Hello, nice to see you again! If you're interested in the philosophy in this chapter, try reading 'The Philosophy Files' by Stephen Law, or 'Taking the Red Pill: Science, Religion and Philosophy in the Matrix', which is by various different people. I have referenced many of the points made in both, so they're worth a look.
See 1st chapter for disclaimer.
"Which leads me on to the next question: how do we know what is real and what is not?"
Mr Ray surveyed us in silence for a few moments, while we thought about it and briefly gathered our answers.
Neither I nor my identical twin Hannah realised at the time the sheer irony that we should be discussing that topic on that particular day.
My hand was the first to go up.
"Yes, Sarah?"
"Well, you don't know really. And there isn't way of knowing. I guess you have to define 'real' first."
Mr Ray nodded.
"So this is what we must do first: define the word 'real'. Any suggestions?"
A girl at the back put her hand up.
"Well it's stuff that exists, isn't it? Stuff that's /there/ is real."
"So in order to know what's real, one has to know what is 'there'?" Summarised Mr Ray. The girl nodded assent. "And how do you know what is 'there'?"
"You see it and touch it and stuff. That's what your 5 senses are for."
Mr Ray smiled. He always does that before he poses a difficult question. I also smiled - at Hannah, who was sitting next to me: they were our favourite type.
"What happens when people aren't sure what they can sense?"
"How do you mean?"
Mr Ray cleared his throat and perched on the corner of his desk.
"Say a person takes a hallucinogenic drug, and imagines that they see a tree in front of them. They have forgotten that they took the drug, and so assume that everything they see is real. They can see this tree, and touch it, and when they step closer they can smell its flowers. They can hear the wind in the branches. They are absolutely positive that this tree is real. However, the effect of the drug begins to fade – and they see the tree before them starting to slowly disappear. Soon, it has completely vanished. Then they remember having taken the drug, and realise that, of course, the tree never really existed. It was just a hallucination. But suppose the effect of the drug never wore off? The tree would constantly /appear/ to exist. So, if the person /didn't remember taking the drug, how would they be able to tell whether the tree actually did exist or not?"
The classroom fell silent. Mr Ray was surveying us with satisfaction when Hannah put her hand up.
"That's the point, though, isn't it? There isn't actually any way of knowing what's real. Reality is just another set of beliefs. You have to /believe/ something is there in order for it to exist. People disagree all the time about what exists, like God, but we don't have any reliable way of determining who's right."
I nodded and continued.
"People used to believe that the world is flat. Now we believe it's spherical. But back then, the only way of finding out whether it was flat or not was by asking other people. Everyone said it was, so that was taken to be true. I suppose it goes as proof that asking other people is no way to tell what's real – like if you asked the person on drugs, they would have said that tree existed. You have to trust your own instincts, and your own senses. Your own reality."
Mr Ray chuckled.
"Unsettling thought, isn't it? Perhaps not the best note on which to end the class, but we in fact running a bit late, so you can pack up and go when you're ready."
Hannah and I flung our bags onto our shoulders, and made our way hurriedly to the door.
What do we have next? Hannah thought. I could hear her thinking in my head, as if she were speaking out loud. Just a twin thing, I guess.
ICT, I thought. And we'd better run 'cos we're meeting Red Queen. We're already late.
We usually spent our ICT lessons surfing the web and going on hacker circles instead of doing the work. It was much more interesting.
We paused in the classroom doorway.
"Bye, Mr Ray," said Hannah.
"See you tomorrow," I finished.
We never did.
