Via Live Science: Origin of Deja Vu Pinpointed:
Déjà vu is a memory problem, Tonegawa explained, occurring when our brains struggle to tell the difference between two extremely similar situations. As people age, Tonegawa said déjà-vu-like confusion happens more often—and it also happens in people suffering from brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. “It’s not surprising,” he said, “when you consider the fact that there’s a loss of or damage to cells in the dentate gyrus.”As an aging neuroscientist, Tonegawa admitted it’s a typical phenomenon with him. “I do a lot of traveling so I show up in brand new airports, and my brain tells me it’s been here before,” he said. “But the rest of my brain knows better.”
Of course, noting the story is mostly a good excuse to post this bit of Monty Python goodness:
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June 9th, 2024 at 12:33 pm
Doesn’t sound like that explains the deja vu instances I experience when something I dreamed previously happens. Or the really freaky one when I had a rush of deja vu and predicted what would happen several minutes later, based on my “memory” of the experience; something that was so unlikely as to not be what you’d call logical to predict.
I prefer what’s called “quantum leakage” as the explanation.
The theory is that in the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, there are naturally universes/realities that so closely resemble our own that it would be hard to tell the difference, and deja vu is leakage between the corresponding brains in different but vastly similar universes.
Kind of related to the way portal stones work, being able to go from place to place in the WoT world, as well as between alternate realities.
June 9th, 2024 at 2:56 pm
I wondered where that post was going when I first started reading. I’m glad to see that it ended with Monty Python. Monty Python always makes me smile, or laugh outright.
June 13th, 2024 at 1:30 pm
btw, I actually had a feeling of deja vu while waiting for Sherry to pick me up from the Honda dealership yesterday. Odd.