Georgina
"whether the experienced output is reality or not is a matter of definition"
How can an individual articulated perception be a reality, whatever label one might use? It is not, in any sense of the word, physically existent-unless one considers the noise made when speaking, or the writing created when noting it down....which is obviously not what you mean. Even as a refined collective articulated perception, ie knowledge, it is not a reality.
"The data and the output are on different sides of a reality interface. I.e. the reality on each side of the interface is of a different type or one might say a different facet of the Entirety of reality"
Not so. As I said above, and is somewhat obvious anyway (ie I am not saying something mysterious), the input is physically existent phenomena. The output is perception/knowledge thereof, ie something which is not physically existent. Furthermore, the concern is about the physics, not the biological, physiological, psychological, sociological processes. Which is what that processing of input to output is. Your experience of the world while you are awake is a perception of input received from reality. Assuming you were paying attention, etc, it may well be one that corresponds well with the actual input, but the point is that the latter was physically existent, the former is not.
As I said, it is irrelevant to physics in that it is not part of the physical process which we are trying to unravel. But unfortunately(!) it has to be the start point, because the only way we have awareness of anything is via the sensory processes and that subsequent processing, which may of itself alter the input in terms of a depiction as to what it was. But that is not a physical process. Put simply, if sentient organisms as the recipient could be eliminated from the process, then the physically existent phenomena as received would be 'available'. Not forgetting that while these are an existent reality, they are only a representation of the existential reality. Which is the real issue. There is a reality of light, noise, vibration, heat, etc which are representations of the reality of what actually occurred.
It is only "highly relevant to relativity" because relativity conflates light reality and existential reality. That is, the differential which is attributed to 'time' is actually the differential of light travel delay. This is also why c is the speed limit, etc, etc, because what is being considered is the reality of light, not existential reality. Which, again, was my point behind glass of yellow liquid. That is a photon effect based representation of what is actually there (or was there!). Or, cease light, and physical existence still continues, sentient organisms just cannot see it anymore-now there is a clue. The machinations that ensue with eyesight, brain function, memory, culture, etc, etc are just a 'sideshow' and irrelevant to the physics, which ceased when the phenomena were received by the sensory system.
Paul
