Comments

  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Please explain why you think: "All the sensory perception I have through my own senses must be taken as 100% truth until they are found, and proven as otherwise via self verification, logical thinking process or repeated observations." Thank you.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    From my perspective. I agree that the world looks flat to me when I am at home on Earth but it won't look flat if I was on the International Space Station.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Along with shared subjectivity, there is also exclusive subjectivity e.g. only I know the contents of my dreams and what thoughts and recollections occur to me.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Thank you for the interesting link.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Thank you for letting me know. I had never Googled shared subjectivity until I read your post. I came up with the concept many years ago when I was discussing reality with my friend.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Being conscious is a prerequisite for experiencing dream or hallucination or illusion or simulation. That's why I can be 100% certain that I am conscious whether or not my perceptions of reality (e.g. my body, other organisms, the Earth, the rest of the Universe) are of an actual reality or not.

    I created the term "shared subjectivity". It is more accurate than saying "shared reality" because we don't actually know with 100% certainty whether our perceptions of reality are of an actual reality or not.

    What is true at the quantum level is not true at the macroscopic level. We can't measure both the position and vector of electrons but we can measure both the position and vector of footballs. Another example would be quantum superposition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition This never happens at the macroscopic level. When one tosses a coin, it does not land on both the head and the tail at the same time. It lands on either the head or the tail.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    I am not saying this at all. On the second last post on page three of this thread, I have stated that I know 7 things with 100% certainty.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    I agree with everything you have said except for this statement: "And see, you are bringing it up yourself, invalidating therefore your first statement, i.e. that you are 100% certain that you are conscious!" My statement: "It is possible that what I perceive is either a dream or a hallucination or an illusion or a simulation and not objectively real." does not invalidate my previous statement: "I am 100% certain that I am conscious." My experience of being conscious makes me 100% certain that I am conscious when I am conscious. I don't experience this when I am unconscious. It is possible that my perceptions e.g. I see the computer keyboard and the computer screen as I type these words, are not of an actual reality. It's possible that the keyboard and the screen exist only in a dream or hallucination or simulation or illusion.

    You said that you lost the ball when I mentioned macroscopic determinism. So, I will explain it. Quantum indeterminacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_indeterminacy and the Uncertainty Principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle exist. However, this does not lead to indeterminacy at the macroscopic level. We can precisely measure the position and vector of a football even though we can't do that with an electron.

    I agree that our perceptions of reality is subjective but there is such a thing as shared subjectivity e.g. we can both see the Sun and the Moon. So, the Sun and the Moon exist in our shared subjective world. Most humans would say that the existence of the Sun and the Moon is an objective truth because every human with a functioning visual system sees the Sun and the Moon when they are visible.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    So far, I am 100% or completely certain of the following:
    1. I am conscious.
    2. I am typing in English.
    3. I am not all-knowing.
    4. I am not all-powerful.
    5. I change.
    6. I can't do lots of things I really want to do e.g. go back in time and prevent all suffering, inequality, injustice, and deaths and make all living things forever happy.
    7. I do some things even though I don't want to do them.
    Here are some things I have done, currently do or will do even though I don't want to do them:

    1. Breathe
    2. Eat
    3. Drink
    4. Sleep
    5. Dream
    7. Pee
    8. Poo
    9. Fart
    10. Burp
    11. Sneeze
    12. Cough
    13. Age
    14. Get ill
    15. Get injured
    16. Sweat
    17. Cry
    18. Suffer
    19. Snore
    20. Think
    21. Feel
    22. Choose
    23. Be conceived
    24. Be born
    25. Remember some events that I don't want to remember
    26. Forget information that I want to remember
    27. Die

    I am 99.99% or almost certain of the following:
    1. I and all the other organisms currently alive will die. Every second brings all organisms closer to death.
    2. My body, other organisms, the Earth and the Universe really exist.
    3. Other organisms e.g. humans, cows, dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, lions, elephants, butterflies, whales, dolphins, etc. are conscious.
    4. Being a vegan is more ethical than being a vegetarian and being a vegetarian is more ethical than being an omnivore.
    5. Gods do not exist.
    6. Souls do not exist.
    7. Reincarnation does not happen.
    8. Resurrection does not happen.
    10. Organisms evolved and were not created by God or Gods.
    11. 99.9% of all the species to evolve so far on Earth became extinct in 5 mass extinctions long before humans evolved.
    12. Humans and other organisms do not have free will. Our wills are determined and constrained by our genes, environments, nutrients, and experiences.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    How do I know that something self-evident is true? My perceptions could be real or simulations or hallucinations or dreams or illusions.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    How can a duck's consciousness be replaced by an alien? Is consciousness something separate from the body that can be put in different bodies or is it something emergent as a result of brain activities?
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    I agree that a shapeshifting alien could be pretending to be a duck and we would not be able to tell without analysing blood samples, etc.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    I am not convinced that reality works in a way that requires absolute uncertainty to exist for absolute certainty to exist. The two ends of the electromagnetic spectrum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum are not total opposites of each other. Also, just because energy cannot be created or destroyed it does not mean that it is finite. There could be an infinite amount of energy spread across an infinite number of universes.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Thank you very much for your explanation. I understand now. I agree with you.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    I agree that "the percentage is there more as an adjective than a mathematical relationship."
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    I agree that I am certain that we are communicating in English as opposed to any other language. Thoughts, emotions, perceptions, recollections, etc. exist even though we don't know whether souls exist or not and whether brains really exist or not.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    1 + 1 = 2. 1 + 1 does not equal 4. Two people can become parents of two children and that would cause the number of people in that family to increase to 4. That does not change the math 1 + 1 = 2. The math in that case is 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4.

    I agree that religious beliefs are faith-based rather than evidence-based. Religions contradict themselves and each other. Please see: https://skepticsannotatedbible.com and https://www.evilbible.com

    However, if our perceived reality is not actually real, then science can't be relied upon to give us facts. Science assumes that what we observe is real and not simulated or dreamt or hallucinated, etc. It is not possible for me to know with complete certainty that my body, other humans, non-human organisms, the Earth and the rest of the Universe actually exist.

    According to Hinduism, our perceived world is an illusion called Maya. It is created by the Hindu Gods to test living things. It is impossible to prove or disprove this claim.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    I agree with your example of the pickles.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    I have never witnessed souls either. I am an agnostic regarding the existence of Gods, souls, reincarnation, resurrection, karma, etc.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    By "100% certain" I mean completely certain. I am completely certain that I am conscious. I am almost completely certain that I will die.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Thank you for giving me more food for thought.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Yes, at least, I do. I can't speak for you or others.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Excellent point. It is possible that the self is an illusion and thoughts and emotions and words and actions simply happen as a result of brain activities.
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Here are some things I have done, currently do or will do even though I don't want to do them:

    1. Breathe
    2. Eat
    3. Drink
    4. Sleep
    5. Dream
    7. Pee
    8. Poo
    9. Fart
    10. Burp
    11. Sneeze
    12. Cough
    13. Age
    14. Get ill
    15. Get injured
    16. Sweat
    17. Cry
    18. Suffer
    19. Snore
    20. Think
    21. Feel
    22. Choose
    23. Be conceived
    24. Be born
    25. Remember some events that I don't want to remember
    26. Forget information that I want to remember
    27. Die

    What I really want to do is go back in time and prevent all suffering, inequality, injustice, and deaths and make all living things forever happy but I can't do it. I am doing things I don't want to do. I can't do what I want to do. So, how can I have free will?
  • What can I know with 100% certainty?
    Thank you for your question. I am 100% certain that I am conscious because I am experiencing being conscious. It's a fact that is undeniable to me. Although, I can't prove to others (if they really exist) that I am not a Philosophical Zombie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_zombie - if others really exist they can't prove to me that they are not philosophical zombies either.