Do you ever really touch anything?

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
We touch the brown stuff on the side of the... oh! never mind. 😘

< meditating with a 54-syllabic mantra to keep the above mental image from taking form.

Originally posted by Arachnoidfreak
Science says no, I don't touch anything really, not even other people.

But goddamn, does a pair of lips feel good on.................

The rest of that sentence is not even close to PG-13. I'll leave that up to your imaginations.

Originally posted by Scoobless
if you want to get right down to it, we're all just a collection of atoms , electrons... blah, blah, blah... nothing is really solid, so we don't touch anything

but so what? i can feel the difference between wood and metal by placing my hand on it, i can taste the difference between chocolate and chicken... just because the molecules don't actually slam into each other doesn't change anything

there is a diference a big one to because even if you do "
think" that you touching if you did touch we would stick together you know my hand would stick to the wall or my tounge would stick to the piece of chicken i was trying to eat

lol

since when did our sense of touch have anything to do with atoms?

omg, there is space between atoms, omg, we dont touch things!!!!

Originally posted by Adam_PoE
According to quantum physics, no, we never actually touch anything.

it is true though

It has nothing to do with quantum physics.... People just like to throw that out when they talk about atoms.

There are nuclear energy fields that hold molecules together (Is it nuclear or EM at molecule size?), and it is true that it is those fields that interact when molecules get close to each other.

However, the idea that said interaction between the atomic fields of our skin/mechanoreceptors and those in the environment is not "touch" is somewhat odd. I guess it is a language game "ooooh, touch can mean this, so lets redefine the sense of touch to mean literal touching between the nucleus of atoms and mess with people"

Originally posted by inimalist
"ooooh, touch can mean this, so lets redefine the sense of touch to mean literal touching between the nucleus of atoms and mess with people"

Naaaah...it is beyond the electron orbitals in which the atoms/molecules "touch"...not the nucleus. 😛

It is fun to think that nothing actually ever touches...that is why people were talking about it...it IS pretty cool to realize that we don't actually touch electron orbitals to electron orbitals....

Originally posted by dadudemon
Naaaah...it is beyond the electron orbitals in which the atoms/molecules "touch"...not the nucleus. 😛

It is fun to think that nothing actually ever touches...that is why people were talking about it...it IS pretty cool to realize that we don't actually touch electron orbitals to electron orbitals....

lol, thats kind of what I meant. Touch, as it is being used in the title and argumentation of the thread, has two radically different meanings.

We touch lots of things, as far as our sense of touch is defined. As far as literal "touching" is defined, we do not. Presenting the two meanings of "to touch" as though they were equivalent concepts is lame, imho. The whole "paradox" of the thread is based entirely on not knowing how to differentiate the human sense of touch from literal touch of atoms.

Its mind boggling to think of most atomic stuff for me, but since psychological and perceptual things interest me more, you can probably see where I am coming from. I think it is way more interesting to think that every single sensation of touch you have comes from your somatosensory cortex, and is an interpretation of neuron firing patterns. Meaning that pain and pleasure, literally, are the same thing. That back pain? all in your head. Feel hot? thats because your brain is warm.

But for electrons to stimulate each other, there needs to be an interaction in the electrical force between the two. Thus, some form of touching, even if it's just via electrical currents that exist around electrons/atoms

Waves overlapping concurrent.

Originally posted by debbiejo
Waves overlapping concurrent.

Doorknobs shoe-strings bananas. 😐

Yes we do.

We do in the sense that we as Homo sapiens work with bodies that acknowledge physical contact. We touch things because we have the ability to experience the touch. When an atom "touches" another atom, it does not know it has made any kind of contact. In fact, an atom doesn't know even when its not making any contact. Point being, it is not in the nature of an electron, and with that an atom, to understand the phenomenon that is "touch".So the concept of "touch" does not exist in their world. Bodies in the macroscopic world aren't entities existing becaues of themselves, but in this case serve as tools. Tools for the great miracle that is living breathing creature, be it a cockroach or a Homo sapien , can experience contact with the world in a non-macroscopic scale.😊

Originally posted by Punkyhermy
Yes we do.

We do in the sense that we as Homo sapiens work with bodies that acknowledge physical contact. We touch things because we have the ability to [B]experience the touch. When an atom "touches" another atom, it does not know it has made any kind of contact. In fact, an atom doesn't know even when its not making any contact. Point being, it is not in the nature of an electron, and with that an atom, to understand the phenomenon that is "touch".So the concept of "touch" does not exist in their world. Bodies in the macroscopic world aren't entities existing becaues of themselves, but in this case serve as tools. Tools for the great miracle that is living breathing creature, be it a cockroach or a Homo sapien , can experience contact with the world in a non-macroscopic scale.😊 [/B]

well put 🙂

Related question: Do we ever really touch anything in the present? By the time the neural signal registers, a fraction of a second has gone by.

For that matter, do we even really see anything in the present? Even if something is an inch away, it still takes light a finite amount of time to cross the distance.

😮‍💨

Originally posted by Mindship
Related question: Do we ever really touch anything in the present? By the time the neural signal registers, a fraction of a second has gone by.

For that matter, do we even really see anything in the present? Even if something is an inch away, it still takes light a finite amount of time to cross the distance.

😮‍💨

Reality is all in our head. 😉

Originally posted by Mindship
Related question: Do we ever really touch anything in the present? By the time the neural signal registers, a fraction of a second has gone by.

For that matter, do we even really see anything in the present? Even if something is an inch away, it still takes light a finite amount of time to cross the distance.

😮‍💨

"conscious" perception of touch is delayed about 500ms

Sight about 300ms

However, we are able to react to some things very quickly (reflex arcs and the like) but it is done without conscious perception.

But yes, it is all entirely in our head.

Isn't it said that we really don't touch anything like we think we do? Isn't that the new science?

Originally posted by Hit_and_Miss
I agree with atlantis... While my brain tells me I've touched something physics tells otherwise...

its all a matter of interpretation... while a simplicity tells we are touching, long winded science tells us otherwise...

My brain is telling me when I am touching something (unless my hand goes numb and I cannot feel what I am touching), but I also know that we cannot put our hand through a solid object like a wall.

Peace,
Amanda

Well, if we are talking about atoms, then they do not touch other atoms. They are just very close. I mean, the only thing that doesn't allow you to pass throught a wall is electric repulsion. You do not acctually touch the atoms of the wall.

Originally posted by Spelljammer
Yes because when you touch the electrons stimuli one another.

Proving we are beings of energy, not flesh and blood.

"Luminous beings are we... not this crude matter!"

I've always thought this question treads similar ground to Zeno's paradox. If you take it down to the smallest measurements, no, probably nothing ever "really" touches any thing else. But only Zeno and Yoda know for sure. My brain hurts now.