Harold Pinter acknowledgement speech

[Munkay]

When the bullet hits the bone, and the flesh is shredded, the bleeding is real.  It is not illusion.  When the baby pukes on your shirt, the mess is real.  Metaphysics won't clean your shirt.  When your car hits the tree, the dent in the metal and the sound of the thump are not illusion.  The propagation of the soundwaves through the fluid that is air is not only real, it is both reproducible and simulatable with vibration producing tools. 

Not everything needs proof to be real, some things simple are. 

While a part of me agrees fully with you here Occhi (as I almost wrote a similar post in reply to Yzilla), there is credence to what Yzilla was (whether sincerely or jokingly) suggesting.

Now I too am part of the school that believes when some one points a gun at me, I don't question the metaphysical argument for the existence of the bullet, its time to run. When a car looks like it might run me over, I don't ask whether a car exists, I step out of the way. Practically speaking, you are correct Occhi, the existence of this computer in front of me does not need to be questioned (although perhaps the existence of PETE Bot © might be worth questioning).

But on the other side, when you are trying to prove reality does exist, the classic problem of confirming the world outside of the mind (Philosophical Idealism as it's coined to describe those Germans who tackle this trouble) causes on heckovah lot of trouble. For anyone, whether metaphysician or a NASCAR superfan, if they do attempt to find some shred of proof to conclude that the world does in actually exist, they will find it impossible.

Practically speaking, whether the world is real or only assumed to be real, there is no need to worry about it. A bunny is a bunny, a vegetable is a vegetable, and a gun is going to hurt you.

But people are curious creatures, and they will keep trying to find the proof that reality is truly permanent. And as silly as this questioning can be, there is something all too human about it.

Now, whether or not this should give any credence towards winning a Nobel Prize is up to you.

Lookout! A car is coming! :P

Cheers,

Munk