The Case of the Umbrella man

Have you ever had that uncanny sensation of having experienced a current situation before, even though you know rationally that you haven't?

Deja vu, French for 'already seen', is an ongoing debate between science and science fiction. Because of its brief and elusive occurrence, Deja vu still baffles the medical community to this day.

Once considered 'spooky science' by Albert Einstein, the reality of this phenomenon persists despite the inability to 'diagnose it' or research it. Earlier medicine claimed that Deja vu typically preceded epileptic seizures, but there are many people who experience this and are not epileptic, which is not to say the research is wrong; it's just narrow in its breadth. 

Most electrical impulses that pass through the various brain compartments are responsible for several physiological reactions to outside stimuli. Deja vu presents a different type of stimulus, one that lasts only seconds, but gives pause for thought, perhaps making us feel that the experience is beyond the threshold of what science can prove. 

Let's face it, we don't use a majority of our brain--perhaps there are regions yet to be discovered. If you've ever listened to the podcast Hidden Brain, hosted by Shankar Vedantam, you will find compelling data that delves into this very subject.

Our next episode (#5) will continue the thread of 'coincidence'. The fictional story uses quantum mechanical concepts as a springboard for exploring how we find meaning in coincidence.

Is it truly fate?

Or coincidence?

This subject will segue into the following podcast (#6), which will take a deeper dive into Counterfactual Logic and Reason.

Stay tuned!