From a New York Times article:
Using virtual reality goggles, a camera and a stick, scientists have induced out-of-body experiences — the sensation of drifting outside of one’s own body — in healthy people, according to experiments being published in the journal Science.
Link to links to articles here.
Doesn’t this make you want to go out and buy some VR goggles, a camera, and a stick? Seriously if someone set up a stand in a mall to do this, I’d want a ride. Reminds me of a story my dad told me about how he would sell electric shocks to the local kids instead of lemonade. It makes me worry, however, whether someday they will be able to induce Alien abduction experiences as well. Might not be quite as pleasant.
And would you believe them when they told you the alien abduction experience wasn’t real?
Honestly? Despite its many, many, many flaws, I think I’ll stick to good old reliable reality. Before you ask me why, you should read Haruki Murakami’s Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
FYI: A new reference to bacon.
Bacn term for unread email that is not quite spam
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/08/bacn-those-email-messages-youll-never.html
have you ever heard of dimethyltryptamine (DMT)? it is a powerful hallucinogen, and it has been hypothesized that it invokes the typical alien abduction experience. though i have never tried it, my interest is entirely recreational: to me, the Terence McKenna and Timothy Leary types are placing far too much trust in their subjective experiences, and the value of these drugs is purely entertainment-oriented. hence the inescapable urge for me to inform you.
Dave, still rosy about your tablet PC?