| Summary: | By what empirical means can a person determine whether he or she ispresently awake or dreaming? Subjecting the experienced reality to astatistical test for bizarreness requires a set of baselinemeasurements. In a dream or in a simulation, those would be vulnerableto tampering by the same processes that give rise to the experiencedreality, making the outcome of a reality test impossible to trust.Moreover, cryptographic defenses against tampering cannot be reliedupon, because of the potentially unlimited reach of realitymodification, which may range from the integrity of the verificationkeys to the declared outcome of the entire process.Although the rational course of action in the face of this doublepredicament is to take reality at face value, even the most revealinginsight that a person may gain into the ultimate nature of reality(for instance, by attaining enlightenment) is ultimately unreliable,for the reasons just mentioned. However, to adhere to this principle,one has to be aware of it, which may not be possible in various statesof altered cognitive function (e.g., dreaming). Thus, a subjectivelyenlightened person may still lack the one truly important piece of thepuzzle concerning his or her existence.
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