Reality Really Is An Illusion!

[kryonlight]

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
— Albert Einstein

"Time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live."
— Albert Einstein

"Optical illusion is optical truth."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Constraints of Perception and Cognition in Relativistic Physics

Cognitive neuroscience treats space and time as our brain’s representation of our sensory inputs. In this view, our perceptual reality is only a distant and convenient mapping of the physical processes causing the sensory inputs. Sound is a mapping of auditory inputs, and space is a representation of visual inputs. Any limitation in the chain of sensing has a specific manifestation on the cognitive representation that is our reality. One physical limitation of our visual sensing is the finite speed of light, which manifests itself as a basic property of our space-time. In this article, we look at the consequences of the limited speed of our perception, namely the speed of light, and show that they are remarkably similar to the coordinate transformation in special relativity. From this observation, and inspired by the notion that space is merely a cognitive model created out of light inputs, we examine the implications of treating the special theory of relativity as a formalism for describing the perceptual effects due to the finite speed of light. Using this framework, we show that we can unify and explain a wide array of seemingly unrelated astrophysical and cosmological phenomena. Once we identify the manifestations of the limitations in our perception and cognitive representation, we can understand the consequent constraints on our space and time, leading to a new understanding of astrophysics and cosmology.

[kryonlight]

INTRODUCTION

Our reality is a mental picture that our brain creates,
starting from our sensory inputs [1]. Although this cog-
nitive map is often mistaken to be a faithful image of the
physical causes behind the sensing process, the causes them-
selves are entirely different from the perceptual experience
of sensing. The difference between the cognitive represen-
tation and their physical causes is not immediately obvious
when we consider our primary sense of sight. But we can
appreciate the difference by looking at the olfactory and au-
ditory senses because we can use our cognitive model based
on sight in order to understand the workings of the “lesser”
senses. Odors, which may appear to be a property of the
air we breathe, are in fact our brain’s representation of the
chemical signatures that our nose senses. Similarly, sound
is not an intrinsic property of a vibrating body, but our
brain’s mechanism to represent the pressure waves in the
air. Table I shows the chain from the physical cause of the
sensory input to the final reality as the brain creates it. Al-
though the physical causes can be identified for the olfactory
and auditory chains, they are not easily discerned for visual
process. Since sight is the most powerful sense we possess,
we are obliged to accept our brain’s representation of visual
inputs as the fundamental reality.

While our visual reality provides an excellent framework
for physical sciences, it is important to realize that the real-
ity itself is a model with potential physical or physiological
limitations and distortions. The tight integration between
the physiology of perception and its representation in the
brain was proven recently [2] in a clever experiment using
the tactile funneling illusion. This illusion results in a single
tactile sensation at the focal point at the center of a stimulus
pattern even though no stimulation is applied at that site.
In the experiment, the brain activation region corresponded
to the focal point where the sensation was perceived rather
than the points where the stimuli were applied, proving that
brain registered perceptions, not the physical causes of the
perceived reality. In other words, for the brain, there is
no difference between applying the pattern of the stimuli
and applying only one stimulus at the center of the pattern.
Brain maps the sensory inputs to regions that correspond
to their perception, rather than the regions that physiolog-
ically correspond to the sensory stimuli.

The neurological localization of different aspects of reality
has been established by lesion studies in neuroscience. The
perception of motion (and the consequent basis of our sense
of time), for instance, is so localized that a tiny lesion can
erase it completely. Cases of patients with such specific loss
of a part of reality [1] illustrate the fact that our experience
of reality, every aspect of it, is indeed a creation of the brain.
Space and time are aspects of the cognitive representation
in our brain.

Space is a perceptual experience much like sound. Com-
parisons between the auditory and visual modes of sensing
can be useful in understanding the limitations of their repre-
sentations in the brain. One limitation is the input ranges of
the sensory organs. Ears are sensitive in the frequency range
20Hz–20kHz, and eyes are limited to the visible spectrum.
Another limitation, which may exist in specific individuals,
is an inadequate representation of the inputs. Such a lim-
itation can lead to tone-deafness and color-blindness, for
instance. The speed of the sense modality also introduces
an effect, such as the time lag between seeing an event and
hearing the corresponding sound. For visual perception, the
consequence of the finite speed of light is called the light
travel time (LTT) effect, which offers a convincing explana-
tion to the observed superluminal motion in certain celestial
objects [3, 4]. When an object approaches the observer at
a shallow angle, it may appear to move much faster than
reality [5] due to LTT.

Other consequences of the light travel time (LTT) effects
in our perception are remarkably similar to the coordinate
transformation of the special theory of relativity (SRT).
These consequences include an apparent contraction of a
receding object along its direction of motion and a time di-
lation effect. Furthermore, a receding object can never ap-
pear to be going faster than the speed of light, even if its real
speed is superluminal. While SRT does not explicitly forbid
it, superluminality is understood to lead to time travel and
the consequent violations of causality. An apparent viola-
tion of causality is one of the consequences of LTT, when the
superluminal object is approaching the observer. All these
LTT effects are remarkably similar to effects predicted by
SRT, and are currently taken as ’confirmation’ that space-
time obeys SRT. But instead, space-time may have a deeper
structure that, when filtered through LTT effects, results in
our perception that space-time obeys SRT.

Once we accept the neuroscience view of reality as a rep-
resentation of our sensory inputs, we can understand why
the speed of light figures so prominently in our physical
theories. The theories of physics are a description of real-
ity. Reality is created out of the readings from our senses,
especially our eyes. They work at the speed of light. Thus
the sanctity accorded to the speed of light is a feature only
of our reality, not the absolute, ultimate reality that our
senses are striving to perceive. When it comes to physics
that describes phenomena well beyond our sensory ranges,
we really have to take into account the role that our per-
ception and cognition play in seeing them. The universe
as we see it is only a cognitive model created out of the
photons falling on our retina or on the photo-sensors of the
Hubble telescope. Because of the finite speed of the infor-
mation carrier (namely photons), our perception is distorted
in such a way as to give us the impression that space and
time obey special relativity. They do, but space and time
are not the absolute reality. “Space and time are modes by
which we think and not conditions in which we live,” as Ein-
stein himself put it. Treating our perceived reality as our
brain’s representation of our visual inputs (filtered through
the LTT effect), we will see that all the strange effects of
the coordinate transformation in special relativity can be
understood as the manifestations of the finite speed of our
senses in our space and time.
Furthermore, we will show that this line of thinking leads
to natural explanations for two classes of astrophysical phe-
nomena:

Gamma Ray Bursts, which are very brief, but intense
flashes of γ rays, currently believed to emanate from
cataclysmic stellar collapses, and

Radio Sources, which are typically symmetric and seem
associated with galactic cores, currently considered
manifestations of space-time singularities or neutron
stars.

These two astrophysical phenomena appear distinct and un-
related, but they can be unified and explained using LTT
effects.

This article presents such a unified quantitative
model. It will also show that the cognitive limitations to re-
ality due to LTT effects can provide qualitative explanations
for such cosmological features as the apparent expansion of
the universe and the Cosmic Microwave Background Radia-
tion (CMBR). Both these phenomena can be understood as
related to our perception of superluminal objects. It is the
unification of these seemingly distinct phenomena at vastly
different length and time scales, along with its conceptual
simplicity, that we hold as the indicators of validity of this
framework.

[kryonlight]

CONCLUSIONS

In this article, we started with an insight from cognitive
neuroscience about the nature of reality. Reality is a conve-
nient representation that our brain creates out of our sen-
sory inputs. This representation, though convenient, is an
incredibly distant experiential mapping of the actual phys-
ical causes that make up the inputs to our senses. Fur-
thermore, limitations in the chain of sensing and perception
map to measurable and predictable manifestations to the re-
ality we perceive. One such fundamental constraint to our
perceived reality is the speed of light, and the correspond-
ing manifestations are generally termed the light travel time
(LTT) effects. Because space and time are a part of a reality
created out of light inputs to our eyes, some of their proper-
ties are manifestations of LTT effects, especially on our per-
ception of motion. The absolute, physical reality generating
the light inputs does not obey the properties we ascribe to
our perceived space and time. We showed that LTT ef-
fects are qualitatively identical to those of SRT, noting that
SRT only considers frames of reference receding from each
other. This similarity is not surprising because the coordi-
nate transformation in SRT is derived based partly on LTT
effects, and partly on the assumption that light travels at
the same speed with respect to all inertial frames. In treat-
ing it as a manifestation of LTT, we did not address the
primary motivation of SRT, which is a covariant formula-
tion of Maxwell’s equations, as evidenced by the opening
statements of Einstein’s original paper [6]. It may be pos-
sible to disentangle the covariance of electrodynamics from
the coordinate transformation, although it is not attempted
in this article.

Unlike SRT, LTT effects are asymmetric. This asymme-
try provides a resolution to the twin paradox and an in-
terpretation of the assumed causality violations associated
with superluminality. Furthermore, the perception of su-
perluminality is modulated by LTT effects, and explains γ
ray bursts and symmetric jets. As we showed in the article,
perception of superluminal motion also holds an explana-
tion for cosmological phenomena like the expansion of the
universe and cosmic microwave background radiation. LTT
effects should be considered as a fundamental constraint in
our perception, and consequently in physics, rather than
as a convenient explanation for isolated phenomena. Given
that our perception is filtered through LTT effects, we have
to deconvolute them from our perceived reality in order to
understand the nature of the absolute, physical reality. This
deconvolution, however, results in multiple solutions. Thus,
the absolute, physical reality is beyond our grasp, and any
assumed properties of the absolute reality can only be vali-
dated through how well the resultant perceived reality agrees
with our observations. In this article, we assumed that the
absolute reality obeys our intuitively obvious classical me-
chanics and asked the question how such a reality would be
perceived when filtered through light travel time effects. We
demonstrated that this particular treatment could explain
certain astrophysical and cosmological phenomena that we
observe. The distinction between the different notions of
velocity, including the proper velocity and the Einsteinian
velocity, was the subject matter of a recent article [33] in
this journal.

The coordinate transformation in SRT should be viewed
as a redefinition of space and time (or, more generally, real-
ity) in order to accommodate the distortions in our percep-
tion of motion due to light travel time effects. The absolute
reality behind our perception is not subject to restrictions
of SRT. One may be tempted to argue that SRT applies to
the “real” space and time, not our perception. This line of
argument begs the question, what is real? Reality is noth-
ing but a cognitive model created in our brain starting from
our sensory inputs, visual inputs being the most significant.
Space itself is a part of this cognitive model. The properties
of space are a mapping of the constraints of our perception.
We have no access to a reality beyond our perception. The
choice of accepting our perception as a true image of re-
ality and redefining space and time as described in special
relativity indeed amounts to a philosophical choice. The al-
ternative presented in the article is prompted by the view in
modern neuroscience that reality is a cognitive model in the
brain based on our sensory inputs. Adopting this alternative
reduces us to guessing the nature of the absolute reality and
comparing its predicted projection to our real perception. It
may simplify and elucidate some theories in physics and ex-
plain some puzzling phenomena in our universe. However,
this option is yet another philosophical stance against the
unknowable absolute reality.

[kryonlight]

What The Buddha Said

[When this was said, the Blessed One responded:] "I tell you, friend, that it is not possible by traveling to know or see or reach a far end of the cosmos where one does not take birth, age, die, pass away, or reappear. But at the same time, I tell you that there is no making an end of suffering & stress without reaching the end of the cosmos. Yet it is just within this fathom-long body, with its perception & intellect, that I declare that there is the cosmos, the origination of the cosmos, the cessation of the cosmos, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the cosmos."

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit....045.than.html

[chorut]

Very much it.

[Dreamer1]

We are all Spiritual beings living in and passing through the various Spiritual dimensions of reality.
Death is an illusion. Death is merely the process of passing into higher spheres of learning and mastery, and then returning to the denser ones until the lessons there are learned and mastered. Once the lessons are fully learned, we are forever free from that dimension and ascend to the next higher one, continuing all the way up to God.

[drifter]

We are all Spiritual beings living in and passing through the various Spiritual dimensions of reality.
Death is an illusion. Death is merely the process of passing into higher spheres of learning and mastery, and then returning to the denser ones until the lessons there are learned and mastered. Once the lessons are fully learned, we are forever free from that dimension and ascend to the next higher one, continuing all the way up to God.

your nick explain your delusion

[drifter]

reality really Is an illusion ? whahaahhahaha . like all religious nuts ,they are trying to brainwash ppl not to think so hard

[zeebjii]

Your money and all your possessions are also an illusion. If you want to walk the talk, I'll PM my bank account number to you. Im not greeady. Money is good enough for me. You can keep your illusionary posessions. But if your wife or girlfriend is chio, im willing to take too!

[drifter]

Your money and all your possessions are also an illusion. If you want to walk the talk, I'll PM my bank account number to you. Im not greeady. Money is good enough for me. You can keep your illusionary posessions. But if your wife or girlfriend is chio, im willing to take too!

how can my money and my possession are illusion ? i can see and touch my money , my house ..ect . if my money are illusion why would you want it ? . do you think i will give you my money and wife ? you are delusion

[kryonlight]

Your money and all your possessions are also an illusion. If you want to walk the talk, I'll PM my bank account number to you. Im not greeady. Money is good enough for me. You can keep your illusionary posessions. But if your wife or girlfriend is chio, im willing to take too!

That's not the point I am addressing.

I am saying that the 'cosmos' is a phenomenon that can only be said to occur within this body of ours with its senses, perception and intellect. This internal 'cosmos' is not the same as the unknowable absolute cosmos 'out there'.

The illusion is to mistake this internal 'cosmos' for that unknowable absolute cosmos 'out there'.

Your comprehension ability is as horrible as that of drifter's. Can I call both of you anti-religious nuts?

[chorut]

The better comprehension is not "illusion", but more of "perception", limited by the visible electromagnetic spectrum we know as visible light, which is itself limited by Einstein's special relativity which stipulates the speed of light as a c:constant. The article tries to stretch imagination by postulating that if the constancy of the speed of light is removed from the equation, then our perception of the universe will be very different, and then it went a bit further to conclude that henceforth, all we perceive is an illusion. However, it will quickly descend into circular argument once we use the word "illusion", as we will have to contend with the paradox of "box within a box within a box within a box...". In a nutshell, we will be hit by the tricky argument of "what makes you think your illusion is not an illusion is not an illusion is not an illusion is not an illusion, and so on and so forth". Hope this explains the paradox of perception, which is better explained using quantum physics instead of Einstein's special relativity.

[drifter]

That's not the point I am addressing.

I am saying that the 'cosmos' is a phenomenon that can only be said to occur within this body of ours with its senses, perception and intellect. This internal 'cosmos' is not the same as the unknowable absolute cosmos 'out there'.

The illusion is to mistake this internal 'cosmos' for that unknowable absolute cosmos 'out there'.

Your comprehension ability is as horrible as that of drifter's. Can I call both of you anti-religious nuts?

" I am saying that the 'cosmos' is a phenomenon that can only be said to occur within this body of ours with its senses, perception and intellect. This internal 'cosmos' is not the same as the unknowable absolute cosmos 'out there'.

The illusion is to mistake this internal 'cosmos' for that unknowable absolute cosmos 'out there'.

whats your point ? are you trying to use science to explain god or your religion ?

[drifter]

Your money and all your possessions are also an illusion. If you want to walk the talk, I'll PM my bank account number to you. Im not greeady. Money is good enough for me. You can keep your illusionary posessions. But if your wife or girlfriend is chio, im willing to take too!

he have not wake up ...this forum need ppl like you to debunk his delusion