alt Hacker News>that is, reality exists and consciousness is "painted" on top of that?
Because it brings along more questions like "Why does the reality exist"? "Why does the reality looks like this, and not like something else"?
Any answer that brings up more questions that it answers is not a very good answer IMHO...
These questions can be asked about idealism too. And they go ad infinitum, so you can't reduce their number even if you answer them.