That's a great question, Roger. But I think he's talking about a more underlying reality than an organism's data structure.
Allen, I'm not saying that I agree with Hoffman. (He himself admits that he doesn't know what the ultimate reality is.) As Carl Sagan said,
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
(So the burden of proof is on Hoffman, which he also admits.)
This evening I was skimming through a book review of Hoffman's book,
The Case Against Reality. It seems to give a pretty good summary of his theories. I haven't read the book, however.
Do We See Icons or Reality? A Review of Donald Hoffman’s The Case Against Reality, Brian Martin
https://social-epistemology.com/2019...-brian-martin/
Here's the conclusion of the review:
Quote:
The interface theory of perception can seem exceedingly strange, but perhaps that is only because it is unfamiliar. Interface Theory of Perception (ITP) does not affect everyday behaviour, just as the physics understanding of objects as made up of atoms that are mostly empty does not affect the way we think about or interact with objects.
Some scientists treat entities they study but cannot directly observe, such as quarks, neutrinos and black holes, as useful concepts, without assuming they really exist. ITP expands this instrumentalist view to the macroscopic world: it is useful for individual and species survival to see objects in three dimensions, but we should not assume they really exist.
ITP is definitely a challenge to usual understandings of perception, and of what we perceive. It is also, potentially at least, a challenge to scientists who say scientific knowledge is about reality, or about truth. ITP instead says scientific knowledge, indeed knowledge more generally, is about fitness, in other words usefulness for survival, by humans or other conscious entities. In this, it seems closest to the philosophy of pragmatism and to semiotics.
Hoffman’s book is filled with fascinating information and provocative ideas. It is well worth reading even if you remain convinced that you directly observe some part of reality. It may be safer to take the blue pill and remain at the interface. Or you can risk taking Hoffman’s red pill and upending your intuitions.
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