Lord Lawerence Dangleberry Smithy esquire, Duke of Stipend

"And as we continue our journey through the hall of Twenty-First Century Wonders, we come now to the antiquated medical section."

The tour leader passes a series of cases with MRI machines, CAT scans and virtual reality helmets.

"Yes, we have a question?"

"What are those goggles things?"

"Oh these? They are helmets patients wore to simulate a virtual environment to alleviate pain."

"Did they work?"

"Well, yes and no. The devices did relieve the pain of the patients, however, not in the way the creators had intended."

"What do you mean?"

"The creators thought the virtual world allowed the user to escape into a different world, where the pain of his current norm wouldn't interfere. They even had brain scans to 'prove' this theory."

"But I thought we had the power to control out own pain and even heal ourselves; with proper training." One young child piped up.

"We know that now. The virtual environment simulated to the patients does not affect the brain as an escapist scenario, but rather allows the user to tap into their own brain power to alleviate the pain and heal the body. Our ancestors sometimes referred to it as a placebo affect or new age healing methods."

The same girl asks: "Aren't new age healing techniques actually based on ancient practices of humans long ago?"

"Yes. But we now know the placebo effect is less a series of sugar pills and control studies and the foundation for true research into the power of the human brain. The human brain is able to create dozens of different chemicals and when we learned how to fully control the true potential of our own brains, we gained mastery over ourselves."

"So these simulated environments were the first part of truly understanding how the brain works?"

"Correct. It was less the simulation and more of the interaction with and operation of the equipment which allowed the early users, the patients, to fully realize the hidden power of their own minds."


Various chemicals produced by the brain: http://www.iscid.org/encyclopedia/Chemicals_in_the_Brain

EDIT: Twelve brain myths, especially the last one: http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/12-very-common-and-very-wrong-myths-about-the-human-brain/