What is it like to be a bat? To sleep upside down, eat insects and use sound to see? The question is not as frivolous at it seems. Philosophers debate it at length as a way to think about minds and experiences. Still, a classic philosophy paper from 1974 argues that such an experience is ultimately off-limits for humans (T. Nagel Philos. Rev. 83, 435-450; 1974). "It will not help to try to imagine," it says, "that one has very poor vision, and perceives the surrounding world by a system of reflected high-frequency sound signals." Fiona Gameson does not have to imagine. Blind since the age of three, when she had both eyes removed because of a rare childhood cancer called retinoblastoma, she has learned to echolocate. She can navigate and see with sounds, just as bats do.
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