Buy The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes on desertcart.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders Review: Not an easy read but VERY interesting - This book is mind bending and arguably has become one of my favorite books! I've marked up this book and even sent it to friends. It's not an *easy* read, but its phenomenal content if you are interested in cutting edge theoretical physics. Review: Perception and Reality - Many scholars, heretofore, have claimed that it is possible to get beyond ‘absolute reality’. Even the twentieth century author, Shirley Jackson, opined in the opening line of The Haunting of Hill House that, “no live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.” And it seems apparent that one must check all certainty of the ‘real’ at the door before venturing onward. Having just finished Donald Hoffman’s book, The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth From Our Eyes, I don’t say this lightly, but I feel I am forever changed. His thesis, concise and erudite as it was left me in a strange, albeit unfamiliar, place. Hoffman suggested that there is something going on just beyond our perceptions; that our genes have dismissed absolute reality as it poses no considerable threat to our survival. But did they throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water? Perhaps, but finding a testable hypothesis as to just what the ‘baby’ was in this case has been largely difficult. Many of the ancient Philosophers, Plato forward, had questioned the extent of perceivable reality, but none went as far as Hegel. The Phenomenology of Spirit, The Philosophy of History, and The Science of Logic are the three books that I’ve been trying to crack for the better part of ten years. I was interested to see how Hegel’s theory of the dialectic, that is, the Hegelian Dialectic, Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis, was first encountered, understood, and how he applied his theory in The Philosophy of History. I was not let down. My curiosity in this idea of absolute reality led me to studies like Hoffman’s and, of course, to art, such as The Matrix film series. In each case the idea that we are living in a simulation, or a matrix, is actually true. But it’s not just one matrix, it’s billions. Our perceptions are simulations within simulations. And Hoffman exposes this in countless ways. Hoffman argued that Hegel did not go far enough (and I now tend to agree with him.) What is reality, Hoffman postulated, but pixels on a screen that our minds create and then deliver familiar structures to our perception that we easily recognize to be either a spoon, or a tree. The reality is that there is no spoon; no tree. Our perceptions create these three-dimensional structures from whatever is there (the cosmic dust, so to say), we create these structures to familiarize them for our utility; akin to an app icon on your phone, obviously the ‘F’ for Facebook isn’t the true source of this app, it is rather, simply a tool to visualize the entirety of the app. It may at first seem obvious, but when considered at depth, the magic starts to unfold. The theory of ‘absolute reality’ is thinking in three-dimensional constructs and thinking structures. In many cases the mind does this for us automatically, but the question is how? If it is pure perception; pure intention, or just pure intuition, I am still unclear. But I am convinced that the source of our soul is our intuition, and it is our soul that interfaces with reality. This body, holding my soul, is the vessel for which my soul exists in this fleeting moment of material or physical reality. However, I also have a hunch that what the ancients took for wisdom, and the modernists discarded as mysticism, was closer to absolute reality. The ability to ‘feel’ and ‘know’ and therefore ‘trust’ nature as it exists in and around all of us may be the key to unlocking more about ourselves than we ever could through technology, AI, or venturing into the cosmos.
| Best Sellers Rank | #35,007 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #29 in Cognitive Neuroscience & Neuropsychology #54 in Medical Cognitive Psychology #120 in Cognitive Psychology (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (853) |
| Dimensions | 5.08 x 0.63 x 7.8 inches |
| ISBN-10 | 0141983418 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0141983417 |
| Item Weight | 7.6 ounces |
| Language | English |
| Print length | 250 pages |
| Publication date | August 20, 2020 |
| Publisher | Penguin |
K**R
Not an easy read but VERY interesting
This book is mind bending and arguably has become one of my favorite books! I've marked up this book and even sent it to friends. It's not an *easy* read, but its phenomenal content if you are interested in cutting edge theoretical physics.
S**T
Perception and Reality
Many scholars, heretofore, have claimed that it is possible to get beyond ‘absolute reality’. Even the twentieth century author, Shirley Jackson, opined in the opening line of The Haunting of Hill House that, “no live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.” And it seems apparent that one must check all certainty of the ‘real’ at the door before venturing onward. Having just finished Donald Hoffman’s book, The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth From Our Eyes, I don’t say this lightly, but I feel I am forever changed. His thesis, concise and erudite as it was left me in a strange, albeit unfamiliar, place. Hoffman suggested that there is something going on just beyond our perceptions; that our genes have dismissed absolute reality as it poses no considerable threat to our survival. But did they throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water? Perhaps, but finding a testable hypothesis as to just what the ‘baby’ was in this case has been largely difficult. Many of the ancient Philosophers, Plato forward, had questioned the extent of perceivable reality, but none went as far as Hegel. The Phenomenology of Spirit, The Philosophy of History, and The Science of Logic are the three books that I’ve been trying to crack for the better part of ten years. I was interested to see how Hegel’s theory of the dialectic, that is, the Hegelian Dialectic, Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis, was first encountered, understood, and how he applied his theory in The Philosophy of History. I was not let down. My curiosity in this idea of absolute reality led me to studies like Hoffman’s and, of course, to art, such as The Matrix film series. In each case the idea that we are living in a simulation, or a matrix, is actually true. But it’s not just one matrix, it’s billions. Our perceptions are simulations within simulations. And Hoffman exposes this in countless ways. Hoffman argued that Hegel did not go far enough (and I now tend to agree with him.) What is reality, Hoffman postulated, but pixels on a screen that our minds create and then deliver familiar structures to our perception that we easily recognize to be either a spoon, or a tree. The reality is that there is no spoon; no tree. Our perceptions create these three-dimensional structures from whatever is there (the cosmic dust, so to say), we create these structures to familiarize them for our utility; akin to an app icon on your phone, obviously the ‘F’ for Facebook isn’t the true source of this app, it is rather, simply a tool to visualize the entirety of the app. It may at first seem obvious, but when considered at depth, the magic starts to unfold. The theory of ‘absolute reality’ is thinking in three-dimensional constructs and thinking structures. In many cases the mind does this for us automatically, but the question is how? If it is pure perception; pure intention, or just pure intuition, I am still unclear. But I am convinced that the source of our soul is our intuition, and it is our soul that interfaces with reality. This body, holding my soul, is the vessel for which my soul exists in this fleeting moment of material or physical reality. However, I also have a hunch that what the ancients took for wisdom, and the modernists discarded as mysticism, was closer to absolute reality. The ability to ‘feel’ and ‘know’ and therefore ‘trust’ nature as it exists in and around all of us may be the key to unlocking more about ourselves than we ever could through technology, AI, or venturing into the cosmos.
L**E
Tiny font, really??
I haven’t actually read the book yet, and I’m hopeful that it will be interesting. I am, however, very annoyed that the font of the paperback I ordered is TINY! It’s ridiculous.
C**A
Love this book
Read it as an audiobook years ago after seeing Hoffman’s TED talk. Bought this paper copy later so I could take notes and use it to write my philosophy dissertation. Very intriguing ideas laid out clearly. Fun and engaging read, not too dense. Highly recommend
M**Z
Arrived well and on time
I haven't started the book but reviewing the packaging and the shipping it was great, it arrived when promised and was very well packaged. it is a soft cover. From the first look, I can also say that the letter is a bit small.
R**P
micro prnting sours a great book
Cntent of the book is facinating but the print is too small
N**R
Very Deep
Very Deep comcepts
F**.
A gift to my friend .
He was pleased to have such a book.
V**V
This book is far more than any expectations. Like a prescious jewel in the middle of a muddy pond hidden in plain sight. An eyeopening and mind bending experience. Shame that is only up to 5 stars ... This piece of art deserves more! Dr. Hoffman's work bring it to the next level!!!
J**Y
Beautifully stimulating, provocative and yet confirming.
S**I
The book arrived with the edges completely bent. I send it back and it arrived again in the same status
A**N
What you see is not what you get, and anyone looking for spiritual insight can learn this from this reality-shattering book.
L**S
Read this and cease to exist (at least as you thought you did)
Trustpilot
1 month ago
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