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Reality Is a Shared Hallucination—And It’s at Risk of Collapsing, Scientist Claims
(www.popularmechanics.com)
What a stupid headline for a 300-year-old idea
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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That headline is cringe to it's core, but that aside, who would possibly be an opponent of this concept? I thought it was just universally understood that our individual senses can lie to us and that collective reality with repeatable experimentation is our only source for basis in fact.
FFS as a species we've been recording this same conversation towards this same conclusion for thousands of years.
Nobody discovered fuck all with this assertion.
EDIT: I shouldn't have come on this strong, my apologies, it's perfectly fine to study and reiterate this work and it's good that they're tying it to modern historic examples.
Headline is so wrong that i have to downvote. Reality is NOT a shared hallucination. Reality is what it is regardless of our thoughts about it.
Unless it is a shared hallucination.
True, but the caveat is that we have no way of knowing what that reality looks like other than through our interpretation of it. We can't do anything about "true reality" because we have no way of proving anything about it without relying on said thoughts. Like for example, we really like the scientific method for "proving" reality, but it only works assuming that the "true reality" follows the same logical principles we adhere to. Is there really a cause-effect sense in "true reality" or is it just our biased interpretation that the universe follows natural logic rules?
That's like saying that there are facts and alternative facts.
No. It's like saying there is visible light and invisible light. Which is true, there's ultra violet and infra red, but you don't know that because you've seen it. Your can't see infra red, that is the point, your model of the world is based on words, not on 'reality'.
Just because we can't see it doesn't mean we can't observe it and characterize it. This line of thinking is so limited because it only considers our senses in how they're applied directly.
Is reality actually what we experience? Who knows. Does it matter? Not really, I'd argue. There are provable facts underlying the reality we experience which are true regardless of an individual or even a collective's perception of them. Gamma rays exist without you perceiving them. But they are provably true. Their effects can be measured. They can be observed. If they couldn't, then we would never know they exist and thus they'd in essence not exist for us. But would that matter?
Thank you. That was exactly what I tried to express, though I did focus on perception in my reply, I must admit.
Reality is reality. The Earth revolves around the sun, whether earthworms know it or not.
I can understand most of your point, but that last part is just weird. My model of the world is not based on words. It's based on observation and perception.
Good for you bro
Isn't this kind of what Kant said? For example that time is just how our mind is "ordering" everything.
We have thousands of years of works of philosophy discussing these exact ideas, but I would guess that some scientists don't focus too much on the humanities in their education.
Do I still have to go to work tomorrow?
PopMech has been too heavy on the pop side for too long. This is just Plato's cave all over again.
This is very obviously true in my hallucination of reality.
Yes our brains make "sense" of things. If you've taken Salvia you'll know this (i haven't).
I can only explain it as the 4th dimension. It’s weird to say the least. It’s okay but I got the gist of it after doing it a few times.
I have and it sucks ass. It's like a disassociative panic attack for ten minutes in plant form. I do not understand how people can even pretend it's anywhere near a competitor to weed.
I felt like my chair wanted to eat me, but I was okay with it
It's OK to be a little suicidal. Understandable, even, just accepting that warm ebrace...
So the simulation theory has a grain of truth to it? Just not in the way we thought?
Simulation Theory is that we all live in a simulation.
The above article just says each person simulates their own internal model of the world around them.
That's why I made sure to caveat it with a "grain a truth." Not saying it's exactly the same, only that it does share some similarities.
No they are two completely distinct theories which only both use the word simulate but in a completely different context. And one is not more true than the other because both are just philosophical ideas.
one is not more true than the other because both are just philosophical ideas.
I think I disagree. One is a basically untestable hypothesis, the other is pretty much the closest we can come to objective truth.
Reality is a rendering of the hivemind
If this is The Matrix, then MAGA is gonna be really upset. They don’t even know it.
Why? They'd just be like dipshit Cypher and murder to get back to their dumbass ignorance.
... no wait, they are like dipshit Cypher, no matrix required...
I was thinking of the trans allegory. They wouldn’t like to realize that is what is symbolizes.