The Case Against Reality

Nominated for Physics World Book of the Year 2019

“One of the most profound and original thinkers of his generation of cognitive scientists. His astonishing argument has implications for philosophy, science, and how we understand the world around us.” - Steven Pinker

“Is reality virtual? A question made even more interesting by this book.” - Barbara Kiser, Nature

Do we see the world as it really is? In “The Case Against Reality,” cognitive science pioneer Donald Hoffman answers no; we see what we need to survive. Our visual perceptions are not a window to reality, Hoffman shows, but interfaces constructed by natural selection. The objects we see around us are not unlike the file icons on our computer desktops: while they are shaped like a small folder on our screens, the files themselves consist of a series of ones and zeros – too complex for most of us to understand. Similarly, Hoffman argues, evolution has shaped our perceptions into simplified illusions to help us navigate the world around us. Yet now these illusions can be manipulated by advertising and design.

Based on thirty years of Hoffman’s influential research as well as evolutionary biology, game theory, neuroscience, and philosophy, “The Case Against Reality” presents the startling yet entirely convincing argument that the world has nothing to do with what we see through our eyes.