Although Plato didn’t know about virtual reality headsets or what such a new-fangled technology could evoke, he did understand better than most that humans do not see reality as it is, but rather how we filter it, moment to moment.

His famous Allegory of the Cave, which is arguably the single greatest thought experiment in the history of philosophy, explains (via the mouthpiece of Socrates) very simply that we are prisoners who confuse shadows on the wall, which are artificially manufactured by an unseen burning fire as if they were real “men and other living things”. It is an illusion, and as such, the imprisoned men are duped.

Today, with the advent of ever-increasing scientific advances, we are on the threshold of better understanding why consciousness evolved and how it works. This audiobook is an exploration of how virtual reality technologies will help advance our understanding of how consciousness evolved eons ago.