Why everything you believe might be wrong

In this video, after a brief introduction to philosophical skepticism, I ask the viewers to indulge in a philosophical mind-experiment; known as the "brain-in-a-vat." I attempt to show that the only thing we can truly be certain about is uncertainty. Nothing is absolute. Believe in nothing. :)

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[CavalierBizarre]

This ghoulish dude--with a most unfortunate beard--recommending invocation of the brain in a vat skeptical hypothesis to "refute" any argument is fucking retarded. If anyone does this to you, take a slugger and refute their existence with the bat-in-a-brain hypothesis. And no, you cannot "prove that we can't know for certain whether or not we exist." Even if you were a brain in a vat, you are still a thinking thing and thus you, as a thinking thing, exist.

[xx13moons]

@CavalierBizarre, like the typical youtube troll - you missed the point. I'm quite aware that it would be silly and pointless to try and use the "brain-in-a-vat" experiment for refuting various philosophical positions. Who said that? You did, not me. I stated that it was a thought experiment, like watching the matrix. That's it. No one said it should be taken seriously. I love when people base their entire judgments on something I never said. Now wander back to your cave, troll.

[xx13moons]

@CavalierBizarre, "I ask the viewers to indulge in a philosophical mind-experiment; known as the "brain-in-a-vat."

From the intro. Learn to read. Surely, most people who have ANY familiarity with philosophy will already have heard this argument before. I wasn't imagining that I was covering some new, foreign, philosophical landscape. It's a rehash, of rather old crap, for people who aren't that familiar with philosophical skepticism.

[mottiain]

I like this video, but would like to suggest that the brain in the vat scenario has a lot of problems when one considers ethical or moral situations. How, for example, should one respond to such challenges as disease or climate change, terrorism, corruption or when trying to gain evidence to prove/falsify relativity or evolution. Should we act (with our allegedly real bodies) as though these things exist or are true?

Can a brain in a vat suffer a stroke or senility? Is it made of cells?

[xx13moons]

Thanks for the comment. All very good questions. But I wasn't really supposing that such a scenario (brain in vat) is actually true; it was a mere exercise in skepticism. I wouldn't suggest that people take such a worldview seriously; like you said, that could lead to nihilism, or insanity. I just try to point out the frail state of "knowledge." Whether or not life is "real" is rather irrelevant, actually - because we experience as if it is real; and that alone is reason enough to act, I think.

[wonderwhaz797]

I'm skeptical of the brain in the vat idea. If you think that way, then why care about anything at all? Kind of a strange video.

[xx13moons]

@wonderwhaz797, I wouldn't say that I "think that way" all the time or anything. It's merely an exercise in skepticism. It works, and it can't be refuted. Why care about anything at all? I don't know, who ever said we should? Life is what it is, I'm just dissecting and analyzing it to the best of my ability. Who promised that life has to be "meaningful?" Truth isn't always pretty.

[southpark123secret]

have you ever seen the Truman show. Your life could also be a TV show and you don't even know it.

[proffromgview]

Seriously??? A guy dressed in black with a small, scraggly beard?? Could you be in more stereotypical?? ...

PS: are you SURE we don't know anything....? Absolute skepticism is self-refuting

[Happypast]

Also: my memories aren't mine :D I'm 2 hours old and everything before that has just been placed inside my mind.

[ddowney157]

(Part 2 of 2) You need to work from a starting point of absolute certainty. It's popular to say that certainty is relative. This presents a logical anomaly though. The statement, "truth is relative", cannot be true. Computers hang when a logical anomaly occurs. Are we at a similar point in intellectual history? I don't know but enjoy exploring this inquiry like you and many of your commentors. Keep exploring. As for me, I am currently of the belief that certainty can be discovered once again.

[ddowney157]

(Part 1 of 2) You are using the brain in the vat as a mental exercise to demonstrate the skeptical method of thought. Yes, if that is the process you are using then ,you cannot refute the uncertainty of your existence. It is pointless to establish your method of argument on a hypthothetical. You have to work from irrefutable position. Descartes refuted everything but one. He knew he was a thinking being. From there he helped establish the modern intellectual tradition.

[BeamSurfer]

Brain in a Vat eh? Okay then who created the Super computer?

there's 2 awnsers, there's an endless line of super computers made one after another. (infinite regression) or there was one perfect entity that created it all to start the endless line of super computer engineers, either way brain in a vat is an allegory, and the chances of a literal old mad scientists who hooked you the the matrix is low, but where did he get that knowledge from?

[MGX890]

@Emeeno your thinking in too literal terms.

[occultologist]

whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter. like most philosophical problems, it doesn't really matter what you believe. life would still go on the way it does, whether it's actually a computer simulation, subjective or objective, it doesn't matter. someone who believes in free will, could act in the same way as someone who believes in determinism, and have the same lifestyle, none of these questions are practical, can't improve our understanding of the universe, nor can they make us happier.

[jenmarii]

Omg I luv it! I learned that in a Semantics class its so interesting...I agree w u we just accept that we dont know. :-)