete end´, ´summary execution´, ´death penalty´.....!!!
At this moment, well, you might be thinking that maybe I´m pushing too far this sort of synonimous-idea association-listing. But the fact is that I do want to emphasize that their main goal is indeed to kill, completely exterminate your own reasoning. Period.
Let´s take a look at a very simple, schematic example of this kind of Terminator-Attitude so peculiarly C.S.: (establishing that P and Q are both affirmative sentences and that A and B are both human-beings talking alternately) we have the following:
A-"In my opinion, from P follows that Q!!!" // B(the C.S. guy)- " NO, you´re definitely WRONG!"// A(surprised)- "But, WHY?!!!" // B(while turning his back on A)- "Because that´s Common Sense, everybody knows it! And that´s that!"
What´s then C.S.??? It´s, no doubt, what everybody knows, but more specifically and dangerously, what everybody has always known, knows and will always know!!! R.I.P.! It is really what nobody wants to QUESTION ever, cause the simple fact that no one doesn´t ever question anything at all gives people a feeling of safety(safety, what safety???!) and when YOU dare to question whatsoever, THEN you´re a crank!!!
And that also means that you´re immediately labelled in a negative way(ppl love labels, don´t they?!) and, when you least expect it, you´re being outcasted and sent to a sort of ´social exile´!!!
In brief, as someone once wrote: " A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man´s brow."
