Why is it easy to understand that perception is (part of) reality? We perceive, thus perception is as real as daffodils. It is also easy to understand that (parts of) reality act on (parts of) reality. It follows that perception acts on (other parts of) reality. This simple logical conclusion runs parallel to the well-known (but unaccepted) proposition that perception is reality. If the thermometer reads 30 degrees Celsius, you might still perceive (feel) that you are cold. Your perception has no objective measurement that you can rely on. Still, it is not subjective, as we shall see later.

Quantum perception

Quantum theory (concept), as an explanation of quantum reality, and relativity (concept), as an explanation of space-time reality, enabled scientists to understand what had previously been inconceivable (irrational) as rational. We now know that perception (observation) at the smallest size of the photon changes what is observed. Perception changes reality.

Even ancient philosophers like Protagoras and Plato predicted this now scientifically proven truth. Since quantum effects could not be explained scientifically until recent times, they were often understood as irrational. Nowadays, such quantum effects are made rational by expressing them in mathematical terms.

Limitations of perception

Humans are only capable of developing phenotypes (embodiment in AI terminology) and extended phenotypes (artifacts) within perceived reality (rationality). We cannot develop artifacts smaller or larger than our perception allows. With extended perception (towards quantum on one side and space-time on the other), we extend the reality in which we can form extended phenotypes.

Should today’s scientific theories become testable across more than four standard dimensions and the results repeatable, we will develop extended phenotypes in 10+ dimensions in the future. Just as it was irrational for Aristotle to claim that it is possible to evolve extended phenotypes at the level of cell sizes, we claim that 10+ dimensional objects are possible.

Therefore, we should understand that space-time is already an objective reality, even if it cannot be fully mapped. Just as the human eye cannot see the light spectrum beyond ultraviolet (we cannot make an ultraviolet image), we can represent UV using means other than images. We have evolved extended phenotypes that represent UV to us, even though we cannot see it.

Reality is perception

It follows that perception has a locality. It has a form, just as the electron has a form. Perception has physical objectivity and is not just a vague psychological concept. It follows that perception is reality, just as reality is perception. Reality is nothing other than perception. Understood from this point of view, it is clear that perception is not subjective. When we say that perception is reality, we are not asserting that anything is possible, as we say that we can go this way or that way. Our perception is co-determined. So, to say that reality is perception decouples perception from subjectivity and relativism.

To illustrate this, consider the case of temperature perception. If one person perceives cold and another perceives heat in the same environment, it does not mean that one is right and the other is wrong. It just means that one (with their perception) is creating a different reality than the other. They are co-creating two different realities that exist in the same time and space. That science cannot grasp these two realities does not mean that science fails. It is scientifically true that there is a 30-degree Celsius difference in the environment where one feels cold and the other feels warm. And it is unscientifically true that one is cold and the other is warm, even if both scientifically agree on the measurement. This example is also the most straightforward possible argument for the enormous limitations inherent in all science. What science explains is a proven fact, but there is much more of the same reality that science, by definition, cannot explain.

Memetic reality as conception

The next step in the construction of reality is conception. What we perceive subjectively, memetic animals transform on the next level. The memetic interpretation changes reality not only for others but also for the perceiving subject.

Take a political action, for instance. The same “objective” act by a certain politician is explained differently by two subjects from different political backgrounds. The background, the memetic field the person belongs to, transforms the meaning of the action. The signal (objective) is perceived subjectively (and, in doing so, creates a perceived reality), which is then memetically transformed according to the memetic field (a field of collective value vectors mixed with personal value vectors) in which the subject exists. While perceived reality is purely subjective, it becomes both subjective and intersubjective, as memes exist only as replicated by memetic animals.

The reality that science cannot grasp

But that does not mean that the reality that science cannot define is irrational in the sense that it is false. The irrationality of perception is as solid as objectivity as daffodils. It just cannot be defined by science. In this sense, the irrationality of perception does not resemble irrational numbers in mathematics. Irrational numbers in mathematics are as rational as they are manageable and also explainable by science. As such, they already help us expand the space in which we create extended phenotypes.

Taken memetically, science, as a pure memetic construction, is nothing but an intersubjective reality. Why? Because scientific findings become part of scientific reality only after peers accept or confirm them. Science is not only the best example of intersubjectivity but also the highest evolutionary step so far for humans as memetic animals.

A note

Pardon me for being scarce in explanations of memes, memetic fields, and value vectors. Memes Beyond Genes explains the complex story of memetics in full.

More about human dimensionality: http://bit.ly/ZcA6ad if interested.