World we see is make-believe

THE human brain creates its own version of reality, and the world we see around us is mostly make-believe, according to a top British scientist.

Professor Bruce Hood will explore the limits of the human mind in a series of prestigious lectures for the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the oldest independent research body in the world, it was announced yesterday.

The psychologist plans to induce false memories in audience members and use pickpockets to demonstrate how easily people are distracted, in a bid to prove how we have less control over our own decisions and perceptions than we like to imagine.

"A lot of the world is make-believe. We're only aware of a fraction of what's going on," Hood told The (London) Times. "We have this impression of an expansive panorama in front of our eyes, but all we are ever seeing is an area the size of our thumbs at an arm's distance. The rest is filled in, as the brain creates a stable environment."

He added, "Though you might think you're an individual and captain of your ship, a lot of processes are being controlled by those around you and your environment."

Hood will head the talks for the Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures, which were started in 1825 by Michael Faraday and have been held every year since then, except for a break during World War II.

"One thing I guarantee is that I will leave the audience wondering if they can ever trust their brain again," he said.

(Source)

A short article on the views of Professor Hood in regards to the Brain and its limited interpretation of Reality. I thought his views were rather interesting. What do other ATS members think?

If the world we see is "make-believe" why is it that i can see what you wrote and reply to it

So: it's possible to trick people, especially if they agree to special conditions, and there are a lot of unconscious factors involved in human behavior.

Yawn.

reply to post by Dark Ghost


Very interesting...and it makes sense. Makes me feel better about this ugly world we are in, ah, yes...just perception. phew. (: Thanks for an interesting perspective. I will try to think on this more/hard to wrap one's brain (no pun) around.

very true we see what we want, not to be confused with Solipsism.

reply to post by NewlyAwakened


I was more excited by the idea that what we claim to see is only a small proportion of what is actually there to be interpreted by our brains.

"We have this impression of an expansive panorama in front of our eyes, but all we are ever seeing is an area the size of our thumbs at an arm's distance. The rest is filled in, as the brain creates a stable environment."

and

"Though you might think you're an individual and captain of your ship, a lot of processes are being controlled by those around you and your environment."

Originally posted by Dark Ghost
I was more excited by the idea that what we claim to see is only a small proportion of what is actually there to be interpreted by our brains.

"We have this impression of an expansive panorama in front of our eyes, but all we are ever seeing is an area the size of our thumbs at an arm's distance. The rest is filled in, as the brain creates a stable environment."

and

"Though you might think you're an individual and captain of your ship, a lot of processes are being controlled by those around you and your environment."

Of course. There's only so much you can actually point-focus on. The rest has to be extrapolated to a greater or lesser degree. But you can still focus on anything.

As for being influenced by the environment, well, "No man is an island." But a man is a man. He can influence back.

I think the big point of the article is, people aren't all-powerful. We have real, concrete, measurable limitations. This may come as a shock to the "We can manifest everything we want with only our minds!" megalomania we see a lot of here, and make us seem comparatively impotent by comparison, but we are not impotent until we are dead.

I never trusted my brain or senses to begin with. I can't really disagree with anything in the article.

I get it, sort of like in the movie "Source Code" when the dude is in the machine torn half to bits, his mind just perceived him perfectly fine in a capsule. Right? If that's the case, where are we really? MIND #!

In all seriousness what this guy is saying makes some sense to me.

reply to post by vjr1113


thats a terrible video.
if you didnt see the gorilla your mentally retarded.

Originally posted by vjr1113

very true we see what we want, not to be confused with Solipsism.

13, 13 passes.

"Correct answer was 15."

Damn

"But did you see the gorilla?"

Of course I saw the damn gorilla. How do you think I lost track

Nonsense. The world is exactly as it is. You cannot alter it simply with your mind.

reply to post by 9Nania
Perhaps not, but you can alter the way your perceive it.

Originally posted by Balkan
reply to post by 9Nania

 

Perhaps not, but you can alter the way your perceive it.

True. With the proper knowledge, one sees the world as corrupt and violent. Well, at least, that's how one sees its leaders. The people are nice, their highers -- not so much. With inadequate knowledge, the world is perceived as composed of marshmallows and strawberry shortcakes.

How soon we forget. Anyone still remember the obscure little film called the "Matrix" ?

Reality is and always has been an illusion. An energy field that reacts to the energy fields of each and every human on this planet, specifically tailored to how we "plug" into it. Therefore, we may see the "same" thing, experience very similar things...but it will not appear exactly the same to each of us, and yet close enough that the differences, for most people, will be minutely selective.

thanks for sharing the info about this scientist and some of the "tests" he is planning...as for the "invisible" gorilla...most people would be concentrating on how many passes of the basket ball from white shirt to white shirt, because they followed the given instruction, that their brain would not pick up the oddity. Once you knew the gorilla was there, a change would take place, and you would then see the gorilla just like every body else.

Solipsism is interesting to me since it reminds me of religion, death, quantum mechanics, etc.

It's not falsifiable just like god, though. We can't know for sure what all of this means.

Here's a thought I had earlier...

1) Earth is center of all things
2) Sun is center of all things
3) Galaxy is center of all things
4) Universe is center of all things
5) Multi-verse is center of all things

Interesting trend... We keep discovering that we're revolving around something else.

Are you telling me it stops now? For millions of years nothing will change? It was over 1800 years or more (much more?) between (1) and (2). It was only hundreds of years to (3). In less than 200 years after that we know about other galaxies. Now we're playing with the idea of universes that touch this one and looking for sings that we've touched them. We're also toying with the idea that this universe is much bigger and trying to figure out how far it goes. One article I saw said that the galaxies at the edge of our observation are being tugged towards something a thousand times or more further out beyond the observable universe.

But seriously, sometimes I wonder if synchronicity and fractal patterns are indications that this reality is at least in part created from smaller bits of itself. The fact that most things are composed of empty space and that matter only makes up a small portion of the universe is also interesting.

If this universe was created from your own mind, how would you know? And what would the purpose be? There's no real answer. It could be anything. But the indication is that whatever I come from is somehow part of a larger universe than this one.

Could it be a combination of everything? Is reality whatever we collectively think it's?

reply to post by Dark Ghost


Star and flag for an interesting thread. I'm a relatively "down to earth" kind of guy. But more and more, things have just felt strange. I can't really explain it, and I doubt it would make sense if I could. So I'll forgo that and hope that "strange feeling" is adequate.

But I've grown more and more interested in the idea that we're living in a matrix/hologram/fantasy as of late, well over the last year at least. I've had a very interesting life, I've lived in many countries, done plenty of things, all within 29 short years.

When I started this post, I had an idea of where I was going but quickly lost my train of thought. I guess I'm too tired to really sit down and purvey my thoughts coherently. I apologize. But let me at least add something to this thread which may add to the theory that we're living in a "make believe world".

When I was a little boy, under four years old, I was sitting in a little park by a small playground by myself. My mother had to run back home (which was a hop and a skip away) for a minute leaving me to my own devices. Beside the bench I was sitting on, there was a toilette plunger. Being a kid, I didn't really know what it was. But I picked it up, sat back down on the bench and pretended it was a car's steering wheel.

Well, this is where it happened. Something I'll remember 25 years later. All of a sudden, I was sitting in a 20's automobile (you know the kind where you could "open" the front window?). There were no doors, and to the right of me I saw a lovely cobblestone street and sidewalk with a ton of old 18th century buildings behind me. Looked to be like some kind of shopping district. I was driving by, I could even hear the pitter-patter of the old engine. But there she was, a beautiful woman dressed in a white, long flowing dress with a white umbrella. She turned to look at me and she smiled. I smiled in return and continued on my way.

This is where my mother interrupted me and I was shocked. My mother saw me visibly shaken and asked me what I was doing. I explained to her in detail and she found it interesting as any parent would to their child's imaginative play.

But it was so real, down to the little dust spots on the window, to the dark colored interior of the car, to the cobble stones I was driving on.

Of course, this is one of at least three other "experiences" I've had throughout my life. You can go ahead and chalk it up to the fact that I was a child and this might have been nothing more then my over-active imagination. But we didn't have a TV and movies/television shows weren't interesting to me. It wasn't before I was six before I found out the joys of He-Man, Thundercats etc.

You be the judge, this isn't what I wanted to say but it's the only thing I could write while maintaining some form of coherency.

Originally posted by mattrat
reply to post by vjr1113

 

thats a terrible video.
if you didnt see the gorilla your mentally retarded.

Can't count the passes -- too noisy. But the gorilla...wtf? Too much incongruency with that. But, there was something else. Know what it is?

Edit: another user already addressed the post better than I did.

Originally posted by ProphecyPhD
If the world we see is "make-believe" why is it that i can see what you wrote and reply to it

Looks like you, my friend are caught in the Matrix....The "world" you see is a 3d hologram.. there is more to life rather than a 3d existance,, WAKE UP.. "In Lakesh"