In The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley proposed a provocative idea: that the brain doesn’t show us reality as it is - it filters it. Drawing from philosophy, psychology, and his own experiences with altered states, Huxley suggested that the nervous system acts as a “reducing valve,” limiting the vast amount of sensory and perceptual information available to us so we can function and survive. When this filter loosens, he argued, people may experience heightened perception, a sense of unity, or

"Technology was made for man and not man for technology." #OnThisDay 1961: Brave New World novelist Aldous Huxley spoke with John Morgan about dystopian and utopian worlds and the increasing influence that technology was having over peoples lives. | BBC Archive