Probably everybody on this board has at least heard of these so called "out of body experiences" or "near death experiences" that people sometimes claim to experience under various conditions. There was an interesting report in the fall of 2002 that doctors in Switzerland were apparently able to repeatedly induce such an out of body experience in a patient while treating her for seizures. Here's a quote...
"Neurology researchers in Switzerland report the case of a woman who described "floating above her own body and watching herself" while she was undergoing testing and treatment for epilepsy. The strange experience only occurred when one particular part of her brain, the angular gyrus in the right cortex, was stimulated with an electrode. And it happened every time the angular gyrus was stimulated."
The experiment was widely reported in the popular media and on the net. For those interested here's a link to an article about it on CNN's website.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/09/19/coolsc.outofbody/index.html
What I find most interesting about this discovery was the conclusion drawn by pretty much all of the popular media that the whole exercise had proved that "out of body experiences" are all "in you head" and that there is nothing more to them than that.
I'd like to suggest that maybe they missed something more fundamental in how the human beings are "embedded" into whatever "reality" actually is. Perhaps in triggering this part of the brain the patient did not simply imagine that she was looking down on her self. Perhaps.. just maybe, her consiousness was in fact physically displaced from her body and she really was looking down on her self while the doctor's operated. Crazy idea you say... maybe... maybe not...
There is a really easy way to test this hypotheses. I'd like to suggest that the experiment be repeated. This time have the patient lying on the floor underneath a large desk. On top of the desk layout some playing cards, or shapes, or pictures, or whatever. Now while the patient is lying under the desk she can not see what you put on the desk and therefore can't tell you what cards or shapes are there. Now induce an out of body experience. If it is in fact all "in her head" she still should not be able to identify anything you have put on the table. But if her consiousness has in some sense been displaced from her body such that she is in fact looking down on her self from the top of the room she should be able to "see" the desk and the cards and shapes on top of it. If the patient can identify the cards and shapes while the the out of body experince is being induced you have proof that it is not all just "inside their head" and that something radically more fundamental is happening.
If true it would be an astounding discovery and cause many to rethink the construct of reality itself and how the human mind "interfaces" with it. Personally I'd bet the result of the experiment could easily go either way with 50/50 odds for either outcome...
"Neurology researchers in Switzerland report the case of a woman who described "floating above her own body and watching herself" while she was undergoing testing and treatment for epilepsy. The strange experience only occurred when one particular part of her brain, the angular gyrus in the right cortex, was stimulated with an electrode. And it happened every time the angular gyrus was stimulated."
The experiment was widely reported in the popular media and on the net. For those interested here's a link to an article about it on CNN's website.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/09/19/coolsc.outofbody/index.html
What I find most interesting about this discovery was the conclusion drawn by pretty much all of the popular media that the whole exercise had proved that "out of body experiences" are all "in you head" and that there is nothing more to them than that.
I'd like to suggest that maybe they missed something more fundamental in how the human beings are "embedded" into whatever "reality" actually is. Perhaps in triggering this part of the brain the patient did not simply imagine that she was looking down on her self. Perhaps.. just maybe, her consiousness was in fact physically displaced from her body and she really was looking down on her self while the doctor's operated. Crazy idea you say... maybe... maybe not...
There is a really easy way to test this hypotheses. I'd like to suggest that the experiment be repeated. This time have the patient lying on the floor underneath a large desk. On top of the desk layout some playing cards, or shapes, or pictures, or whatever. Now while the patient is lying under the desk she can not see what you put on the desk and therefore can't tell you what cards or shapes are there. Now induce an out of body experience. If it is in fact all "in her head" she still should not be able to identify anything you have put on the table. But if her consiousness has in some sense been displaced from her body such that she is in fact looking down on her self from the top of the room she should be able to "see" the desk and the cards and shapes on top of it. If the patient can identify the cards and shapes while the the out of body experince is being induced you have proof that it is not all just "inside their head" and that something radically more fundamental is happening.
If true it would be an astounding discovery and cause many to rethink the construct of reality itself and how the human mind "interfaces" with it. Personally I'd bet the result of the experiment could easily go either way with 50/50 odds for either outcome...
