The Reality of Reality: A Tale of Five Senses

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Published 2019-09-28
Your eyes and ears don’t tell you the truth. That’s not what they’re for. The senses evolved to enable us to survive and succeed in the world, not to represent it accurately. Now, for the first time, science is revealing exactly how the sense organs receive information, process it, and pass it to the brain, providing deep insight into why we experience the world the way we do—and what it might be like for future technology to transform such experiences, perhaps allowing us to see infrared light or feel magnetic north. Join an eminent group of neuroscientists and philosophers for an ear, tongue, nose and eye-opening adventure that challenges everything we experience in search of the true nature of reality.

PARTICIPANTS: Christine Constantinople, Donald Hoffman, Stavros Lomvardas, Beau Lotto, Anil Seth

MODERATOR: Elizabeth Vargas

MORE INFO ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND
PARTICIPANTS: www.worldsciencefestival.com/programs/the-reality-…

This program is part of the BIG IDEAS SERIES, made possible with support from the JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATION.

TOPICS
0:00 - Program introduction
0:40 - Beau Lotto perceptual biases demonstrations
9:01 - Panelist introductions
11:10 - What is accurate perception?
15:45 - Neural basis of decision biases
17:49 - The illusion of smell
19:07 - “The dress” photo illusion
26:02 - Has our survival relied on one sense more than another?
28:21 - Contextual nature of the brain demonstration
33:00 - Does an independent reality exist?
35:09 - The umwelt
39:50 - How we perceive change
42:40 - Expectations vs. evidence in the sensory world
43:46 - Do some senses work faster than others?
49:50 - How does high emotion affect our senses?
50:43 - Synesthesia
57:00 - Neural networks studying perception
59:34 - The rubber hand illusion
1:04:20 - Do we really only have 5 senses?
1:06:52 - Parting thoughts on reality vs. perception

PROGRAM CREDITS
- Produced by Andy Meyer
- Associate Produced by Matt Carlstrom
- Music provided by APM
- Additional images and footage provided by: Venturebeat, Upload VR, Your Discovery Science
- Recorded at Gerald W. Lynch Theatre at John Jay College

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All Comments (21)
  • @truthseeker7041
    So much knowledge and science , for free , on your phone , in your bed.... thank you to everyone who deserves to be thanked. ❤
  • @Keemo577
    "Imagine what would happen if we enter conflict with a question instead of an answer." - Love this
  • The last segment with Beau is clearly something people could benefit from : when you enter a debate or trying simply to understand things better, the main goal is to find a way to learn more after the discussion than before and not to ''win''. But that's if you really want to learn more and not simply to manipulate people into your way of thinking.
  • @coolbeatguy
    47:00 I actually noticed something similar in whenever i get attacked in a nightmare. As a kid I used to run away from whatever monster was attacking me, now as a 23 year old guy I notice that I tend to fight back. Which leads me to believe that my subconscious has much more confidence in my ability to defend myself currently, in contrast to when i was a kid.
  • @failfection
    "Most of your life happened without you even there." -Beau Lotto
  • "You can never leave bias and assumption ... you can expand them." Again, explained so well ... This discussion IS expanding how I perceive ...
  • @Sean-ff9ic
    I took a break from the astro/quantum physics realm to watch this video, and I'm very glad I did! Thanks to Brian Greene and everyone else involved for making the WSF possible!
  • @bosnino420
    Who else thought about this as a kid and thought you were crazy and never thought about it until you realize every human contemplates reality and what consciousness truly is
  • Excellent discussion, to the point presentation, and a wonderful conclusion. "Understanding perceptions is the key to conflict resolution. Enter a conflict with a question, rather than an answer, because neurological systems are evolved to win rather than agree, and our perceptions are based on our evolutionary history."
  • @Eric-yj5xg
    “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” ― John Lennon
  • @amydecker9049
    Goal achieved; I absolutely knew less by the end of this intelligent and enlightening conversation. A whole new way to approach conflict and everything else. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all.
  • @goshart
    There is a fascinating talk about syneasthesia ... I’m the one who has it! I taste music, hear music when looking at colours and mostly I’m super sensitive to colour. I see the world in vivid colours, even in the dullest of the places, even at night I can see lots of colours! No wonder I’m an artist! 🎨 And in my mind I see the words and numbers in colours... Every letter has its own set colour and a word’s colour depends on the combination of those letters. The first letter is important as it is giving a word its colour scheme... the vowels are always bright and have qualities of light - they shine and illuminate the other letters. Eg, ‘O’ is white and shines like a light bulb... ‘a’ is shiny red, ‘e’ shiny blue. As consonants have solid colour in my mind, eg: ‘c’ is ochre yellow, ‘s’ is earthy green ... there’s some interesting thing about ‘y’. I’m Polish and in Polish language ‘y’ is a vowel but it is a consonant in English language. So, in my mind ‘y’ is white and it is solid white when I think about an English word, but when I think about a Polish word which contains ‘y’ then that letter in my head becomes transparent - like frosted glass...
  • @SebiSzabi
    Tell me about colours... I'm a hairdresser, and clients show pictures of the hair colours they want. I always ask them where they want that colour to look like the picture? In the cold light of the bathroom, the warm light of the living room, under a green tree, in the autumn sunset... They just don't understand...
  • @entropia34332
    The contribution of Dr. Lomvradas to this panel was absolutely invaluable!
  • @Gordesm
    Reality IS the physical form of consciousness. The human body is a flesh and blood vehicle for the Spirit, an avatar for consciousness. We are all one in the same !
  • @jbgomez5970
    Before this video: “Perception is reality.” After this video: “Perception is an illusion.”
  • @deckearns
    The host in this discussion has done an excellent job. Allowing discussion, intelligent questions and great banter. Also incredibly smart, researched and knowledgeable. Well done. Loved this discussion.
  • Thank all of you for being intelligent and interested in topics like this Peace and Bless to you all.
  • @najibkahiye2687
    I really enjoy how engaging and simple to understand this lecture is. Thank you all.
  • @aroseinwinter05
    One of the most compelling things I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. I’m a general psychology grad & this makes me wish I had the means to go back to school to focus on one of these specific fields. Absolutely brilliant. 🙏🏻✨