Sabine Hossenfelder debunks 10 myths about quantum physics. A bit hard to follow, tbh. Maybe the worst myth is quantum physics itself?
Great choice—Thomas Metzinger’s work on out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and self-model disruption is a fascinating window into how our brains construct the sense of "I am here, in this body."
While Metzinger himself is a philosopher, not a lab-based neuroscientist, he collaborates with or draws on work from cognitive scientists and neurophysiologists—especially people like Olaf Blanke in Switzerland—who perform real-world experiments on bodily self-location and ownership. Metzinger provides the theoretical framework for understanding these experiences.
🧠 Key Concept: The Phenomenal Self-Model (PSM)
Metzinger proposes that:
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The “self” is not a metaphysical entity, but a model your brain creates.
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Your sense of being located inside your body, seeing the world from a specific perspective, and having a unified "I" is part of this self-model.
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OBEs, lucid dreams, and mystical states occur when this self-model is partially or radically disrupted.
🧪 Neuroscience of Out-of-Body Experiences
🔬 Metzinger + Blanke-style Experiments
Metzinger interprets a class of lab experiments where visual, tactile, and vestibular mismatches are used to trick the brain into projecting the self outside the physical body. These are not speculative—they’re replicable, peer-reviewed studies.
👤 Example: Full Body Illusion
Setup:
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The subject wears a virtual reality headset showing a video feed of themselves from behind.
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A researcher touches the subject’s back with a stick in sync with what the person sees in the headset.
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After a while, subjects feel like they are located in the body they see on screen—a few feet in front of where their real body is.
Result:
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The person feels that their “self” has moved to a new location—just like a mild, lab-induced OBE.
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This is strong evidence that bodily location of the self is malleable and constructed in the brain.
Metzinger interprets this as a partial deconstruction of the PSM—your brain’s internal self-location system is being temporarily hacked.
👽 Other Triggers of OBEs
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Epilepsy (especially in the temporoparietal junction)
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Psychedelic drugs
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Sleep paralysis / lucid dreaming
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Near-death experiences
In all these, Metzinger argues that the brain's self-model and spatial body schema are altered or break down entirely, creating the sensation of floating, seeing oneself from outside, or merging with the universe.
🔍 Philosophical Implications (Metzinger’s View)
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OBEs are not evidence of a “soul” leaving the body.
Instead, they show how fragile and constructed our sense of self is. -
These states may be spiritually meaningful, but they’re still grounded in brain mechanics.
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The "out-of-body" sensation is what happens when the brain misattributes the location of its own self-model.
"You are not in control of your self-model. The self is not what you are, it is what you experience." – Metzinger, "Being No One"
🧘 Bonus: Why This Doesn’t “Debunk” Spiritual Experience
Metzinger does not claim these experiences are worthless or delusional. He sees them as:
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Insights into consciousness architecture
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Tools for spiritual development, if properly understood
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Opportunities to create a new “consciousness culture”, where humans become more self-aware of how their inner world is shaped
In fact, he supports using safe, rational practices like meditation or lucid dreaming to explore altered states without falling into dogma.
Would you like a summary of Metzinger’s idea of a future “consciousness culture” and how it overlaps with spiritual disciplines?