Ten cents version of Science: First, you create a made-up or theoretical (or Platonic) reality. It can be on a small scale, which you can call a hypothesis, or on a large scale, and call it a Theory. Then you ask: is it really Reality? Using your theory, you then put people in your Platonic Universe and ask them too look around and tell you what they see.

Using your theory about how this Platonic World works, you can ask them to make all sorts of exotic machines to make better and better "observations." These theoretical "observations" form the PREDICTIONS of your theory. If your Platonic people see what people in the real Reality actually see, then you have confirmation that your theory just might be correct.

If the theory is confirmed enough, then, when you look around at Reality, you can say that you "see" the world to be exactly they way your theory says it is, in terms of its conceptual meaning.

I know, this is not a "short burst."