The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes

by Donald D. Hoffman

What is the biological basis of consciousness? This is the question that the Helmholtz Club pursued.

James Watson and Francis Crick, of the double helix of DNA, which proved the vitalists wrong.

The “Astonishing Hypothesis” offers a cogent explanation: if consciousness arises from the interactions of a pack of neurons, then splitting that pack—and their interactions—can split consciousness.

using the tools of evolutionary game theory: we can prove that if our perceptions were shaped by natural selection then they almost surely evolved to hide reality.

If our senses evolved and were shaped by natural selection, then spacetime and physical objects, like beauty, reside in the eye of the beholder. They inform us about fitness—not about truth or objective reality.

It could not, without refuting itself, conclude that natural selection drives true perceptions to extinction. For then the very language of space, time, and physical objects would be the wrong language to describe objective reality. Our scientific observations of physical objects in spacetime, such as DNA, RNA, and proteins, would not be veridical descriptions of objective reality, even if these observations use advanced technologies, such as X-ray diffractometers and electron microscopes. The theory of evolution would refute itself by discrediting its own key assumptions—the logical equivalent of shooting itself in the foot.

Truth means what we see is real and there even when we are not looking. If natural selection favors fitness and drives truth to extinctio then truth was never real. Aka dna which is what evolution is based off of.