Education and Mind in the Knowledge Age

2

Keeping the Brain in Mind^*

On its own, a neuron firing has no meaning, no symbolic quality whatsoever …. It is a level shift as drastic as that between molecules and gases that takes place when thought emerges from billions of in-themselves-meaningless neural firings.

—Hofstadter, (1985, p. 649)

Virtual reality experiences are making people physically ill. Recently there have been reports of people having flashback experiences, similar to those associated with LSD. One explanation that has been offered is that when people are harnessed to a virtual ...