The aim of this thought experiment, called brain in a jar or brain in a tube, is to simulate an environment in which we cannot distinguish between virtual reality and reality.
The brain in the tube will never know that it is living in a virtual reality and will think that it is living “real”. Experiment, starting from here; argues that the reality we live in can be very different from the one we make sense of with our perceptions.
According to the experiment, as the person reading these lines, you may be living in a virtual reality right now.
That the person reading this article is not actually a human being, or that the person writing this article, I am not actually a real person; What would you say if I told you I’m just a brain in a jar?
You probably won’t believe it and try to prove the contrary, but proving the opposite seems pretty difficult from a philosophical point of view.
The foundations of the experiment go back to René Descartes.
This interesting thought experiment has occupied the minds of philosophers since it was first proposed by René Descartes in 1641. Descartes’ experiment used a demonic being instead of a jar, but the logic was the same.
In 1973, philosopher Gilbert Harman updated Descartes’ idea to fit the modern understanding of psychology, resulting in the modern-day version of “connecting neurons to a computer via wires”.
Our brain may be navigating its own fantasy world without realizing it is experiencing virtual reality.
In the brain-in-jar experiment, this machine we call the “brain barrel” not only keeps the brain alive and working, but also creates virtual stimuli and transfers them directly to the brain.
As the stimuli are interpreted by the brain as “electrical signals”, they experience “real” sensory experiences in a way that is indistinguishable from virtual reality. Thus, he gets stuck in his imaginary world without realizing that he is living in virtual reality. He never knows whether he is inside the skull or in the jar, that is, he is unaware whether what he is experiencing is real or an illusion.
When we think the experiment is real, it has some consequences in different areas.
This thought experiment has implications for ethics (if you’re a brain in a barrel and nothing else is real, there’s nothing wrong with doing horrible things to others), epistemology (the study of knowledge and what it means/why is it important).
The expansion of the boundaries of technology day by day causes the increase of simulation studies.
Many scientists have also studied this thought experiment for various reasons and in various contexts. It has not only been the subject of studies in the field of science, but has even inspired movies.
Especially today, the fact that the limits of technology are being pushed day by day, has led to the increase and spread of simulation studies.
The movie Surrogates inspired by the brain-in-a-jar experiment:
In the 2009 science-fiction movie, virtual reality devices in homes enable to exceed physical limits. In the future, where people live by remotely managing their robotic bodies, social relations are also shaped according to this appearance.
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