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Imagination's role in creating new realities

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Imagination's role in creating new realities

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"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." - Lewis Carroll
Topics: Imagination, Creative Thinking, Problem Solving, Belief Limits, Social Reality
Grade level: Any (can be slightly adjusted for younger children)
Time: 50 minutes with the potential for 2-3 more ongoing sessions
Objectives: To raise questions about our perception of the limits of reality, the role imagination can play in our every day lives as well as in crafting our world at large, and to explore some of the ways that imagination and creative thinking have indeed changed our social reality in the past.
Materials needed: Computer (and projector if possible) to show video clip, paper and writing utensil, white board and dry erase marker or chalkboard and chalk
Activity:
Part 1: Play Video Clip - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QtP60NmDKqc
Part 2: Ask students to write a list of 5 things that they can imagine and wish to see in the world which don't already exist.
2.1: Then ask them to make another list of 5 things that at one point did not exist, but
through creative thinking, eventually did (give a few ideas or suggestions such as
inventions, social changes, personal changes, etc)
2.2: Then ask students to break into groups of 3 and discuss:
A. Did their thinking change from the first question to the next? How so?
B. How might they draw a connection between what they can imagine and what is real, and how those things can potentially change over time?
Part 3: Ask students to share out to the whole group some of the ideas they came up with from the second list and write them on the board. After 5 are listed, ask if students have any questions about this (ie. if they don't understand how something which at one point wasn't "real" or existing, came to be etc.)
Part 4: Ask students to get back into their groups of 3 and come up with a current issue they experience in school, or in general, for which they wish they could imagine a solution, but haven't yet seen one.
4.1: Ask students to share out to whole group some of their ideas and write them on the white board. After 5 or so are listed, ask students to take a vote on which one they would like to collectively explore further.
4.2: Conduct silent vote with student's eyes closed and tally the votes.
Part 5: Have an open-ended full group discussion on how we might imagine solutions to the proposed topic and how those steps might lead us to see a shift from the imagined to reality

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Imagining New Realities - Center for Philosophy for Children

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"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." - Lewis Carroll Topics: Imagination, Creative Thinking, Problem Solving, Belief Limits, Social Reality Grade level: Any (can be slightly adjusted for younger children) Time: 50 minutes with the potential for 2-3 more ongoing sessions Objectives: To raise questions about our perception of the limits of [...]

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Plato's Allegory of the Cave

What is an allegory?
Explain to the students that an allegory is a kind of story in which what happens is being compared to something else that is similar and unstated.

Ask: What do you think the Allegory of the Cave is being compared with?

Break students up into small groups for a discussion of the following questions. (Each group should choose a reporter to write down the group's responses and report back to class when class comes back together.)
Small Group Discussion Questions
Would you want to be released from the cave? Why or why not?
What is like the cave in our world?
How is the way you understand the world, your ideas and beliefs, shaped by the actions of others?
Who has the power to shape your ideas and beliefs? In what ways is this good and in what ways is it not so good?
Are there things you know to be true? What are they, and how do you know them?

You can start the whole group discussion with the reports from small groups

Ask:
What is Plato trying to tell us in the allegory?
How can we know things about the world? Through perception? Through reason?

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The Allegory of the Cave (in Plato's Republic) | Center for Philosophy for Children

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Plato's Allegory of the Cave What is an allegory? Explain to the students that an allegory is a kind of story in which what happens is being compared to something else that is similar and unstated. Ask: What do you think the Allegory of the Cave is being compared with?

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Leonardo DiCaprio & The Nature of Reality: Crash Course Philosophy #4

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Modern art and reality (article) | Khan Academy

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Do we see reality as it is? | Donald Hoffman | TED

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The star-nosed mole ( Condylura cristata) has such an unusual appearance that if you spot one, there will be no question what you have found. The star-nosed mole's nostrils are ringed by 22 rays, or fleshy tentacles, that possess more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer's organs.

Because of this distinctive nose, the moles have perhaps the best sense of touch of any mammal. The sensory receptors can touch 10 or 12 different places in a single second. With each touch, 100,000 fibers send information to the mole's brain. That's five times more touch sensors than are in the human hand, all in one nose that is smaller than a fingertip.

The star nose is believed to help the animal forage for small prey and can also detect seismic wave vibrations. The nose also may be able to detect faint electrical signals from aquatic prey. If true, the star-nosed mole and the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) are the only mammals known to possess this ability.

The star nose may be helpful to humans as well. Molecules in the mole's nose turn physical signals of touch into electrical signals in the nervous system. As many of these molecules are also found in people, better knowledge of them may lead to new treatments for pain.

Star-nosed moles are native to eastern North America. They are relatively common, but as they inhabit poorly drained areas with a marsh-like habitat, they are not often found near humans. Destruction of wetland environments negatively affects this species.

The star-nosed mole is the only mole species out of 39 that lives in swamps and marshes. The mole is not limited to underground tunnels, but can easily swim and forage for food in lakes and streams. It is one of only two mammals, along with the water shrew, that can smell underwater, by blowing air bubbles and sucking them back into its nose.

The star-nosed mole has thick, blackish-brown, water-repellant fur; large scaled feet with large claws; and a long, thick tail. During the winter, the tail swells to 3 to 4 times its normal diameter and is believed to store fat needed for the colder months. The mole is functionally blind, relying on its nose and sense of touch to detect prey.

Star-nosed moles eat small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms, mollusks, small amphibians and small fish. The journal Nature calls this species the world's fastest eater - a star-nosed mole can eat a worm or insect in 120 milliseconds. Its brain decides in 8 milliseconds whether prey is edible or not.

They play an important role in the ecosystem both as a ravenous predator and a source of food for carnivores including hawks, owls, foxes, weasels, minks, skunks, bullfrogs, large fish such as the northern pike and largemouth bass, as well as domestic cats. In addition, by tunneling through most ground, star-nosed moles provide oxygen to the roots of plants that might otherwise be trapped in compacted soil with no oxygen.

The moles are active day and night and do not hibernate in winter. They are more social than other moles in eastern North America and are believed to form small, loose colonies of related individuals. However, we do not know if moles, other than a paired male and female during the breeding season, share a network of tunnels.

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The star-nosed mole ( Condylura cristata) has such an unusual appearance that if you spot one, there will be no question what you have found. The star-nosed mole's nostrils are ringed by 22 rays, or fleshy tentacles, that possess more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer's organs.

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Many people are familiar with the meandering tunnels of moles, far fewer are familiar with the creatures that made them. Such secrecy is, of course, one of the great benefits of burrowing through the earth where few predators can follow. But it's not the only benefit. Soil contains a smorgasbord of nutritious invertebrate prey - hence all the tunneling. In fact the richness of the soil niche has given rise to a diversity of mole species that could be said to resemble the evolutionary diversification of bats, though on a smaller scale. In both cases, mammals have evolved a suite of unique anatomical traits (coincidentally involving modification of the forelimb) that allows them to exploit a huge resource of invertebrate prey that is largely inaccessible to their competitors. For bats the thin, delicate wings were the key innovation, for moles the forelimbs have undergone a similarly dramatic structural shift, but in the opposite direction - the bones have become short, stout, and powerful to act as shovels.

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Many people are familiar with the meandering tunnels of moles, far fewer are familiar with the creatures that made them. Such secrecy is, of course, one of the great benefits of burrowing through the earth where few predators can follow. But it's not the only benefit.

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We hear it all the time, in the business world, in the political arena, in marriages, anytime there is a disagreement or conflict: "Perception is reality." This aphorism is often used to justify a perception that may be objectively unjustifiable or just plain out of touch with reality. It's employed as a cudgel to beat others into accepting someone's preferred so-called reality. At a more philosophical level, this adage creates a sense of relativism (think squishiness) in circumstances that are more likely absolute (think "the world is flat").

Let me state with an absolute sense of reality and without any perceptual flexibility at the outset that perception is NOT reality. As I am a word guy, meaning I believe that words powerfully shape our attitudes, beliefs, and, well, perceptions, let me start off by showing why perceptions and reality are different. Here is a dictionary definition of perception:

"The way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression."

And here is the dictionary definition of reality:

"The world or the state of things as they actually exist... existence that is absolute, self-sufficient, or objective, and not subject to human decisions or conventions."

Clearly, perception and reality have very different meanings. The former occurs entirely in the mind in which mental gymnastics can turn any belief into reality. The other exists completely outside of the mind and can't be easily manipulated. To conflate perception with reality is to reject the Enlightenment and harken back to the Middle Ages.

Perception is not reality, but, admittedly, perception can become a person's reality (there is a difference) because perception has a potent influence on how we look at reality.

Think of it this way. Perception acts as a lens through which we view reality. Our perceptions influence how we focus on, process, remember, interpret, understand, synthesize, decide about, and act on reality. In doing so, our tendency is to assume that how we perceive reality is an accurate representation of what reality truly is. But it's not. The problem is that the lens through which we perceive is often warped in the first place by our genetic predispositions, past experiences, prior knowledge, emotions, preconceived notions, self-interest, and cognitive distortions.

Daniel Kahneman, the noted psychologist who received the 2002 Nobel Prize winner in economics, created a veritable cottage industry by identifying what he termed cognitive biases (there are 100s) that are systematic ways in which humans create subjective social reality that deviates from objective reality.

I appreciate that some philosophers argue that reality doesn't actually exist, but, instead, is a subjective construction because we don't experience reality directly. Rather, we experience reality through senses that limit how we process reality. For example, humans only see a circumscribed spectrum of colors or hear a defined range of sounds. But, just because we can't perceive a dog whistle doesn't mean it doesn't exist in reality. Thankfully, we have the technology in most situations that can objectively measure reality (of course, disbelievers could argue that reading the instruments requires perception, thus "proving" their point that perception is reality, but let's not go there).

A key question to ask is: "What's wrong with perception diverging from reality?" What if I perceive the world in a way that is out of touch with reality? As with most things in life, this question demands a nuanced answer that involves degree rather than kind. For example, there is a psychological theory that posits what are called positive illusions, which involve holding a slightly inflated view of one's capabilities, which can have psychological and practical benefits (e. g., gives hope, enhances persistence).

However, if the perception deviates too far from reality when it shifts from mild illusion to delusion, it can be a liability (e.g., set unattainable goals, lack of preparation for a difficult task). In fact, a substantial disconnect between perception and reality can lead people to a complete inability to function (severe mental illness is an example).

At a societal level, when different individuals or constituencies develop perceptions that are so far apart, one immense problem is that no common ground can be found. This disconnect is exemplified in our current political climate where people of different political stripes have such diametrically opposed perceptions that it becomes impossible to orchestrate consensus or govern. The result is paralysis (Congress) or hostility (hate crimes). Going to extremes, a massive divide between perceptions in a country would likely lead to a slow, but steady, disintegration of the institutions that hold a society together (dystopian themes in literature and film or, well, our world today).

The challenge we face with our own thinking, as well as the thinking of others, is how to ensure that perceptions remain close to reality. This alignment is essential for us to live in the real world, find consensus with others, and maintain the individual, governmental, and societal structures that are necessary for life as we know it to exist. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Don't assume that your perceptions are reality (just your reality)

Be respectful of others' perceptions (they may be right)

Don't hold your perceptions too tightly; they may be wrong (admitting it takes courage)

Recognize the distortions within you that may warp your perceptions (seeing them will better ground your perceptions in reality rather than the other way around)

Challenge your perceptions (do they hold up under the microscope of reality?)

Seek out validation from experts and credible others (don't just ask your friends because they likely have the same perceptions as you)

Be open to modifying your perceptions if the preponderance of evidence demands it (rigidity of mind is far worse than being wrong)

The next time someone tosses that tired trope-"but perception is reality"-in defense of the indefensible, you stand up and tell them that it might be their perception, but it is not reality.

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We hear it all the time, in the business world, in the political arena, in marriages, anytime there is a disagreement or conflict: "Perception is reality." This aphorism is often used to justify a perception that may be objectively unjustifiable or just plain out of touch with reality.

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