ABSTRACT
There is a well-known philosophical thought experiment that questions how we can know whether our experiences are real. In Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) he asks whether our experiences are given to us by an evil or malicious demon. Recently this question has been updated to ask: how do we know that we are not brains in vats of nutrient material, being fed experiences through the stimulation of neurons and chemicals by aliens, intent on experimenting with us? Something similar is envisaged in the 1999 film The Matrix. Everything that we think we feel, such as scratching ourselves, eating chocolate or walking in the countryside, could be entirely artificial, pure simulation. We generally assume that a body is a prerequisite for any experience or sensation that we have, the medium or conduit that translates sensory information from our ears, eyes, nose, tongue and skin into mental events and processes – deciding something tastes good, or disliking certain music. The complex interactions of the senses provide our sense of embodiment, the haptic (tactile) sensation from our feet giving feedback as we walk down the street, for example. Yet, what if all these embodied sensations were merely inputs into our brains, floating without their bodies, in vats millions of miles away?
