

Existence: are we holograms? - william10
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128221.300-existence-am-i-a-hologram.html
TAKE a look around you. The walls, the chair you're sitting in, your own body - they all seem real and solid. Yet there is a possibility that everything we see in the universe - including you and me - may be nothing more than a hologram.
======
rkalla
I find thought-topics like this fascinating.

\- What, if anything, would change if we confirmed this? e.g. I still have a
mortgage, I still want my kids in school, etc.

\- We manifested ourselves into a dream world, forgot we did it, and
eventually got advanced enough to re-discover it. Inception!

\- Who created the hologram? How? Where/when does it exist?

\- Are our concepts of physics real or manifested?

Interestingly enough, if anyone has ever looked into remote viewing, namely
the US-funded, 10-year long program in the 1970s[1] it may be of interest to
note that one of the fundamental tenants of remote-viewing is that the
universe is a hologram and that "any part contains the whole" which is what,
they claim, makes remote viewing possible.

Another interesting thing I like to think about is how would one go about
_proving_ this to somebody?

If someone stood infront of you and flew around, walked through a wall or made
a basketball appear out of thing air, I think most of us would go to 100 other
explanations, including "oh god, ghost-basketball!", before settling on that
our entire existence is a hologram.

Not to mention a large subset of humanity that would just categorically reject
it, no matter what you showed them.

I'm open to most any explanation; I need proof, but I'm certainly open to it.
I accept that there is always something new to learn. Every time I hear
someone talk in terms of limits (to science, humanity, technology... anything)
I begin to tune them out.

If the last 100 years has taught me anything, it is that there seems to be as
much to be discovered as there is hunger out there to discover it.

 _THAT_ makes me wonder at times if elements of our existence are (sub)
conscious creations, because the discoveries never seem to stop.

If you enjoy topics like this, I'd strongly encourage you read the entire
Wired article "Faster"[2]. It is a wonderfully inspiring story of what is
possible when you refuse to accept the limitations (physical and mental) put
on you by the people around you.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing#US_government-
fu...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing#US_government-
funded_research)

[2]
[http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/features/fas...](http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/features/faster)

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
Sometimes there are hard limits though. People think that because our
knowledge of the world has holes in it, that therefore everything we know is
suspect. WRONG! There are some topics that we understand very, very well.

------
PizzaNazi
I'm currently reading Philip K. Dick's Valis which (forgive me for my
ignorance) seems to be largely based on some of his own theological thoughts.
I find it interesting that in it he suggests such a idea, that the universe,
or space and time are a hologram.

