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IN THE MOVIE the matrix (1999), CHARACTERS EXPERIENCE a completely virtual world—created by sending electrical signals directly to their spinal cord and brain—that contains the sensations of the “real” world but without a corresponding physical environment. The psychology behind this scenario is essentially accurate. Our experience of the physical world exists in our brains, and a controlled stimulus can cue our brains to experience a world that is virtually physical.

Virtual realities can exist because the brain does not experience the physical environment directly. Information in the environment exists in the form of physical energy. Cells in the brain, however, communicate through the release of neurochemicals. Each of our five senses contains “receptor cells” that translate the information in the environment into the neurochemical language that the brain can understand. 1 For example, specialized cells on …