Inhabiting heads.

[Ozzie]

I used to have a much more fulfilling social life than I do now I have to admit. Yet given the time I now have at my disposal I have begun to ask myself some interesting questions .....

People I knew in my past are still present in my life today. I have vivid recollection of interactions with important contacts from the past which would allow me IMO to "reprend" those contacts today without any cut or delay from years of physical disconnection from those persons.

Obviously since those persons of whom I speak (significant to me) are no longer present as physical entities, yet are still significant to me, I arrive at this question.

Are those persons still present, or are they absent?

That question leads me on to ask whether they were ever physically present since my recollection of them holds the same physical presence of touch, flavour, and sensory quality as it ever did when I might have physically been beside them.

Is our current interaction with others a representation inside our heads or is it something different than a representation?

The same question was asked a couple of centuries ago by a famous philosopher/scientist of whose name escapes me in relation to sight (a purely automatic/hardwired perceptual phenomenon).

Does the image we perceive, exist out there or in here?

[Ozzie]

*bump*

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by Ozzie

Are those persons still present, or are they absent?

That question leads me on to ask whether they were ever physically present since my recollection of them holds the same physical presence of touch, flavour, and sensory quality as it ever did when I might have physically been beside them.

They are present in memory, but (and here's the thing) so are the people in the present. The image we are given by the brain to know the world by is time-delayed from actual (or "ultimate reality"). Our entire experience of reality, however current, is drawn from memory.

None of this indicates that they were not "physically present".

Originally Posted by Ozzie

Is our current interaction with others a representation inside our heads or is it something different than a representation?

Yes.

To both.

Originally Posted by Ozzie

Does the image we perceive, exist out there or in here?

"In here" is "out there"; there is no other place for it to be. There is only one reality, and you're "it" (as am I).

[Hugga_Bear]

^ that pretty much, our perceived image of someone can be slightly different to the person but that is self manipulation, if you want someone enough you can believe theyre a good person.

The person exists out there. What is 'in here' is a perceived image of the person.