Reality, David J. Chalmers
Reality, David J. Chalmers
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Reality+
Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy

Author: David J. Chalmers

Narrator: Grant Cartwright

Unabridged: 17 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/25/2022

Synopsis

A leading philosopher takes a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it.Virtual reality is genuine reality; that’s the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of “technophilosophy,” David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already.Along the way, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there’s an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers’ mind-bending analysis.Reality+ is a major statement that will shape discussion of philosophy, science, and technology for years to come.

About David J. Chalmers

David J. Chalmers is University Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science and codirector of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at New York University. He is the author of The Conscious Mind, The Character of Consciousness, and Constructing the World.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ryan on February 22, 2022

The simulation hypothesis states that, as civilizations advance, they develop the capability to simulate entire worlds, and once they do, they will create hundreds or even thousands of them. With hundreds or thousands of simulations running, the number of individuals within simulations will far outn......more

Goodreads review by Brian on January 25, 2022

Thanks to major IT companies putting a lot of time and effort into it (not to mention changing their company names), virtual reality is rarely out of the news at the moment. So it's timely that David Chalmers should attempt an exploration of the nature of virtual reality. What he sets out to persuad......more

Goodreads review by Jakob on January 29, 2022

I had fun with it, although I was hoping to be more surprised than I ended up being. Much of it can be summarized by Chalmers just extending the word "real" slightly to also encompass virtual objects that behave similarly to their physical counterparts in some relevant way. Interestingly, this exten......more

Goodreads review by William on June 27, 2022

"Reality Plus," by David Chalmers, is an easy read despite its page count, and that’s because it doesn’t have much philosophical insight and because it’s pitched to an introductory level of philosophical sophistication. I enjoyed the halftone cartoons throughout, such as a portrayal of Descartes’s E......more

Goodreads review by Johnny on March 29, 2022

3.5 rounded up. This is a 465 page book that could and should have been edited to 200 pages. Still, I encountered a ton of interesting and fun speculations on the nature of reality and the limits of knowledge and it was worth the effort.......more

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