Is perception reality?

[Tiberius]

Reality requires a conciousness, or perhaps perception is requiring that.

Saying reality requires a consciousness is ridiculous. Reality existed long before humans were around (of that we have proof) and long before any form of life was around (again, we have proof). Are people forgetting that reality is "the set of all things which are real". Reality doesn't simply cease to exist because no conscious mind is thinking about it.

There is a famous quote by Philip K. Dick which goes: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."

I'd say that reality both requires a good level of perception and consciousness to understand, but in terms of existence, reality requires neither. In fact both consciousness and perception are in the set of reality (in that they are real), not the other way around.