One path to this view begins with an accident, a case of carbon monoxide poisoning from a shower’s bad water heater in 1988, which led to a case of brain damage in a woman known only as “DF.” As a result of the accident, DF felt almost blind. She lost all experience of the shapes and layout of objects in her visual field. Only vague patches of color remained. Despite this, it turned out that she could still act quite effectively toward the objects in space around her. For example, she could post letters through a slot that was placed at various different angles. But she could not describe the
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