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Out-of-body experience recreated

news.bbc.co.uk — Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience in volunteers.

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  • nandorocker, on 10/10/2007, -31/+85Oh no, everyone's favorite excuse for justifying supernatural BS is dead.
    • Birdoftruth, on 10/10/2007, -22/+12But this doesn't hold up to the fact that people have had them while Brain-dead EEG was shown
      • Wichy, on 10/10/2007, -3/+25I am sure this is not a "fact".
      • AnteChronos, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19The problem there is the use of the term "while". The brain does some funky stuff to force incoming data to appear simultaneous even when it takes longer to process some bits than others. For instance, the brain can process sound much faster than vision, but it manages to time-shift one or the other to make you think you're experiencing both at the same time. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the brain shift something that occurred at the edge of normal brain activity to feel like it occurred during the inactivity itself.

        You might be interested in reading this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Libet Specifically, the section labeled "Subjective backward referral or 'antedating' of sensory experience"
        • sgtbutterscotch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Is it possible one can have a brain that doesn't sync sound with vision?
    • BeefBaron, on 10/10/2007, -10/+32You mean besides the Bible?
      • fyrehart, on 10/10/2007, -8/+28That's been dead for a long time. People just refuse to believe they were wrong.
        • sgtbutterscotch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I refuse to believe that I refuse to believe that I am wrong.
      • blinddonkey, on 10/10/2007, -9/+7You mean besides books. Because more than just the Bible has been used to justify religious ideas. The problem is people, not books.
    • sera18ph, on 10/10/2007, -18/+2Also, there have been cases where someone had been located in one part of the world and the person located in another state/country/etc. had seen them, sometimes even in their own home.
      • AnteChronos, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16Care to cite a reputable source for that? Otherwise it's no more useful a statement than "my friend's cousin's fiancee's barber's neighbor once had an out of body experience. I swear, it's true!"
      • manicleek, on 10/10/2007, -9/+3It is actually a known phenomenan, it is referred to as 'remote viewing' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing
        • AnteChronos, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10It's known in the sense that people know about the concept. However, there has been no conclusive evidence that it's any more real than things like astrology, alchemy, telekinesis, etc.
          • MacEnvy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6And there's a ***** ton of evidence that there's no such thing as remote viewing. Every time they've done a test, it ends up proving the "psychic" wrong. Successful tests have always, ALWAYS, been proven to be statistically insignificant or merely cheating. For more info on people who debunk false psychics, check out James Randi:
            http://www.randi.org/
    • Pritchard, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Can't agree with that. The description on this is really different from the type of out-of-body experience I had. I really didn't feel a thing, time seemed to slow down quite a lot and I was able to look around me without people noticing, like I wasn't even there. Uhm, then I fell asleep due to shock. In my opinion, I was hallucinating, barely awake and unable to control my body because my mind woke up before the rest of my body (sleep paralysis).
      • wendelgee2, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9Was that right after you saw Britney Spears getting out of a limo? ((;))
      • jonnyeh, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11This story implies that if they can recreate one form of OBE, there's no reason why other forms can't also be explained by brain malfunction too. No OBE is exactly the same, since no brain or malfunction is exactly the same.
    • danarama, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1not BS it's your third eye, internal perception. i dream and at points it's like i broke through something and i 'see' very clearly like i'm in a space, a room. lucid dreaming is real and similar to these experiences.
      • specialK16, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Lucid dreaming is real and possible, but it has nothing to do with out of body experiences or astral projection or any ***** like that. You are just aware of your dream and thus you can control it.
    • TheFinaleofSeem, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8And you didn't even read the article, did you? They use VR and cameras to give you the illusion that you're staring at your own body and feeling the touches on it while you watch. It's nowhere near the same thing as, say, a near-death experience, which doesn't involve any kind of technology. Why do stupid trolls like this guy get dugg up?
      • AladinSane, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1Because the first person in EVERY thread gets Dugg Up. And the first person to make a totally irrelevant attack on Religion always gets Dugg Up. And the moron with the biggest Friends list (also filled with morons) always gets Dugg Up.
      • tech42er, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Finale, don't you understand the point of the experiment? They used the technology to induce an OBE, in otherwise healthy volunteers. 'Real' OBE's most likely work the same way, with the brain circuits disconnected, so you feel as if you're outside your body.
  • dinostabOMG, on 10/10/2007, -4/+49I think what's interesting about this is mentioned in the article:

    "The researchers say their findings could have practical applications, such as helping take video games to the next level of virtuality so the players feel as if they are actually inside the game."

    That could be AWESOME. Strap on a Wiimote and feel like you've become Link?
    • zizzy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17What happens when you die in a game...
      • boris92, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1Well its still a game isn't it?
      • N10E, on 10/10/2007, -4/+69IF YOU DIE IN THE GAME YOU DIE FOR REAL
        • WallnutBoy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1***** I just lost the game for the first time in ages.. =(
      • Angel700, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8The body can't live without the mind...
      • Samburger, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Take the Blue pill, NEO!
      • joel182, on 10/10/2007, -0/+16If you die in Canada, you die in real life.
      • sgtbutterscotch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You respawn in real life.
    • thcobbs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9I don't know.... Max Payne would be one ***** UP game to become the lead character in.
      • jonnyeh, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2or bioshock /sorry
      • h4mx0r, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Oh *****, ***** nightmare levels :(

        LET ME OUT OF THIS GAME!
    • je12u, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Anyone remember the movie Brainscan w/ the kid from Terminator 3??
    • endlessoul, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I would go as far as saying that this is the beginnings of Next-Gen. Controllers will play a smaller part, but VR may be what's next.
    • CatalystGhost, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Didn't we go through this already with LSD?
    • DarKnight90, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Hopefully the Wii will have nothing to do with it.
    • ManIs5, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Hey kids -- If you haven't read Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt" -- one of the stories in "The Illustrated Man" -- check it out. It's this video game, VR, out-of-body thing exactly, but predicted about 50 years ago. A good read even for those who don't read much.
  • zizzy, on 10/10/2007, -5/+120Imagine the possibilities this opens for porn.
    • crazymonkey1, on 10/10/2007, -2/+36I like the way you think.
    • bodger, on 10/10/2007, -1/+31Wouldn't in-body be better for that?
    • Justizzle, on 10/10/2007, -17/+0I can hear the advertisement now:

      Background: "Now, you can have sex with your favorite porn star!"
      (Enter some guy)
      Some Guy: "I like [random porn star]"
      (Enter some other guy)
      Some other Guy: "I chose [other random porn star]"
      Background: Male or Female, it doesn't matter, [product name] is fun for everyone!
      (Enter some girl)
      Some Girl: "[product name] is so much better than my boyfriend"
      Background: Fun for parties, even something the whole family can enjoy...

      NO, WRONG...

      But, something like that...
      • Herv3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I could see this in Robocop 4.
      • endlessoul, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8I guess that sounded better in your head.
        • Justizzle, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2I guess it looked better in the comment box...
    • nubtard, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6I knew it was coming..
    • jedikv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4It will be like futurama - where the guy is doing that hologram till he dies.
    • fuzzmeister, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Giggity
  • davidmwe, on 10/10/2007, -8/+16This proves nothing, although maybe useful. Did those that experience an out-of-body experience have on 3D googles, cameras and monitors all around them? The sensation of falling is not falling itself.
    • kinerry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3look up "the god helmet"
    • indicas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5"The sensation of falling is not falling itself" isn't that the point? sensation without true experience.
    • vertinox, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Given enough psychedelic drugs you will think you are having an out of body experience.

      But its just that... Drugs... Nothing spiritual about it.

      Same thing here.
  • bigmacholmes, on 10/10/2007, -2/+63D googles? Is this something new i haven't heard about?
    • meatmcguffin, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14reply button? Is this something new you haven't heard about?
    • meatmcguffin, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Sorry, i didn't RTFA and thought you were replying to the guy above you. As for the 3D goggles, they've bee around since 1994ish but i can't remember hearing about a pair that didn't make you sick or, in the case of the Virtual Boy, blind.
      • superbad, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3But when did they invent 3D googles? Are they still in beta?
        • meatmcguffin, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9So he *was* replying to the guy above him! I retract my apology and demand pie
  • crazymonkey1, on 10/10/2007, -6/+0To anyone saying this proves nothing, it is merely a replication. Most people who have an out of body experience are dreaming, which is like a pair of 3D goggles except it's in your imagination. I think something that would be cool about this is if we could alter our bodies by replicating ourselves and watching ourselves "grow buff" or get skinny as a hologram. Highly unlikely, but it does tickle my curiosity.
    • YouAreNumber6, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Are you from Mars? I grok your method.
  • zeromancer, on 10/10/2007, -2/+72"...a dream-like state or use of alcohol or drugs."

    when are people going to understand that alcohol is as much of a drug as anything else?
  • jlebrech, on 10/10/2007, -10/+2That's the theory of an immortal soul dashed to peices!!
  • illusiv, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6110/10 for providing the most confusing diagram possible.
  • brharri1, on 10/10/2007, -2/+22Wait, doesn't the fact that rec. drugs induce OBE's indicate that it is entirely chemical? What's new here?
    • cannonstar, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1I think drugs has an indirect effect on OBE. If Drugs could trigger OBEs, then every drug users would report an OBE after each trip. I'm not too sure about this explanation and I hope someone will correct me on this, but drugs tends to alter your perception of yourself and the world surrounding you, let's say if you're on acid and riding in a car (as a passenger, of course) You would experience the world moving at a slower or faster rate, depending on the trip you're having, and you might receive the information of the environment faster or slower than you're receiving information of your self, and that creates a gap in your sense of placement in time and space and might trigger a OBE in a sense that the brain hasn't corrected the data it's receiving.

      I don't really believe drugs can induce a real OBE in this way, although I've heard of people swearing they had a genuine OBE on drugs.
      • hungryhermit, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7He's not talking about the street drugs you and your loser friends take.
        • cannonstar, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Hmm, he is talking about recreational drugs, and last I checked, street drugs is just another name for recreational drugs.
      • itzac, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I suspect we're talking about SOME drugs (and maybe combinations) for SOME people, suggesting the some people are more susceptible to this experience than others. This is also a somewhat different OBE from the typical near-death/floating-around/one-with-the-universe experience most people have heard about. These experiments really only illustrate one part of the common OBE.
    • catalysis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8DMT induces an out of body experience every time in every user. Meaning you walk around in a dream-like state, meet creatures with different personalities, etc.
      • MacEnvy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4That's why it's classified as a dissociative. That's what dissociatives do.
    • moxley, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Just because drugs can chemically alter the way the brain is working with the result of producing certain effects, does not mean that that is ALL that is happening when this occurs.

      There is so much we don't understand about how the brain works, what the nature of reality and conciousness is - how they work, what is really happening, etc. We know very little.

      Additionally, what that article refers to as "Out of Body Experiences" that they are generating isn't quite the same thing as the naturally occurring ones people experience (as I understand it) based on descriptions of both.

      Interesting research nonetheless.
      • cespee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1As Huxley wrote in the "Doors of Perception", maybe the brain doesn't let you perceive more things, but is eliminative or keeps perceptions out enabling you to focus on this one world in the here and now. If you make this assumption, then a drug could just shut down some brain neurons and let you experience more sensations. Thus, the fact that a drug may produce a sensation like an OBE doesn't prove necessarily that all OBE's are bogus.
    • br0ck, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Actually, as anyone who's heard Joe Rogan's lucid rant on the topic would know, OBEs themselves are thought to simply be the result of the pineal gland releasing DMT into the brain as the person is approaching death.

      Or for a more official source.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine#Speculations -- "Dr. Rick Strassman, while conducting DMT research in the 1990s at the University of New Mexico, advanced the theory that a massive release of DMT from the pineal gland prior to death or near death was the cause of the near death experience (NDE) phenomenon."
  • Zthulu, on 10/10/2007, -4/+15While interesting, this does not address the occurrence of the perception of seeing ones own body during a near death experience. This happened to me during a near-drowning, and was quite spooky. Of course, I am rational enough to know that it was simple hallucination.
    • sera18ph, on 10/10/2007, -10/+6What makes you so sure? It's not like you could ever know for a fact whether you were hallucinating or on your way to the spiritual world that exists beyond our physical mirage. You're just speculating.
      • Yazilliclick, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Speculating based on facts and reasoning. There's no real evidence of spirits so why would somebody speculate that that was the cause? Might as well speculate that aliens temporarily removed his brain and transformed into an invisible gaseous being. Both have about as much basis in fact.
      • EarlOfLade, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Actually no, he is not, you are!

        The moment you start to talk about "spiritual world" you are speculating and to the point of the absurd. There is no such thing, when you die, you die, finito, it's over, the end. Nothing happens after that. Claiming something does, requires some rather extraordinary evidence, do you have such evidence?
        • Birdoftruth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Now you are the one speculating using the fallacy of the inverse.
          X cannot be proven
          therefore X does not exist.
          You are applying that to death. And yes there is various evidence as first hand experiences of afterlife Though your criteria may be strickened to the point where you wish to discard these due to your subjectivity of the matter.
          Testimonials are just not accepted as hard evidence in science and as long as you conform to scientific thinking, you discard a lot of things in life.
    • lcarsdeveloper, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8There was a segment on Penn & Teller: *****! about NDE's, with people claiming to float outside their body and see their dead relatives. The same thing happened to test pilots in simulators being spun around to the point where they black out. Ah Youtube, to the rescue as always: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=714AS39CQ_I
    • itzac, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2RTFA. This describes one specific component of NDEs, and yes these people could see their own bodies, or at least a virtual avatar of it. Basically this demonstrates faults in our assumptions and expectations regarding perception, and shows that weaknesses in our perception can contribute to OBEs.
    • toxicvarn90, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The economist had this story as well but with more detail.

      It says Dr. Blanke simulated OBE's on epileptic patients with an electric current that stimulated a part of the brain called the right angular gyrus. "...the part of the brain in question seems to be involved in integrating inputs from different senses."
  • razorart, on 10/10/2007, -10/+7in oobe experiences people can walk around in that state, visit places they had never seen before and even see their own physical body. people induced with this method cant do any of this, so i hardly think this is a real oobe rather than a mind trick.
    • fyrehart, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Add "allegedly" to every statement you made, and I'll listen to you.
      • Birdoftruth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1so all 20,000 + testimonials was just a lie. Lets be rational here
    • ICSU, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8That's because real OBE is *****.
      • itzac, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3They're quite real, they just aren't what they seem to be. They're much more likely to be caused entirely within the brain than by some supernatural force.
    • razorart, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0if oobe's are real, a dream or just hallucinations i dont know. the fact is that this experiments emulates none of the experiences associated with the oobe, so this was just some mind trick. besides, the people who made the experiment never questioned the existance of oobe experiences, and assumed they were real.
  • judicar, on 10/10/2007, -2/+15i did too, it's called "ketamine"
    • tmc1, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0No kidding, that K is the only way to travel to far-away places.
      • fyrehart, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Salvia.
      • cespee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What's weird to me is that ketamine is an anesthetic. It's used for general anesthesia. It should shut down processes and make you go to sleep. So why are you experiencing MORE things with an anesthetic that should really make all your neurons go to sleep? Does the brain make you experience more things when it's fully working or less? Is that little pill creating all of your experiences, or is your soul creating it and the pill restrains your brain from preventing the experience?
        • specialK16, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2No, it's just your brain not functioning as it should because of the chemicals.
        • Grok22, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1where is the soul located in the body? your mixing science with faith, 2 things that have nothing to do with each other.
    • emjaymj, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That's the first thing that came to mind too
  • cybermort, on 10/10/2007, -6/+5i have another recipe. give me an L. give me an S. give me a D...
  • scrollo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"This experiment suggests that the first-person visual perspective is critically important for the in-body experience. In other words, we feel that our self is located where the eyes are."

    Does this apply to blind people also? Are there cases of the blind having OBEs?
  • crapmatic, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6The definitive out of body experience comes from dimethyltryptamine (DMT), in fact so much so that it was the subject of a research study at the University of Mexico.
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0892819278
    However I guess the odds of DMT being useful for gaming technology are pretty slim.
    • btgoss, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2oh.. THE University of Mexico you say... isn't that a trade school for body work and flashy paint?

      /cheap shot I know.
    • code2joy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1DMT makes ***** come out of the woodwork... At least it did for me. Another recommendable tryptamine is 4-HO-DET (synthetic) and 4-HO-DMT (found in magic mushrooms).
  • mistahroth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2When the technology is advanced enough, virtual reality is going to come back in a big way...
  • Dested, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Yeah, all you have to do is close your eyes for twenty minutes.
  • brooklynboy, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8The only thing that this proves is that people thought they were seeing themselves getting hurt and reacted. They also thought they were looking at a mirror image of themself.

    If they made the "mannequin" do other things - like perhaps, lie down, kiss someone, play sports - and have you observe yourself doing this - then the reaction would be different, and much more accurate to an outer body experience.

    Again, the only thing this proves is that if you see yourself getting hurt, you react. Big deal.
    • itzac, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3These experiments prove that at least one facet of out of body experiences can be induced without any supernatural phenomenon occurring. This suggests that the rest of the experience can be explained naturally as well.
  • thegoodsteer, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1this is similar to what is mentioned in Mary Roach's book "Spook", in which she talks about how this one scientist re-creates "hauntings" in a chamber by emitting a particular frequency of waves (I think 9hz) and it would cause hallucinations and the feelings of being "haunted".
  • nwoantibody, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Infinite pussybilities.
  • Pensador, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3What is the thing "out-of-body"? What is this self? What is it made of? Could this be what is popularly called "the soul"—or even better, a non-physical body?
    • Omano, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Lame..
    • namezod, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Please, shut up.
    • AnteChronos, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8There is no "thing" that is out-of-body. It's an illusion, which is kind of the point.
    • Yazilliclick, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Keep grasping at those straws.
  • tropicflite, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0So an avatar + sensory stimulation = OBE?
  • greenvortex, on 10/10/2007, -3/+5Your consciousness is a result of the organized electrical field within your body. Take away the medium that the field exists in and the field dissipates. Someday it might be possible to transfer your field, intact, into a replica body (organic or not), but for now, if you really did leave your body, the same thing would happen to you that will happen when you die: your organized electrical field will spread out through the cosmos like dust in the wind. Maybe in that state you'll still have some form of consciousness; if so it will be drastically different from what you are experiencing now.
    • MacEnvy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5I dugg you up, but I think it's important to add that this electrical "field" you speak of is really just your neural network, and that the primary engine of thought appears to be both chemical and electrical. But otherwise, interesting comment.
      • tech42er, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yup. As best we know, electrochemical impulses cause everything.
    • AntiMe, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3It gets really interesting when you think about how free will could occur. It means there has to be some external force (the self/soul) that is affecting the electrochemical reactions, but is independent of them (at least somewhat). Otherwise we'd work purely as a machine, following the laws of physics. So, either believe in some ethereal essence called the soul, or accept that you have no free will.
      • itzac, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2For those keeping score, that's two unfounded assumptions, one false dichotomy, and one imposition of a euro-centric world-view, for a total of 4 bunk points. Nice work, AntiMe.
      • tech42er, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Not necessarily. Reality is inherently messy. Impulses can be random. From a biological perspective, I guess you have no 'true' free will, just random electrochemical firings.
  • waz67, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Here's something mildly related, but also fun to do. Get a camera flash unit, one that can be triggered manually to flash. Sit in a dark room for about 10 minutes, until your eyes are completely adjusted to the dark. Then hold your hand up in front of you, trigger the flash (not in your face, point it away from you!), and quickly take your hand away. You'll still "see" your hand in front of you, but your brain will know that it's not really there, giving you a really weird sensation. Next, try crouching down, trigger the flash and then quickly stand up. You'll feel as though you're a midget.
    • mediabias, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2You have a lot of time on your hands :)
  • eangrysmith, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Depending on your perspective, one could infer that the "you" you think you are isn't really located in the body at all.
    • tech42er, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I suppose you're right. Consciousness is obviously an illusion, so where does it rest? It's a thought. Its biological underpinnings rest in your brain (and I suppose throughout your body), but the actual feeling of sensations and thought are not really within your body. It's meta. But that's really getting into philosophy more than biology.
  • code2joy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2BUT IT WAS REAL!!!!!
  • shadow2063, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2You know you could also strap them in a centrifuge like they tested on pilots. They Found that the body shuts down when exposed to extreme conditions and when the pilots awoke they claimed to have supernatural experience or OBEs! Its just a natural thing are body does in danger!
  • LouisMarlowe, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If they can make you think you're inside a game... imagine how freaky Bioshock would be!! All those injections and plasmids...
  • nycmac247, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1
    sure... yeah ... its all fake ...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo_Swann
  • antitab, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Before any more replies proclaiming the death of Spirituality, keep in mind that there have been cases of otherwise-impossible person-to-person communication during the course of an OBE. I've born witness to such cases personally through very good, rather trustworthy friends. I'm as much a skeptic as most of the Digg readership, and I don't even personally believe in any kind of Spirituality, but the possibility remains in the back of my mind, lingering due to situations like the above.
    • Yazilliclick, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Sure there may be such things and at the very least they deserve some scientific investigation. However making the leap to believing in things like spirits and all is a bit of a leap away from logic and doesn't server a purpose. If you've experienced something like what you say then cool, remain curious and look into it but don't feel the need to invent things like magical spirits for what you can't explain.
    • carbonetc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I was going to say the same thing. It's amazing you aren't being dugg down like crazy for just hinting at the possibility.

      This article isn't about what's labeled "astral projection" by the new agers. It's about the phenomenon of feeling disembodied. I'm as curious about the cases of information being somehow transmitted as you are.
      • antitab, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4My favorite story is one of an old friend -- actually, the one who introduced me to astral projection to begin with. She had made plans to meet with her friend at a defined location in the astral. When she arrived, there was nothing there but a rose. She was awakened to the phone ringing. She answered, and it was him on the line, asking if she had gotten his flower.
        :)
        As much of a cynical materialist as I am, things like these give me hope that there might be something greater out there yet.
  • KineticShampoo, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1I've had out of body experiences almost two dozen times. Here's some tips.

    At night sleep around 3 hours past your normal time. It gets to the point where minutes pass by as hours. When you've done that. Try to sleep.

    It'll come naturally, at least for me it does.

    You'll know it works, because you'll hear bees or the sound of paper ripping.
    • rpphoto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I had the out-of-body experience dozens of times as a teenager; I just had to sit still and relax in a chair, sometimes it happened several times a day.
    • specialK16, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Right, that can be many things; sleep deprivation, or for some reason you can trigger sleep paralysis and still be partly awake.
  • seniorfrito, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0"The researchers say their findings could have practical applications, such as helping take video games to the next level of virtuality so the players feel as if they are actually inside the game."

    I like the sound of this.
  • havesometea, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I have a better way. Mix triaminicol with penicillin. But have someone handy to take you to the hospital in case you get a little too close to that pretty light you see.
  • iwastheren05, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Wasnt this ina movie called total recall?
  • spaceman77, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0kinetic shampoo I know what you mean.

    I have suffered bouts of OBE'S in my lifetime until I got some training material from the Monroe Institute.
    Now they don't happen and I am happy. I found them terrifying. I always felt I was dying and would 'awake' screaming'

    I would like to have a more positive one but I'll wait 'till I die. LOL


  • LogicBomB, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2FTA: "Dr Henrik Ehrsson, who led the UCL research, used a similar set-up in his tests and found volunteers had a physiological response - increased skin sweating - when they felt their virtual self was being threatened - appearing to be hit with a hammer."

    That is the best thing I've read all day.
  • omegapoint, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2This effect was pretty thoroughly documented by Ramachandran in "Phantoms in the Brain". Way back in 1999. I find it hard to believe that this researcher hadn't heard about Ramachandran's work.
    • itzac, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Probably the researchers have heard of Ramachandran, but the article's author has not. Also, one of the principles of science is duplication, wherein one scientist attempts to reproduce the another's research as a way to verify that the results and conclusions are sound and accurate.
  • Spankov, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Reading the article it sounds more like that OOBEs have been SIMULATED rather than recreated.
    Dugg down inaccurate.
  • pevensen, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I don't see that this experiment recreates any out-of-body experience. All it shows is that visual stimuli can cause physical sensations. If you see someone touching what you think is your back, your brain expects to feel the touch.

    That seems a far cry from floating up by the ceiling looking down at yourself, etc.
  • kinerry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Look up "The God Helmet"
  • vertice, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2What's so new about DMT ?
    Amazonian indians have been taking it for hundreds of years in the form of Yage.
  • mediabias, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Er ... the problem is that people have experienced these out-of-body episodes WITHOUT WEARING virtual reality goggles. So how do they see themselves lying on an operating table? In some cases they've seen things they couldn't have unless they were consciously moving about.
    • itzac, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Studies have shown your last statement to be completely inaccurate. Unconscious experiences have been induced with screens showing random images placed above and facing away from the subject. Not one subject was able to identify the images shown on the screens during the experience. They saw images, but not the right ones. The images they saw were often not at all involved in the experiment.

      As to your first statement, this experiment involved conscious subjects. Unconscious people could easily be dreaming or hallucinating.
  • rmeddy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The applications can be sweet. Porn, Videogames ,Movies?
  • RocketGib, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I thought Neo already conquered the Matrix?
  • jamesvaughn, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1With all the geeks on this site, I bet I am not the only one who when they were a kid encountered the OBE experiment in Time Life's "Mysteries of the Unknown" series. OK, I probably am the only one who actually TRIED it lol.
  • AladinSane, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0I have never understood why there are so many assholes in the world that want to rob life of every mystery. I mean, seriously, who gives a damn if OBE can be "recreated"? Does it make your lives better, somehow? From what I can tell, the only joy you guys are getting out of it is that you think (erroneously) that OTHER people will have their beliefs shattered because of it. You must live small, bitter, pathetic lives. My guess is that you go to magic shows so you can yell "That's so fake!" at the performers.
    • tech42er, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2So, skeptics, do you want to 'rob life of all its mysteries'? Is that what science is about. Please give a rebuttal to this person. I'll start:

      You're wrong. Science is about understanding things through observation and learning the mysteries of the world. It's not bad to find things out. Wanting to understand mysteries is is different than ruining others' peoples beliefs. Would we be better off if, for example, we never tried to predict the weather or track storms. That's a mystery that's good to know. Or what if there were no drugs because no one wanted to understand the mystery of how drugs worked?
    • specialK16, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I agree with you when it comes to people who think that those of us with any kind of spiritual belief (God, or anything related to spirituality BUT NOT necessarily religion) are somehow less intelligent.
  • pleiadianagenda, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1More proof of the existence of the soul and life after death. The fact is, we are spirits having human experiences, not the other way around. Consciousness manifests materialism, not the other way around. All these folks who think we are some neural program that seizes to exist at death are pea-brained idiots without an ounce of spirtual vision. What a sorry, empty way to live. Reincarnation is all around us. Our bodies are constantly being reborn and dying. This time next week, your body will be composed of new atoms that retain this week's memories.

    Spirituality and science are not the opposite ends of the spectrum. The ARE the same spectrum. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change form.
    • specialK16, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I might not agree with your believes, but I'm happy to see there are at least a few of us with ant kind of spiritual belief in here.
      • pleiadianagenda, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1What beliefs? i only quoted science. Maybe everyone should take a few courses on quantum physics, and they would realize the universe is a multidimensional reality with no beginning or end. I'll reiterate. Science and spiritualism are the exact same thing. I don't expect these uneducated kids here to understand that though...............most of them cannot even spell, and are slaves to their narrow perception.
  • crby, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Why did they just have everyone read one of their favorite books and see if they cried at the sad parts, jumped at the scary parts and smiled at the happy parts. All the while touching them in random places, to see if they are truly into the book or not.
  • MetalLizard, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1This still does not explain the case of that woman who was knocked out cold during surgery , and could tell the doctors the exact things that happened as she saw her body from above. Everything she noted during her OBE, as well as certain phrases she heard, was completely accurate and it left the doctors stunned as she was completely unconscious.
    • MaSC, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Sure it does, it proves that a person can have a obe through non supernatural means. Substitute the goggles for a [maybe drug induced] dream state. As for knowing what happened, all this proves is she was simply not as unconscious as the doctors thought. Have you never been half-asleep and noises in the rea-world effecting your dream.

      There are many cases of people waking during surgery but paralyzed from drugs and not able to open eyes or alert doctors.
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