Life can be as complicated or as simple as you want to make it. The existence of romantic, harebrained academics with nothing better to do but play around with words to see if they can come up with some earth shattering profound proverb which will leave everyone in a state of awe and admiration is a reality, but a reality best consigned to the ''irrelevant trivia'' department of the brain. People working hard to put bread on the table and to clothe their family is also a reality, surgeons battling to save people on the operating table, police officers putting their lives on the line trying to keep a lid on the terrorist threat and crime wave are, also realities but ones to be given respectful prominence and priority.

Perception is our means of experiencing reality. To truly believe the debate statement, one must engage in solipsism which, if taken literally and completely, expresses in various forms of insanity. Even if there were some means to test and indicate that perception itself alters that which is perceived, we would only know it through our perception. Furthermore, we commonly witness others who perceive incorrectly, which would not be possible if the debate statement were true.