Is steak real? Does it matter?

[idav]

Even if steak is real, can we only perceive it through our brains?

Yes

If you can only interact with the outside world via your senses and your senses interact with your brain by generating signals or proxies of what is actually happening then how real is the outside world and how much does it matter.

It doesn't matter.

Your brain could be interpreting the incoming signals all wrong... And by wrong I mean in a way that conceptually makes sense to you and that is useful but may not be representative of what actually is.

Our brains have to transform our perception into something our brains can decypher. There really isn't a wrong answer as one will get used to what we have to work with.

Then again what does it mean to be real if it doesn't mean real in the sense of how we usually see things?

It is as real as your interactions and you can get confirmation from the other beings.

Seeing may be believing but seeing and believing don't mean a whole lot do they?

Why wouldn't it?

What would it mean to see things as they actually are? At what speed of time? At what wavelength of light?

Brain freeze?

If such a device as the matrix were real would you prefer to live there or here? (Is there a difference?)

I wouldn't matter to me. It would be cool to be able to go back and forth like when I want to play a video game.