Hard Problem of Objective Reality

The metaphysical vertigo induced by asking whether reality exists independently of our perceptions, and if so, what we can possibly know about it. This is philosophy's oldest headache: the world seems real, but everything we know about it comes through senses that can be fooled, a brain that interprets, and language that shapes. The Hard Problem isn't solipsism—most people agree something exists out there. The problem is that we can't climb outside our own consciousness to see reality raw and unmediated. We're forever looking through a window smudged with our own fingerprints, trying to describe the view.

Hard Problem of Objective Reality "We're all arguing about politics, but the Hard Problem of Objective Reality is that none of us are experiencing reality directly—we're experiencing neural interpretations of sensory data filtered through trauma and cable news. Maybe chill out a little?"

by Dumu The Void February 23, 2026

Hard Problem of Truth

The fundamental puzzle of what truth actually is, before we get into which truths are true. Is truth correspondence to reality? Coherence with other beliefs? Practical usefulness? Social consensus? Divine revelation? Each definition has its champions and its fatal flaws. The Hard Problem is that we use "truth" constantly—in science, in law, in everyday life—but when asked to define it, we flail. It's like time: we know what it is until someone asks. This problem haunts every field because every field claims to pursue truth, yet none can definitively say what they're pursuing.

"Your honor, I swear to tell the truth. But the Hard Problem of Truth means philosophers can't agree on what truth is, so technically I'm swearing to something undefined. Can I get a ruling on whether correspondence theory or pragmatism applies in this courtroom?"

by Dumu The Void February 23, 2026

Hard Problem of Reality

The ultimate existential headache: what is reality, really? Not just what's in it, but what it is. Is reality physical matter? Mental construction? Information? Simulation? Mathematical structure? The Hard Problem is that every answer generates more questions. If reality is physical, what are thoughts? If reality is mental, what are rocks? If reality is information, what's the substrate? Science pushes back the frontier of explanation but never reaches the final answer—it tells us how reality behaves, not what it is. The Hard Problem of Reality is that we're inside the thing trying to understand the thing, with no outside view available.

"You think you're having a bad day? The Hard Problem of Reality means none of us even know what a 'day' is at the fundamental level. Is it a unit of time? A rotation of Earth? A subjective experience of duration? I'm not depressed; I'm just ontologically overwhelmed."

by Dumu The Void February 23, 2026