The Sensory Deprivation Tank – A Time Machine
Anthropology of Consciousness March 1, 2022 Matthew T Phillips
The paper argues that the sensory deprivation tank functions as a time machine by separating time from space, enabling an experience of what Henri Bergson called pure time. The tank also acts as a phenomenological epoché: by disabling the floater's sensory-motor schema, it suspends the person outside the world and forces a reconsideration of prior judgments about consciousness and time. The tank is linked to contemporary philosophical debates, particularly David Chalmers' hard problem of consciousness, which demands a radically new mode of thinking beyond materialism. The tank is presented as a literal black box that could contribute to rethinking consciousness.