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> Does the universe require perception in order for there to be existence?

If you use big bang theory, the universe existed prior to observers perceiving it. So there was existence and no perception. Perception appears to have evolved out of existence. The story of the big bang is sort of neat. It looks like many fundamental particles didn't exist until the time was right for them to come into being.

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> If you use big bang theory, the universe existed prior to observers perceiving it.

That would depend on the definition of perception. Does a nail perceive being struck by the hammer? To say otherwise would presume that humanity's form awareness is somehow special, and not simply a more complicated interaction between ourselves and the universe than is the nail's with the hammer.

I suspect you might be right, but it could water down the term. In such a case, everything is perceiving all the time.

I was using the more traditional definition of perception.

That is exactly the intended sense of perception in my statement.

You have, er, nailed it

That's why physicists talk about interaction rather than perception.

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