The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

Thales of Miletus (624BC to 546BC) is generally considered the first philosopher ever.  He claimed that everything is ultimately made out of water . .um ..  His student, Anaximenes disagreed: the fundamental stuff, he said, is air [more um's].  Another student of Thales, Anaximander (careful you don't confuse him with Anaximenes, you don't wanna look an idiot!), suggested that all things are composed of invisible stuff of unlimited potential that he called apeiron, or “the boundless.” Wow . . at least that sounds kinda more interesting. But then, a few decades later, we have good ol' Heraclitus who claimed everything is ultimately made out of fire. That's as boring as Thales and Anaximenes.
What a load of meaningless drivel.  Thankfully we now have good ol' science that is revealing the true nature of reality!
 
Except I don't think so.  Colours, sounds and smells don't really exist out there? Reality is composed of strings, spacetime continuum, quarks, muons, and other such things? Consciousness doesn't really exist?

Come back Thales, all is forgiven.