Out of Body
According to a story today in the New York Times (free reg. req., blah blah), scientists have begun to examine how humans construct their sense of self by combining the inputs of their various senses, and apparently have been able to trigger an ‘out of body’ experience using virtual reality techniques to trick the mind into attributing sensation to a virtual body. It seems to me that this is a bit like what happens to amputees that feel pain in their missing limbs. It does suggest that reports by people who have suffered traumatic accidents of a sensation of floating and looking down on their body don’t necessarily require a supernatural explanation.
