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The Case Against Reality
- Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
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Publisher's summary
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.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Throughout his distinguished and unconventional career, engineer-turned-molecular-biologist Douglas Axe has been asking the questions that much of the scientific community would rather silence. Now, he presents his conclusions in this brave and pioneering book. Axe argues that the key to understanding our origin is the "design intuition" - the innate belief held by all humans that tasks we would need knowledge to accomplish can be accomplished only by someone who has that knowledge.
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Seductively Challenge what are consider facts
- By Rafael Vila on 10-08-16
By: Douglas Axe
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The Island of Knowledge
- The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning
- By: Marcelo Gleiser
- Narrated by: William Neenan
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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How much can we know about the world? In this audiobook physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence, the origin of the universe, the nature of reality, and the limits of knowledge. In so doing he reaches a provocative conclusion: Science, like religion, is fundamentally limited as a tool for understanding the world. As science and its philosophical interpretations advance, we face the unsettling recognition of how much we don't know.
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Island of knowledge
- By Joshua Kring on 07-26-15
By: Marcelo Gleiser
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Spooky Action at a Distance
- The Phenomenon That Reimagines Space and Time-and What It Means for Black Holes, the Big Bang, and Theories of Everything
- By: George Musser
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
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What is space? It isn't a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it's where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time. The phenomenon - the ability of one particle to affect another instantly across the vastness of space - appears to be almost magical.
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Rambling but Asks Good Questions
- By Michael on 12-19-15
By: George Musser
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Freedom Evolves
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
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Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett emphatically answers "yes!" Using an array of provocative formulations, Dennett sets out to show how we alone among the animals have evolved minds that give us free will and morality. Weaving a richly detailed narrative, Dennett explains in a series of strikingly original arguments - drawing upon evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, and philosophy - that far from being an enemy of traditional explorations of freedom, morality, and meaning, the evolutionary perspective can be an indispensable ally.
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I knew I was going to like this book
- By Gary on 05-30-14
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Entangled Minds
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- By: Dean Radin PhD
- Narrated by: Al Kessel
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Is everything connected? Can we sense what's happening to loved ones thousands of miles away? Why are we sometimes certain of a caller's identity the instant the phone rings? Do intuitive hunches contain information about future events? Is it possible to perceive without the use of the ordinary senses? Many people believe that such "psychic phenomena" are rare talents or divine gifts. Others don't believe they exist at all. But the latest scientific research shows that these phenomena are both real and widespread.
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Boring as all get out but…
- By rebekah higgins on 01-12-20
By: Dean Radin PhD
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When Einstein Walked with Gödel
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Does time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down? In this scintillating collection, Holt explores the human mind, the cosmos, and the thinkers who’ve tried to encompass the latter with the former. With his trademark clarity and humor, Holt probes the mysteries of quantum mechanics, the quest for the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of logic and truth. Along the way, he offers intimate biographical sketches of celebrated and neglected thinkers, from the physicist Emmy Noether to the computing pioneer Alan Turing and the discoverer of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot.
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A good overview of scientific theory
- By MJ Walters on 09-11-18
By: Jim Holt
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The Complete (Short) Guide to Absolutely Everything
- Adventures in Math and Science
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- Narrated by: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
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Geneticist Adam Rutherford and mathematician Hannah Fry guide listeners through time and space, through our bodies and brains, showing how emotions shape our view of reality, how our minds tell us lies, and why a mostly bald and curious ape decided to begin poking at the fabric of the universe.
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Enthralling facts, great delivery!
- By Skip on 04-11-24
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At the Edge of Uncertainty
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- By: Michael Brooks
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
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The atom, the big bang, DNA, natural selection - all are ideas that have revolutionized science; and all were dismissed out of hand when they first appeared. The surprises haven't stopped in recent years, and in At the Edge of Uncertainty, best-selling author Michael Brooks investigates the new wave of radical insights that are shaping the future of scientific discovery.
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All smoke, no fire
- By Kenton on 07-25-15
By: Michael Brooks
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Until the End of Time
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Until the End of Time is Brian Greene's breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to find meaning in the face of this vast expanse. Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal.
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Uneven
- By NJ on 03-03-20
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Your Brain Is a Time Machine
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- By: Dean Buonomano
- Narrated by: Aaron Abano
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
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In Your Brain Is a Time Machine, brain researcher and best-selling author Dean Buonomano draws on evolutionary biology, physics, and philosophy to present his influential theory of how we tell and perceive time. The human brain, he argues, is a complex system that not only tells time but creates it; it constructs our sense of chronological flow and enables "mental time travel" - simulations of future and past events.
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Great book on an underrated subject
- By Neuron on 05-09-17
By: Dean Buonomano
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Good but basic
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Best Science Book Ever Written. Period.
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Why? The Purpose of the Universe
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This book tries to dull you to socialism.
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How do neurons turn into minds? The problem of consciousness has gnawed at us for millennia. In the last century there have been massive breakthroughs that have rewritten the science of the brain, and yet the puzzles faced by the ancient Greeks are still present. In The Consciousness Instinct, the neuroscience pioneer Michael S. Gazzaniga puts the latest research in conversation with the history of human thinking about the mind, giving a big-picture view of what science has revealed about consciousness.
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Not recommended
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What is space? It isn't a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it's where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time. The phenomenon - the ability of one particle to affect another instantly across the vastness of space - appears to be almost magical.
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Rambling but Asks Good Questions
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Analogy is the core of all thinking. This is the simple but unorthodox premise that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Douglas Hofstadter and French psychologist Emmanuel Sander defend in their new work. Hofstadter has been grappling with the mysteries of human thought for over 30 years. Now, with his trademark wit and special talent for making complex ideas vivid, he has partnered with Sander to put forth a highly novel perspective on cognition.
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An analogy to describe this 33-hour book
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What listeners say about The Case Against Reality
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JuRai
- 09-21-19
not an audiobook
there are so many visual components that you lose a huge, HUGE portion of the book by listening rather than reading. very disappointed.
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44 people found this helpful
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- DanBR
- 10-13-23
Intriguing Ideas, Yet Repetitive Execution—Perhaps Better Read than Listened To
“The Case Against Reality” presents a compelling argument that challenges our basic assumptions about the world. However, the audiobook format leaves something to be desired. Repetition is a notable issue; phrases like “which you can see in the accompanying PDF” are overused to the point of distraction. Some of the repetitiveness seems like an oversight in editing rather than a deliberate choice.
Given these drawbacks, potential listeners might find greater value in reading the text version of this book. Alternatively, I recommend listening to the Lex Fridman interview with the author as a primer before diving into the audiobook. While the delivery may have its shortcomings, the thought-provoking content still makes “The Case Against Reality” worth your time.
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- steve
- 07-27-23
Very good book
The narration is well done.
The math is above my knowledge level and I disagree with his basic premise, but I would definitely have him over for dinner as a friend. Worth your time
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- Mark
- 09-15-19
Mind-bending but also lacking
Hoffman creates a compelling argument as to why he believes the world we perceive is almost certainly nothing like "objective reality" at all. Buckle your seatbelts because Kansas, as well as space and time itself, is going bye-bye.
His "fitness beats truth" theorem is interesting and seems to me to be almost certainly true. The first six chapters lay the groundwork for his ideas and can be sort of repetitive – you can get a basic understanding of these chapters from his appearance on the After On Podcast, also titled The Case Against Reality. His repetition of the "Desktop" metaphor to describe Interface Theory of Perception or ITP gets pretty old fast – we get it, you think our perception is like a desktop and what we see are like icons – but that's my biggest gripe.
Even if you're not convinced by his arguments, it's worth reading just to imagine the implications such an understanding of consciousness could have on the future of science, religion and the way we understand what it means to be human. An easy and fascinating afternoon read!
The performance of the book is lacking, however, AND THERE'S NO "accompanying PDF" which is mentioned many times in later chapters!
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- AM
- 11-02-19
Missing promissed PDF
The audio repeatedly refers to accompanied PDF but audible does not provide it and its needed to follow the book closely. I am also afraid the author blames the lack of current full understanding of brain consciousness connections as support for his speculations while doing the same error of logic...not this/yet therefore that......
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- Anon
- 12-14-19
Fascinating hyptothesis, filled with fluff
I heard about this book on Sam Harris's podcast.
This "feels" like a first book. The author posits an incredible hypothesis but the book is laid out somewhat haphazardly and meanders to topics away from the main point. For example, why create a whole chapter on optical illusions when we can all admit our eyes can deceive us?
Here's a brief summary of the book:
"We have a startling hypothesis that was confirmed by an evolutionary simulation, let's repeat that fact for 5 chapters. Also, remember that weird box thing you drew in 3rd grade... that actually proves nothing exists. Congrats for finishing! Your prize is a tomato... one meter away from your face. Can't find it? - look to the accompanying PDF*"
So... yeah, having just finished the book, I admit my annoyance BUT this isn't to say the book is unscientific or without merit.
Are you interested in the subject but don't want to waste time? Listen to chapters 1, 2, 6, and 10. Chapter 6 was my favorite because it directly addresses physics.
If you're scientifically minded and are intrigued by the idea, it's worth your time. If you're on the fence, maybe not.
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* Spoiler alert: Audible does not provide the accompanying PDF
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- Orca
- 10-23-19
Surely we're on the smooth cusp of something
We seem to be passing through a period of existential crisis in physics and neuroscience in particular, at the moment. Possibly it is the modern paradigm to be in crisis, but it seems particularly poignant right now. In any case, this is one of a small bookshelf of must-reads for comprehending this 'moment'.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-26-21
Reality Bytes
extraordinary information if you can suffer through the mind numbing redundancies and lullabye voice narrating
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- Anonymous User
- 08-23-20
Very good deconstruction of our intuitions about reality, but...
The first nine chapters of this were great, but the chapter 10 just gets into complete conjecture (albeit a scientifically rigorous conjecture) without any evidence other than our intuitions. A huge departure from the rest of the book. Overall very good.
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- N. P. Mullikin
- 07-31-22
Impossible to follow distracting errors
I am sure there is an important concept in this book, but it is lost in huge discussions of eye sex. You get lost in obvious errors like the author saying that dog eyes do not have white in them because of predatorial night adaptations while you dog is looking sidewise at you with white eyes. His basic premise resonates, that our senses are lying to us to keep us alive, but it is not well supported or developed in this book.
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