What is it we mean, or what is it which leads us to say, that the objects we perceive are external to us, and not a part of our own thoughts?
“In the warehouse of a local weed control agency in rural America, someone discovers several drums of a 15-year-old chemical once used to sterilize soil. The drums are taken to a remote area and left there. A rifle shot rings out. A drum explodes. Had the drums been jarred while at the warehouse, several people would have been killed, for the drums of obsolete chemicals had slowly, imperceptibly, turned into time bombs.”
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | “Hazardous Wastes” (1975)