The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes

by Donald Hoffman

Overview

Can we trust our senses to tell us the truth?

Challenging leading scientific theories that claim that our senses report back objective reality, cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman argues that while we should take our perceptions seriously, we should not take them literally. How can it be possible that the world we see is not objective reality? And how can our senses be useful if they are not communicating the truth? Hoffman grapples with these questions and more over the course of this eye-opening work.

Ever since Homo sapiens has walked the earth, natural selection has favored perception that hides the truth and guides us toward useful action, shaping our senses to keep us alive and reproducing. We observe a speeding car and do not walk in front of it; we see mold growing on bread and do not eat it. These impressions, though, are not objective reality. Just like a file icon on a desktop screen is a useful symbol rather than a genuine representation of what a computer file looks like, the objects we see every day are merely icons, allowing us to navigate the world safely and with ease.

The real-world implications for this discovery are huge. From examining why fashion designers create clothes that give the illusion of a more “attractive” body shape to studying how companies use color to elicit specific emotions in consumers, and even dismantling the very notion that spacetime is objective reality, The Case Against Reality dares us to question everything we thought we knew about the world we see.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393254693
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/13/2019
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Donald Hoffman is professor of cognitive science at the University of California, Irvine. His writing has appeared in Scientific American and Edge, and his work has been featured in the Atlantic, Wired, and Quanta. He resides in Irvine, California.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Chapter 1 Mystery: The Scalpel That Split Consciousness 1

Chapter 2 Beauty: Sirens of the Gene 22

Chapter 3 Reality: Capers of the Unseen Sun 40

Chapter 4 Sensory: Fitness Beats Truth 53

Chapter 5 Illusory: The Bluff of a Desktop 75

Chapter 6 Gravity: Spacetime Is Doomed 94

Chapter 7 Virtuality: Inflating a Holoworld 115

Chapter 8 Polychromy: Mutations of an Interface 136

Chapter 9 Scrutiny: You Get What You Need, in Both Life and Business 155

Chapter 10 Community: The Network of Conscious Agents 178

Appendix Precisely: The Right to Be Wrong 203

Acknowledgments 207

Notes 209

Index 237

Editorial Reviews

05/27/2019

Hoffman, a UC-Irvine cognitive science professor, devotes his intriguing but overreaching treatise to unveiling a series of interconnected, provocative hypotheses about how humans perceive the world around them. His argument rests on his Fitness-Beats-Truth (FBT) Theorem, which states that natural selection has shaped the perceptive capabilities of organisms to discern aspects of the environment that positively impact fitness: the ability to survive and reproduce. FBT, unlike previous ideas about the relation between perception and evolution, asserts that perception solely maximizes fitness, not truth. Hoffman recognizes FBT “is counterintuitive. How can my perceptions be useful if they aren’t true?” He attempts to reconcile this conundrum with the Interface Theory of Perception (ITP): organisms interact with their environment the same way humans do with computer screens through icons that are helpful but mask the computer’s inner workings. Hoffman proposes the concept of conscious realism, which “denies that physical objects exist when unperceived,” and asserts that conscious agents create the universe simply via their perceptions. If this sounds confusing, it’s because it is. Hoffman also dips into his own research on visual perception to describe how humans are fooled by optical illusions. His ideas are complex and fascinating, but if they’re to be fully understood, they deserve more space than he’s accorded them in this disappointing study. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"In the mood to have your mind blown? In this fascinating, deeply original, and wonderfully engaging book, Hoffman takes us on a tour of the uncharted territory where cognitive science, fundamental physics, and evolutionary biology meet— and where the nature of reality hangs in the balance. You’ll never look at the world— or, rather, your interface— the same way again."

Amanda Gefter

"Woody Allen once said, ‘I hate reality, but . . . where else can you get a good steak dinner?’ Hoffman turns that joke on its head: What we have always been after is the steak dinner; what we call reality is our best adapted strategy for getting it. Sink your teeth into that!"

Christopher A. Fuchs

"Captivating and courageous…anyone who reads this book will likely never look at the world the same way again. Hoffman challenges us to rethink some of the most basic foundations of neuroscience and physics, which could prove to be exactly what we need to make progress on the most difficult questions we face about the nature of reality."

Annaka Harris

"A fresh view into who we truly are—one that transcends the perceptions that we accept as reality. Hoffman unapologetically takes us down a rabbit hole where we learn that all reality is virtual and that truth lies solely in you, the creator."

Rudolph Tanzi

"A masterpiece of logic, rationality, science, and mathematics. Read this book carefully and you will forever change your understanding of reality, both that of the universe and your own self."

Deepak Chopra

"Hoffman’s truly radical theory will force us to ponder reality in a completely different light. Handle with care. Your perception of the world around you is about to be dismantled!"

Chris Anderson

"Think you know what’s really out there? Read this breathtaking, whistle-stop tour of a book that illuminates all the profound weirdness masked by our experience and assumptions."

David Eagleman

"This book is a must-read if you want to bring your understanding of ‘reality’ in sync with the way the World is. You are in for some major surprises and mind expanding. A good read that will set you thinking about yourself, others and the world."

Jan Koenderink

2019-05-26
According to this expert account, evolution shapes our view of reality, but accuracy is not its priority.

In his first book, Hoffman (Cognitive Science/Univ. of California, Irvine) emphasizes that evolution designed our perceptions "to keep us alive," so we must take them seriously. "But it is a mistake of logic," he writes, "to assume that if we must take our senses seriously then we are required—or even entitled—to take them literally….I explain why evolution hid objective reality and endowed us instead with an interface of objects in space and time." What we observe is simply a virtual world delivered by our senses to help us play the game of life. Having announced this disturbing premise, the author provides a steady stream of explanations of how the brain processes perceptions. Observing a member of the opposite sex, we pick up dozens of sensory cues, run them through an algorithm refined by evolution to evaluate reproductive potential, and reach a conclusion. It's not a given that the outcome—marriage, or at least children—is ideal. To those who doubt that the world we observe is simply a useful interface such as an icon for a computer text file, Hoffman suggests we look in a mirror. We see expression, flesh, hair, clothes, and other elements, often with a great deal of artificial overlay. The reality—our nature, feelings, experiences—remains hidden. Would we want it any other way? Few readers will be surprised when the author concludes with the evolution of consciousness, a subject that continues to obsess neuroscientists without producing anything more than generalities such as, "conscious experiences are tightly correlated with specific patterns of activity in neural circuits. But no scientific theory that starts with neural circuitry has been able to explain the origin of consciousness."

A dense, lucid, and often unsettling exploration of how our brains interpret the world.

Kirkus Reviews