Here, I explain how direct realists can avoid the brain-in-a-vat argument for skepticism.* 1. The BIV Argument Imagine that there’s a brain being kept alive in a vat of nutrients, connected to a powerful computer capable of giving the brain any desired pattern of stimulation. The computer is programmed to give the brain a simulation of life in the 21st century. The computer can read the outputs from the brain so as to figure out what the brain is trying to do in the virtual world and modify the pattern of stimulation accordingly, so everything seems to the brain just the way it does to normal people living in 21st century society. Q: How do you know that
Direct Realism and the Brain-in-a-Vat Argument
Direct Realism and the Brain-in-a-Vat…
Direct Realism and the Brain-in-a-Vat Argument
Here, I explain how direct realists can avoid the brain-in-a-vat argument for skepticism.* 1. The BIV Argument Imagine that there’s a brain being kept alive in a vat of nutrients, connected to a powerful computer capable of giving the brain any desired pattern of stimulation. The computer is programmed to give the brain a simulation of life in the 21st century. The computer can read the outputs from the brain so as to figure out what the brain is trying to do in the virtual world and modify the pattern of stimulation accordingly, so everything seems to the brain just the way it does to normal people living in 21st century society. Q: How do you know that