If there are ten people seated in a circle in a room ...?

Question

...and they all look at an apple which is placed on a table the center of the circle...

...as a result of light that is being reflected off the apple entering the visual system of each individual, the apple would exist in the mind of each of the people as ten slightly different images...

... it would look like an apple from ten different perspectives.

Is it one apple, or ten apples? Do the people only ‘see’ an image of the apple? Is it possible to see the ‘real’ apple?

Then... if all the people in the room closed their eyes...

...what would the apple ‘look’ like now that no one was looking at it?

If there was still light being reflected off the apple but this light was not being focused into the awareness of any conscious being... would the apple potentially become an infinite projection limited only by the walls of the room?

...And what if the room was made completely dark...

...what would the apple look like then?

In what form does an object exist when it cannot be seen? Can we even comprehend this form?

Is the ‘real’ apple beyond our perception, considering we are limited to experiencing the apple through the minds interpretation of our various senses?

Answer 1

Intense...That's no fair it's not a single question but something someone could write an entire thesis on!

Write your own thesis :P lol

Answer 2

That's like the movie patch adams, at the beginning with that guy "How many fingers am I holding up?" every one says 4, though he says it's 8, because you have two eyes...

An apple would still be an apple in the dark...we have 5 senses, so we can figure out it's shape, just not it's colored.  Kinda like the dinosaurs, We know there shape, we just do not know there color.  What if the same color you see is different they way I see it...

like what if your eyes see yellow when it is really red, though your just so used to calling the yellow red, that it is red....(in thoery)What then???

Answer 3

The apple is one thing.

The concept of an apple is another.  This concept is a universal we can all access to connect our cognitive capacity to physical reality.

Answer 4

The apple is a mass of electrons protons and nucleus's formed by a tree.  There are plant cells which are organized by the dna strands from the atoms etc. This mass contains matter which is physically touchable and visible.  It is visible because the light bounces off the mass that are the cells made of atoms made of electrons neutrons and other particals. The frequency that the light's waves oscillate create the colors that are typical of apples.

This apple will appear different only to living organisms due to the structure of their visual cortex and eyes.  Bees can see different parts of the light spectrum than humans.  Ei,  X-ray ultraviolet etc. Humans would only see this apple differently if they were color blind or had some other deficiency.

if the room was dark there would be no light matter to bounce off.

Answer 5

The apple is not completely symmetrical. So, every angle would produce a different perception of the object. Depending on the angle the light spectrum is pointing another perception would be interpreted by all 10 participants. If the room was dark enough that not a single participant could view the apple.  Each participant could argue the apple does not exist based on sight. But, can we verify its existence through smell?  

Answer 6

Any object remains what it is regardless of any observer.

Answer 7

...the apple has ten perspective views...multiplied by each senses and

it increases ten fold...

...and all it took was an apple...

Answer 8

dude. it's a freaken fruit  

Answer 9

What are the people doing there?  For what purpose are they gathered together in a room, sitting in a circle around a table, looking at an apple?  Are any of them hungry?  Is anyone having a bad hair day?  What time is it?  Where is this taking place?  Are there any really attractive women in the group, and how are they dressed?  Has anyone been drinking?  Did anyone get fired from their job recently?  What day of the week is it?  How clean is the room?  Did anyone have chicken for lunch?

Answer 10

So many questions to ponder! Most could be answered by: It depends on each person's senses, gifting and perception.

Answer 11

Beyond our perception there must be "something," there's just no way to say exactly what it is!  It's not "nothing," but it's not the same thing we see with our perception either.

Answer 12

Its still just one apple, what if someone went in to the room and stole all the apples off the table while they all had thier eyes closed?

how many apples would they leave with? one

You said it yourself: "it would look like an apple from ten different perspectives."

It would be ten perspectives, not actual apples

Answer 13

The object exists, no matter if someone or no one is looking at it.  It exists on many planes.  To the ten people in the room, it is one apple and exists in one visual recognition by each person viewing it.  Because it is three-dimensional, and because human eyes are used to things being in three dimensions, not one or two, the average human mind can comprehend that this image of the apple can vary, with each individual viewing it, and the lighting that is on the object.

Since we can comprehend the existence of the apple within the parameters of our senses, what we perceive, is what it is to us.