Would you exit reality to live in a virtual world of happiness?

Ditto.

It has such a Quentin Tarintino feel to it.

Thanks set.

If no one's ever come out of the Happiness box... how do we really know what's happening?

Sounds like the premise for a Stephen King novel.

I thought you left reality behind a long time ago Dave.

I liked that song when it came out, but i had completely forgotten about until Djjd posted it in a thread a month or two ago. I thought it was a perfect fit here.

All (levels of) experience are real. Even mirages are real...real mirages.

All (levels of) experience are real. Even mirages are real...real mirages.

I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say here. Of course mirages are real, they're an atmospheric phenomenon. Are you trying to say that hallucinations are real, because a mirage is not an hallucination?

...maybe he just meant all phenomena are equally legitimate which I agree with...would that pose a bigger challenge to your mind ?

Thanks... all good links!

They're real halucinations.

That's right. Everything is what it is. Our problem is not to mistaken each phenomenon for something else. When we think that a hallucination is other than a hallucination it causes trouble. And when we try to swim in or drink from a water-mirage....well.

That's right. Everything is what it is. Our problem is not to mistaken each phenomenon for something else. When we think that a hallucination is other than a hallucination it causes trouble. And when we try to swim in or drink from a water-mirage....well.

That only occurs in films, a mirage is a reflection of what's over the horizon. You see them at sea and in the desert because of clear atmospheric conditions. I saw the mirage of Table Moutain when I sailed to Capetown. You see the mirage first, then the real thing.

I take that back. I said that when we think a hallucination is other than a hallucination it causes trouble. Of course that it is not so; it's our interpretation that causes trouble. That's why philosophy is important--the practice of interpretation.

The afterlife rewards of some religions are intelligently designed or theo-factured paradises, as opposed to the stochastic processes that produced the everyday world. So if you were a follower of one of those creeds, what the hell would be the difference? Since such a person would supposedly be eagerly anticipating that other brand of artificial happiness to begin with. The upside of a technological virtual reality is that the threat of being condemned to a hell would be removed, with the downside being eventual death of the original body (unless the Matrix magic could also remedy that).

I have not yet read this thread,
but I think that we do this when we attend the movies,
or read a novel.





David