# The God Helmet **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 24, 2010, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865 "2010-09-24T12:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/1 "2010-09-24T12:20:18Z")
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. > **[God helmet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet)** > > The God helmet is an experimental apparatus originally called the Koren helmet after its inventor Stanley Koren. It was developed by Koren and neuroscientist Michael Persinger to study creativity, religious experience and the effects of subtle stimulation of the temporal lobes. Reports by participants of a "sensed presence" while wearing the God helmet brought public attention and resulted in several TV documentaries. The device has been used in Persinger's research in the field of neurothe Persi... > **[This Is Your Brain on God](https://www.wired.com/1999/11/persinger/)** > > Michael Persinger has a vision – the Almighty isn't dead, he's an energy field. And your mind is an electromagnetic map to your soul. Over a scratchy speaker, a researcher announces, "Jack, one of your electrodes is loose, we're coming in." The... 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. It’s popped up in at least three SDMB threads before, most recently here: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=527015&highlight=Helmet+Persinger](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=527015&highlight=Helmet+Persinger) But I missed these, and it wasn’t the main topic in any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/2 "2010-09-24T13:50:16Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/3 "2010-09-24T13:52:00Z")
I’d pay good money to see what would happen if you put it on **kanicbird** ’s head. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/4 "2010-09-24T14:08:16Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > I’d pay good money to see what would happen if you put it on **kanicbird** ’s head. No. Never cross the streams. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/5 "2010-09-24T14:15:37Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > 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”. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/6 "2010-09-24T14:17:13Z")
I wonder if it’s reflecting their conciousness back at them, like looking in a mirror. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/7 "2010-09-24T14:38:10Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > 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”. I didn’t know that. Why don’t people hallucinate during brain MRIs, then? ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/8 "2010-09-24T14:59:55Z")
Michael Shermer tried it out a while back ago. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nCVzz96zKA0/hqdefault.jpg "Michael Shermer Out of Body Experiment") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCVzz96zKA0) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-god-helmet/554865/9 "2010-09-25T02:47:55Z")
Don’t tell me you missed the Krell mind expander, too? [http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/TMS\_NYT.html](http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/TMS_NYT.html)