Is Anything Real?

Summary

This script delves into the nature of knowledge and perception, exploring how our senses, though numerous and complex, are fallible. It challenges our understanding of reality through the lens of epistemology, the philosophy of knowledge, and introduces the concept of a priori knowledge. The script also touches on the biological basis of memory, long-term potentiation, and the vast storage capacity of the human brain. Finally, it ponders the philosophical questions of solipsism and realism, and whether we can ever truly know the objective reality beyond our perceptions.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Our senses, including more than the traditional five, are essential for understanding our surroundings but are not infallible, as demonstrated by optical and other sensory illusions.
• 👮‍♂️ Proprioception, or kinesthetic sense, is a key sense that allows us to know where our body parts are without visual or tactile input, similar to what's tested in a police sobriety test.
• 👅 The brain can be tricked by sensory input, as shown by the 'upside-down tongue' illusion, revealing the limitations of our sensory perceptions.
• 📚 Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge and how we can be justified in believing what we know to be true.
• 🔍 A priori knowledge refers to truths that can be known independently of experience, such as the definition of 'bachelor' being inherently unmarried.
• 🧬 Memories are not stored in single locations in the brain but are distributed across various neural networks, formed through complex relationships between neurons.
• 💡 Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a cellular mechanism believed to underlie memory formation, where repeated stimulation between neurons strengthens their connection over time.
• 🌐 The human brain's storage capacity is estimated to be equivalent to about 2.5 petabytes, which is an immense capacity for storing information.
• 🌌 The concept of realism posits that the external world exists independently of our perception, contrasting with solipsism, which suggests that only one's own mind is sure to exist.
• 🤔 The egocentric predicament highlights the challenge of proving the existence of an external world beyond our own mind, as all information is ultimately filtered through our senses.
• 🐱 Cats and humans share the trait of enjoying the exploration of mysteries, even if we can't fully understand or answer all questions, as exemplified by the keyboard example.

Q & A

How do our senses contribute to our understanding of where our fingers are?

Our senses, such as sight and touch, allow us to perceive the location of our fingers directly. Additionally, our kinesthetic sense or proprioception helps us understand the position of our body parts in relation to each other without needing to look or touch.

What is the kinesthetic sense or proprioception, and how does it relate to field sobriety tests?

Kinesthetic sense or proprioception is the body's ability to sense the position and movement of its parts. It is evaluated during field sobriety tests as it can indicate the level of control and awareness a person has over their body movements.

Why are our senses not always perfect, and what examples illustrate this?

Our senses are not perfect due to various illusions, such as optical, audio, temperature, and tactile illusions. An example given in the script is the illusion experienced when touching the outer edge of an upside-down tongue, which can feel the touch on the wrong side.

What is Epistemology, and how does it relate to the concept of knowledge?

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. It explores how we know things, what counts as knowledge, and the justifications for our beliefs.

What is an example of knowledge that we can have a priori, and why?

An example of a priori knowledge is the statement 'all bachelors are unmarried.' This is known to be true by reason alone, without needing empirical evidence, because it is a definitional truth based on the meaning of the words 'bachelor' and 'unmarried.'

What is the biological basis of memory in the brain, and how are memories formed?

Memories are not stored in single locations in the brain but are made up of complex relationships between many neurons. A major cellular mechanism underlying memory formation is long-term potentiation (LTP), where repeated stimulation between neurons enhances the signal over time, strengthening their connection.

What is the estimated storage capacity of the human brain, and how is it measured?

Paul Reber at Northwestern University estimated the human brain's storage capacity to be the digital equivalent of about 2.5 petabytes, which is roughly the amount of data that could be recorded by a TV channel continuously for 300 years.

What is the egocentric predicament, and why is it significant in discussions about the nature of reality?

The egocentric predicament refers to the philosophical problem that all knowledge about the external world is created inside one's brain, making it impossible to prove that anything else exists outside of one's own mind. This highlights the subjective nature of our perception and understanding of reality.

What is solipsism, and how does it contrast with realism?

Solipsism is the philosophical belief that only one's own mind is sure to exist, and everything else, including the external world, might be a figment of one's imagination. In contrast, realism is the belief that the external world exists independently of one's perception or experience.

How does the concept of the 'phaneron' relate to our understanding of reality?

The 'phaneron' is a term used by Charles Sanders Peirce to describe the world as filtered through our senses and bodies, which is the only information we can get. It contrasts with 'reality' as the way the universe truly is, independent of our perception.

What is the significance of exploring unanswered questions, and how does it relate to the human experience?

Exploring unanswered questions is significant because it represents our curiosity and quest for knowledge. It is a part of the human experience to seek understanding and engage with the mysteries of the universe, even if we cannot fully comprehend or answer every question.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Understanding Human Senses and Epistemology

The first paragraph explores the nature of human knowledge and the senses that contribute to it. It starts with a playful question about the awareness of one's fingers, leading to a discussion on the limitations and illusions of our senses, such as the kinesthetic sense and tactile illusions. The script delves into the philosophy of knowledge, known as Epistemology, referencing Plato's criteria for knowledge and the concept of 'a priori' knowledge. It also touches on the biological aspect of knowledge, discussing how memories are formed through the process of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the brain, emphasizing the complex network of neurons involved in memory storage.

05:01

🌌 The Human Brain's Memory Capacity and Reality

The second paragraph discusses the vast storage capacity of the human brain, estimated to be equivalent to 2.5 petabytes of digital information, which is likened to 300 years of continuous TV recording. It raises questions about the nature of reality and our ability to perceive it accurately, introducing the concept of the egocentric predicament and solipsism. The script contrasts these with realism, the belief in an objective reality independent of our perception. It also mentions the philosophical implications of these concepts, including the 'Matrix defense' used in a legal case, and touches on the views of Charles Sanders Peirce and Martin Gardner on the subject.

10:03

🐱 Cats, Curiosity, and the Pursuit of Knowledge

The final paragraph shifts the focus to the behavior of cats with keyboards as a metaphor for human curiosity and the pursuit of understanding the universe's mysteries. It suggests that while we may never fully comprehend all aspects of the universe, the exploration and questioning are inherently enjoyable and fulfilling. The script ends with an invitation to viewers to explore more unanswered questions through a series of videos on YouTube, highlighting the shared human endeavor of seeking knowledge.

Keywords

💡Epistemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. In the video, it is introduced to discuss how we come to know things and what justifies our beliefs. The script uses it to highlight the philosophical inquiry into the nature of truth and belief, emphasizing Plato's definition of knowledge as something that is true, believed, and justified.

💡Senses

Senses are the faculties by which the body perceives the external world, traditionally considered to be five: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. The video expands on this by mentioning kinesthetic sense and proprioception, which are crucial for understanding the body's position in space without visual or tactile input. The script points out the imperfections of our senses through illusions, emphasizing their limitations.

💡Proprioception

Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of one's own parts of the body and the strength of effort being employed in movement. The video uses the example of a field sobriety test to illustrate how this sense allows individuals to know where their body parts are in relation to each other without looking or touching.

💡Illusions

Illusions refer to sensory phenomena where the perception of a stimulus is different from the actual properties of the stimulus. The script mentions optical, audio, temperature sensation, and tactile illusions to demonstrate the fallibility of our senses and challenge the certainty of our perceptions.

💡A Priori Knowledge

A priori knowledge refers to knowledge that can be known independently of experience, through reason alone. The video provides the example of the statement 'all bachelors are unmarried' to illustrate this concept, explaining that such knowledge is derived from the definitions of words rather than empirical evidence.

💡Neurons

Neurons, also known as nerve cells, are the fundamental units of the nervous system, responsible for transmitting information. The script discusses how memories are thought to be formed through the complex relationships between neurons, particularly through a process called long-term potentiation (LTP).

💡Long-term Potentiation (LTP)

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a process thought to be a cellular mechanism underlying learning and memory. The video explains that LTP occurs when the signal between repeatedly stimulated neurons is enhanced over time, leading to a stronger connection that can last for a lifetime.

💡Memory Storage Capacity

Memory storage capacity refers to the brain's ability to retain information. The video provides an estimate by Paul Reber that the human brain can store the digital equivalent of about 2.5 petabytes of information, likening it to the capacity of recording a TV channel continuously for 300 years.

💡Egocentric Predicament

The egocentric predicament is the philosophical problem that one can only be certain of their own existence and experiences, not of an external reality. The script uses this concept to discuss the limitations of our knowledge and the impossibility of proving the existence of an external world beyond our perceptions.

💡Phaneron

Phaneron is a term coined by Charles Sanders Peirce to refer to the world as it is experienced through our senses and bodies. The video contrasts the phaneron with reality, suggesting that our experiences are filtered through our senses and may not represent the true nature of the universe.

💡Solipsism

Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist, and everything else, including the external world, might be a figment of one's imagination. The video mentions this concept to explore the extreme limits of subjective experience and the inability to prove the existence of an external reality.

💡Realism

Realism is the belief that an objective reality exists independently of our perceptions or experiences. The script contrasts realism with solipsism, suggesting that while we cannot prove realism to be true, it is a more convenient and healthy belief that allows us to interact with the world effectively.

Highlights

The question of how we know where our fingers are introduces the concept of human senses and their limitations.

Beyond the traditional five senses, humans possess additional senses like kinesthetic sense and proprioception.

Optical, audio, temperature, and tactile illusions demonstrate the fallibility of human senses.

The 'upside-down tongue' illusion illustrates the brain's lack of adaptation to atypical sensory input.

Epistemology, the study of knowledge, explores what we can know and how we justify our beliefs.

A priori knowledge, such as the definition of 'bachelor,' can be known without empirical evidence.

Memories are not stored in single brain locations but are distributed across various neural networks.

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a cellular mechanism that strengthens neural connections, forming memories.

Memories are physical manifestations in the brain, created by neurons firing together repeatedly.

The human brain's storage capacity is estimated to be equivalent to 2.5 petabytes of digital information.

The concept of reality and our perception of it is challenged by the egocentric predicament.

The phaneron represents the world as filtered through our senses, contrasting with objective reality.

Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist, questioning the reality of the external world.

The 'Matrix defense' was used in a legal case, highlighting the impact of philosophical beliefs on real-world situations.

Realism is the belief in an external world independent of one's perception, yet it cannot be proven.

Martin Gardner's perspective on realism emphasizes convenience and practicality over absolute proof.

The video concludes by encouraging viewers to explore unanswered questions for the joy of discovery, not necessarily for definitive answers.

Transcripts

Hey, Vsauce. Michael here. Where are your fingers?

Seriously. It's a pretty easy question. You should be able to answer it.

But how do you know? How does

anyone know anything? You might say, well, I know where my fingers are. I'm looking

right at them.

Or, I can touch them, I can feel them, they're right here and that's good.

Your senses are a great way to learn things.

In fact, we have way more than the usual five senses we talk about.

For instance, your kinesthetic sense, proprioception.

This is what the police evaluate during a field sobriety test.

It allows you to tell where your fingers and arms and head and legs in your body

is all in relation to each other

without having to look or touch other things.

We have way more than five senses, we have at least twice as many

and then some. But they're not perfect. There are optical illusions,

audio illusions,

temperature sensation illusions, even tactile

illusions. Can you turn your tongue upside down?

If so, perfect. Try this. Run your finger

along the outer edge of the tip of your upside down

tongue. Your tongue will be able to feel your finger, but in the wrong place.

Our brains never needed to develop an understanding

of upside down tongue touch. So, when you touch the right side of your tongue

when it's flipped over to your left side you perceive a sensation

on the opposite side, where your tongue usually is but isn't

when it's upside down. It's pretty freaky and cool

and a little humbling, because it shows the limits of the

accuracy of our senses, the only tools we have to get what's out there

in here. The philosophy of knowledge,

the study of knowing, is called Epistomology.

Plato famously said that the things we know

are things that are true, that we believe

and that we have justification for believing. those justifications might be

irrational

or they might be rational, they might be based on proof,

but don't get too confident because proven is not a synonym

for true. Luckily, there are things that we can know

without needing proof, without needing to even leave the house, things that we can

know as true

by reason alone. These are things that we know

a priori. An example would be the statement

"all bachelors are unmarried." I don't have to go survey

every bachelor on earth to know that that is true.

All bachelors are unmarried because that's how we define

the word bachelor. Of course, you have to know what the words

bachelor and unmarried mean in the first place.

Oh, you do? Okay. Perfect. That's great. But

how do you know? This time I mean

functionally, how do you know? Where is knowledge biologically

in the brain? What are memories made out of?

We are a long way from being able to answer that question completely

but research has shown that memories don't exist in the brain in single

locations. Instead, what we call

a memory is likely made up of many

different complex relationships all over the brain between lots of brain cells,

neurones. A major cellular mechanism thought to underlie the formation of

memories

is long-term potentiation or

LTP. When one neurone stimulates another neurone

repeatedly that signal can be enhanced overtime

LTP, wiring them more strongly together

and that connection can last a long time, even

an entire lifetime. A collection of different brain cells,

neurones that fire together in a particular order

over and over again frequently and repeatedly

can achieve long-term potentiation, becoming

more sensitive to each other and more ready to fire in the exact same way

later on in the future. They're a physical thing

in your brain, firing together more easily

because you strengthen that pattern of firing.

You memorized. This branching forest of firing friends

looks messy, but look closer. It could be the memory

of your first kiss. A living souvenir

of the event. If I were to go into your brain and cut out

those cells, could I make you forget your first kiss

or could I make you forget where your fingers are?

Only if I cut out a lot of your brain.

Because memories aren't just stored in one relationship, they're stored

all over the brain. The events leading up to your first kiss are stored in one

network,

the way it felt to the way it smelled in different networks, all added up together

making what you call the memory of your first kiss.

How many memories can you fit

inside your head? What is the storage capacity

of the human brain? The best we can do is a rough

estimate, but given the number of neurons in the brain involved with

memory

and the number of different connections a single neurone can make

Paul Reber at Northwestern University estimated

that we can store the digital equivalent of about 2.5

petabytes of information. That's the equivalent of recording a TV channel

continuously for 300 years.

That's a lot of information. That is a lot of information about

skills you can do and facts and people you've met,

things in the real world.

The world is real, right?

How do you know? It's a difficult question,

but it's not rocket science. Instead, it is

asking whether or not rocket scientists even exist in the first place.

The theory that the Sun moved around the earth

worked great. It predicted that the Sun would rise every morning

and it did. It wasn't until later that we realized what we thought was true

might not be. So, do we

or will we ever know true reality

or are we stuck in a world where the best we can do is be

approximately true? Discovering more and more useful theories every day but never

actually reaching

true objective actual reality.

Can science or reason ever prove convincingly

that your friends and YouTube videos and your fingers

actually exist beyond your mind? That you don't just live

in the matrix?

No. Your mind is all that you have,

even if you use instruments, like a telescope

or particle accelerators. The final stop

for all of that information is ultimately

you. You are alone in your own brain,

which technically makes it impossible to prove that

anything else exists. It's called

the egocentric predicament. Everything you know

about the world out there depends on

and is created inside your brain.

This mattered so much to Charles Sanders Peirce that he drew a line

between reality, the way the universe truly is,

and what he called the phaneron, the world as filtered through our senses

and bodies, the only information we can get.

If you want to speak with certainty you live in,

that is you react to and remember and experience your

phaneron, not reality.

The belief that only you exist

and everything else, food, the universe, your friends are all

figments of your mind is called solipsism.

There is no way to convince

a solipsist that the outside world

is real. And there is no way to convince someone who

doubts that the universe wasn't created just three seconds ago

along with all of our memories. It's a frightening realization

that we don't always know how to deal with. There's even

The Matrix defense. In 2002

Tonda Lynn Ansley shot and killed her landlady.

She argued that she believed she was in the matrix, that her crimes

weren't real. By using the matrix defense

she was found not guilty

by reason of insanity, because the opposite view is just way more healthy

and common.

It's called realism. Realism is the belief that the

outside world exists independently of your own

phaneron. Rocks and stars and Thora Birch

would continue to exist even if you weren't around

to experience them. But you cannot

know realism is true. All you can do

is believe. Martin Gardner, a great source for math magic tricks,

explained that he is not a solipsist because realism is just way more

convenient

and healthy and it works.

As to whether it bothered him that he could never know realism was true,

he wrote "if you ask me to tell you anything about the nature of what lies

beyond the phaneron,

my answer is how should I know? I'm not dismayed by ultimate mysteries,

I can no more grasp what is behind such questions

as my cat can understand what is behind the clatter i make

while I type this paragraph." Humble stuff.

What strikes me

is the cat. Cats do not understand keyboards,

but they know the keyboards are a fun place to be.

It's a great way to get the attention of a human, they're warm

and exciting, surrounded by noises and flashing lights plus

cats love to get their scent on whatever they can,

a mark of their existence.

We aren't that much different, except instead of keyboards

we have the mysteries of the universe.

We will never be able to understand all of them. We won't be able to ever answer

every single question,

but walking around in those questions, exploring them,

is fun. It feels good.

And as always,

thanks for watching.

Do you want more unanswered questions? Well, you're in luck.

Today, nine other amazing channels on YouTube have made videos

about questions we still haven't fully answered.

Alltime10s has organized them and to watch them all

click the annotation at the end of this video or the link

at the top of the description. Enjoy.