Although I’ve read and heard a lot of things about altering human consciousness and other brain effects, I must admit that this was new to me. A friend told me about The God Helmet yesterday, and I was amazed.
I can’t really get a handle on exactly what these people are experiencing. The magnetic fields are supposed to induce a feeling of epiphany, a religious experience of the existence of God. But what exactly is that? A feeling that Someone is in the Room, and they might be God/ I can’t imagine what it would be like. Evidently it’s very convincing to some people, although the guy from Wired seemed to have been smitten with memories of past loves.
I’d go with placebo effect until further evidence is gathered. It’s a pretty extraordinary claim; it requires extraordinary evidence.
On the other hand, I would certainly not be surprised if there was some kind of physical mechanism in the brain that led to hallucinatory experience in some people, and that some people experienced this as religious in nature. I just don’t find it all that likely that it would be stimulated by magnets.
Why not? Studies have shown that high levels of electromagnetic energy can cause feelings of unease and fear. It’s a common de-bunkable item to check on when someone thinks that their home is haunted for example. In a lot of cases when the magnetic field goes bye bye so does the “ghost”.
