The first major philosophical proposition in history: the Brain in the cylinder (Brain in a Vat)
~ ~ The experiment is about imagining a crazy scientist taking your brain out of your body and putting it in some kind of life-sustaining fluid. Electrodes are inserted into the brain, and electrodes are attached to a computer that produces images and sensory signals. Because all the information you get about the world is handled by your brain, the computer has the ability to emulate your daily experience. If that's really possible, how would you justify the world around you, rather than a simulated environment generated by a computer? ~ Below is the Interpretation section ... If you think this sounds like the matrix, then you're right. The film, along with some other sci-fi works, was created under the influence of this thought experiment. ~ ~ ~ Unfortunately, the "brain in the cylinder" experiment is more complicated, because even the brain of the electrodes can still think. The experiment is widely discussed and there are many arguments against the premise of the experiment, but no one can respond forcefully to its core question: How exactly do you know what is true?
The brain in the cylinder (Brain in a Vat)
