What REALLY exists???

[Garrett]

You've probably heard our hero "big chatty forehead" say that the government doesn't exist because it's just an intellectual concept and has no basis in physical reality. Alternatively, he claims that "cars" and "clouds" exist.

People might form a group that is collectively identified as the concept of "government."

Hmmmm....

Isn't a car also just a concept? Some molecules might come together in any number of configurations to be collectively identified by the concept of "car." Similarly a bunch of water molecules (with some other molecule types to act as condensation anchors) might come together to be collectively identified as a "cloud." But aren't they also just concepts?

How about "person?" A colony of biological cells which have come together to form what we conceptually call "human being?" Those cells don't even all share the same DNA. *Kilograms* of you are symbiotes in your gut, and their DNA isn't even in the same genetic ballpark with your homo sapien DNA. And the symbiote portion of the "person" colony can vary drastically from one person to the next.

 

So how does a "person" become something that exists in reality, and not just a concept? Would it be a collection of molecules that have a crisply defined configuration? "Person" and "car" are pretty difficult to get a hard definition. "Cloud" might be extremely hard.

 

I was then tempted to say, "OK, only atoms, molecules and photons exist in reality." But then ugh, quantum physics says, "not so fast genius boy!" OK, Fine! Only wave functions exist in reality, then! The wave functions sometimes collapse into photons, electrons, muons, quarks, etc. But what about string theory?? Dark matter? Dark energy. AAARRRGH! Forget it! I give up. Nothing exists in reality!! I've become a radical relativist. Maybe I should be kicked off the board. OK, maybe I'll hold off going completely crazy. Maybe my FDR family will save me from the abyss! Save me all you rationalists!! Just kidding about the relativist thing. A little humorous drama is what every dry philosophical question needs, right?

[ofd]

Existence isn't a predicate. Saying there is a tree and it exists doesn't add any additional information. Either the tree is there or it is not. Saying that it exists doesn't add anything.

 

Quote

How about "person?" A colony of biological cells which have come together to form what we conceptually call "human being?"

Those cells have a purpose. Passing on your DNA to the next generation. The purpose is not only doing their job, but doing a job for a goal, that is procreation.

[Boss]

I think its about recognizing the difference between concepts and physical reality

A specific set of atoms = individual

A specific set of atoms = buildings

A specific set of atoms = car

These all exist in physical reality whereas concepts like the government are not created by atoms and do not exist in physical reality. Like I can see trump, mike pence and the white house. I dont see "government" because its just a concept. Maybe another way to look at it is A squirrel can see individual and the white house but they dont recognize the concept "government" since its not physical reality, its just a concept.

Now, you can call these specific atoms whatever you want. Like all individuals have their own set of atoms(think fingerprints?) so we all have names like Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Stefan Molynuex 

You can tell what really exist through the senses, reason and evidence. Its clear things are different and exist. Its easier to use language to differentiate from them, Instead of saying the specific set of atoms or wave lengths.

[Mole]

I think Boss is right. However I would add that the specific set of atoms must form some greater function and can't just be arbitrary. Otherwise could say that an eraser in Chile, Kim Jong Un's nail clipper and a corkscrew in Italy are all a specific set of atoms that form something I call "International Eraser-nailclipper-corkscrew" (IENC). We could also say government is literally Trump and Pence combined. Even though these set of atoms can be defined and exist, it's absurd to say that IENC exists. The reason being is because IENC does not have any function.

Some examples of things that do have a function: A tree serves a function of growing which bark or carbon molecules alone cannot do. A car serves a function of transportation which an engine cannot do alone.

We can see that for something to have a function it must be 

1. connected by cause and effect which IENC is not, (maybe this proves that everything that exists is temporal?)
2. and form a pattern, like the line that forms between the sea and a beach.

All these functions are objectively distinguishable. A government however does not serve a function greater than its parts. Its still a bunch of individuals pointing guns at people. A bunch of bananas does not serve some greater function either so a collection of bananas does not exist.

Just my idea, not any sort of expert.