Is the world just what we make of it (IE - Solipsism) or is reality concrete and its just our perceptions that are skewed?

Discuss.

Well, take any physical object and place it on a table, have any 10 people examine it with whatever senses they want to use, then have them write down their experiences with the object, and chances are they'll be pretty damn similar, though with some variances. I'd say that qualifies for an objective reality, with perception being the key to difference.

but those ten people are just instances of subconcious (if you go with solipsism)... if you follow that tangent, they are slices of your psyche and, as such, WOULD have variance in description of something your Whole psyche created (namely, the apple).

Yet if that's the case, then this discussion is pointless. Since you and everyone else are simply portions of my own psyche, then I really have no need to interact with you. For that matter, I have no real reason to exist, because I'm alone, and not only alone, I'm going crackers because I'm talking to myself...

well there's no "going" about it... i AM crackers... am talking to myself.

but i can live with that... i just wish my subconcious would find someone nice for me. 8)

Heh. See, the problem I have with Solipsism is that it disqualifies anyone else's existence. On top of that, it leaves me with the problem of this: If everything and everyone outside is simply a projection of my own mind, so that people are simply slivers of my own conciousness, then why do I still have that little voice on the inside when I'm thinking. Why the dual mechanism?

why not...

plus, there's always multi-ego solipsism... and this world is the only thing we're able to come to agreement on (which is why pretty much everyone is unhappy and/or afraid).

That depends on wether you beleive in strong Vassit or weak solipsim

Strong Solipsism logically dictates that I am the only mind in th universe and you are all aspects of my clearly dearanged mind, Vassit Solispm claims we are all aspects of a single conciousness and Weak Solipsm claims we are all individual minds forcing the universe to exist according to colelctive understanding.

Neon

LOL hmm, this fits in with a book I am reading, a bio of Philip K Dick called "I am alive and you are dead"
fun stuff, reality and perceptions thereof

Alternatively, what if none of us was real? We could all be the results of some other being's mind.

This discussion seems familiar to me...anyone seen that Carpenter-movie "Dark Star"? The logical bomb?

Yep. Classic movie. The moral of the story: Never try to win a battle of logic with a machine.

No, wait...maybe it's: Never be dumb enough to build a bomb big with enough power to destroy a star and then give it the ability to blow itself up.

yeah... MINE.

Well, if I was simply a part of your own conciousness, not that I am, I'd have to admire you for your ability to create a damn fine persona...good looking, too.

Without a common frame of reference, we may never know.

i think we all have our very own world and everything that you interact with is just becomes part of it. The way you see and interact with objects just depends on a persons 'world'.

i dont believe this planet and its contents can be called fixed since there is no way to check what is the 'true' form. We came with a bunch of senses to manage in this world like eyesight, touch, etc... But other creatures dont have the same kind of sences. Cats see red and blue during day and black and white during night for example. for all we know these are the true collors of this world. we never know so i'll stick with my 'everyone has its own world' theory.

And Self thinks it gets even worse when you consider that WE are each the fragments of a BIGGER MIND force !

An yea Rouge drop your AT Feild and see who comes to play ? LOL !

if i see The Rei, i will absorb her, not fall into the disarray of LCL fluid...

It's fun to theorize, but when I really consider it in an honest manner, I know that I can never know for sure.
So despite my lack of understanding or capacity to ever understand, I move on and enjoy life. It's a gift regardless of the circumstance.

and sometime I would bargain away my ability to think and trade it for some moments of dumb happiness.

From a human point of view it's largely subjective...

The old classic, If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound if no one is there to hear it?

Of course it does not... A three dimensional compression wave will of course still propogate in the time domain, but sound is an observation... If a dog is in the forest, the compression wave will be interpreted as a dog sound, if a man is in the forest, it will be interpreted as the human sound that we know and love...

And sight is exactly the same... our eyes and minds interpret propogating light beams as colour and form... The truth is that solid objects are comprised for the most part of empty space...

Touch Smell and taste, are a response to stimuli which serve little purpose in terms of providing information about reality except to help us to avoid injury and unhealthy miasma...