I'm sure there are ways of artificially stimulating a brain to have a certain perceptual experience.

There is another way to so stimulate a brain that is not artificial...and that is by actually having the real experience!

The existence of the former simulated method "in the lab" does not invalidate the existence of the latter actual experience "in the field".

Yes, you can fool a person into thinking they are seeing a UFO or a ghost. You can also fool them into thinking they are going to win a lottery or anything else.

But what if they really do see the UFO (alien vehicle), or the ghost, or whatever...? That doesn't invalidate the time when they were fooled, nor does the time when they were fooled invalidate the time when it really happened.

It's "all or nothing" thinking that tends to obfuscate these discussions...and that is driven by a desire to preserve a chosen belief rather than a desire to discover the truth about anything.

- LH