alt Hacker NewsMy friend, you are blundering into metaphysics here - ceci n’est pas une pipe, the map is the territory, and all that.
We are no more in touch with physical reality than an LLM, unless you are in the habit of pressing your brain against things. Everything is interpreted through a symbolic map.
when photons strike your retina, they are literally striking brain tissue that is been pushed outward into the skull front window. Eyes are literally the brain, so yes, we are pressing it against things to "see" them.