• bitcrafter@programming.dev
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    1 day ago

    Yes, that word being mirage, which is so objectively real that you can take a photograph of it:

    In contrast to a hallucination, a mirage is a real optical phenomenon that can be captured on camera, since light rays are actually refracted to form the false image at the observer’s location. What the image appears to represent, however, is determined by the interpretive faculties of the human mind. For example, inferior images on land are very easily mistaken for the reflections from a small body of water.

          • bitcrafter@programming.dev
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            1 day ago

            I don’t doubt that someone, somewhere, has had the very real experience of seeing a hallucinated Unicorn while eating random cacti in the desert! It would be ironic if this experience ended up distracting them so much that they walked straight past the very real oasis they were searching for, resulting in a very real tragic death by dehydration.

            • Arkouda@lemmy.caOP
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              1 day ago

              Why do you believe humans need anything exterior to hallucinate?

              Why is the Unicorn being imagined different than the oasis to you?

              • bitcrafter@programming.dev
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                1 day ago

                Fantastic, this provides another teachable moment for you! 😀

                My comment presented something called a hypothetical situation. It is an example of how particular circumstances can lead to a specific outcome. The key takeaway is that–and I recognize this can be confusing!–it does not make any claims outside the details contained within the hypothetical.

                This answers both of your questions, but let me make it easy for you: I don’t, and because I made these circumstances be true in this hypothetical situation.

                • Arkouda@lemmy.caOP
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                  1 day ago

                  Even if it is an illusion created by the brain, does that make it any less existent?

                  • bitcrafter@programming.dev
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                    1 day ago

                    If your brain creates the illusion of a unicorn, then the presence of the illusion is real, even if the unicorn is not.