How big is reality?

[TripletDaddy]

Okay. Thank you for that clarification.

someone didn't take physics in college.

in the alternative, someone didn't do very well in physics in college.

[Lost Student]

Okay. Thank you for that clarification.

http://blog.chess.com/Billy_Junior/number-of-possible-chess-games

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=number+of+atoms+in+the+universe

[falafel]

http://blog.chess.com/Billy_Junior/n...le-chess-games
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i...n+the+universe

I'd prefer to live in my own world rather than check those links. I've yet to be wrong in my world.

[Jeff Lebowski]

There are more moves possible in a chess game than there are atoms in the known universe or tomes in the Library of Babel. Thought trumps reality every single time.

However, if we take an Ancient Greek concept of eternity and postulate that given infinite time the universe could conceivably combine into every single different combination of atoms possible in the laws of nature, which might indicate that any thought I have could be achieved in infinity.

BUT, I can imagine things which cannot be. Thought wins.

Looks like you are pulling a cheap parlor trick. I am not buying it.

Are we talking actual thoughts, or just some number we can write down? Is one human being (or all human beings combined), capable of thinking through every possible move in a chess game? Or are they simply capable of thinking of a tiny subset of the moves and coming up with a formula describing how many moves there are? Big difference.

[pellegrino]

In one, I got laid. In the other, I didn't.

ha! dreamer!

[wuapinmon]

Looks like you are pulling a cheap parlor trick. I am not buying it.

Are we talking actual thoughts, or just some number we can write down? Is one human being (or all human beings combined), capable of thinking through every possible move in a chess game? Or are they simply capable of thinking of a tiny subset of the moves and coming up with a formula describing how many moves there are? Big difference.

Given infinite time, yes, they are.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Given infinite time, yes, they are.

Given infinite time, the atoms in the universe will rearrange in an infinite number of ways.

Advantage: reality

[wuapinmon]

Given infinite time, the atoms in the universe will rearrange in an infinite number of ways.

WRONG!

Infinite time would yield all possible combinations of atoms. I can imagine impossible combinations.

[falafel]

WRONG!

Infinite time would yield all possible combinations of atoms. I can imagine impossible combinations.

I thought we were talking about chess?

[Jeff Lebowski]

WRONG!

Infinite time would yield all possible combinations of atoms. I can imagine impossible combinations.

You can only imagine combinations (possible or otherwise) using your physical brain and electrons firing across your synapses. All of which is uniquely defined by configurations of atoms at a snapshot in time. To state that your thoughts are more complex than configurations of atoms is a self contradiction.

Neener, neener.

[Portland Ute]

Anything that is reality can be embellished in the mind.

I think there are more things that exist in though than in reality.

[Portland Ute]

You can only imagine combinations (possible or otherwise) using your physical brain and electrons firing across your synapses. All of which is uniquely defined by configurations of atoms at a snapshot in time. To state that your thoughts are more complex than configurations of atoms is a self contradiction.

Neener, neener.

Yeah, but in thought, there are no laws of physics or chemistry.

If you want to think about burning hot snow, you can.

Or, if you want to think about humans in un-aided flight, it's possible...but that will never be reality.

Certainly, one could say that there are more thing possible in thought than are currently reality.

[UtahDan]

I said reality is bigger because I believe there is more that is knowable than is known or can even be imagined. I'm assuming here that there is much that is real (that is, it is capable of being perceived) that is not yet perceived, even though I get the idea that in some sense things are not real until they are perceived, if that makes sense.

[Viking]

I think reality is what we see. What we think can be far more than what we see.

[Moliere]

I'm for option 3. I think our thoughts create our reality.