What do we mean by “real”? In this episode of The Vancrux Podcast, we question one of the most basic assumptions we make about the world: that we know what reality is. Is something real because we can see, touch or scientifically prove it? What about gravity before we discovered it, dreams that feel completely real, love, money, countries, fictional characters, mathematics or consciousness? We explore realism, idealism, materialism, pragmatism and structural realism, alongside ideas from Descartes, Berkeley, Jung, Anil Seth, John Searle, Eugene Wigner, Max Tegmark and others. We also examine perception, dreams, neuroscience, quantum physics and the possibility that reality is not one single category but a series of different layers—physical, biological, psychological, social and mathematical. Per ...