I’ve read reports of synesthetes who smelled colors or who saw numbers as colors, and other odd combinations. While what the article decribes certainly seems quite related to synesthesia, it might more accurately be described as illusion (as the article says) since the sensory experiences are induced by artificial means and presumably could be overcome, or “seen through”, if the subject was alerted to and aware of the manipulation being attempted – much like visual illusions can be counteracted by conscious effort and critical inspection. For example, many line-length illusions no longer work on me since I seem to naturally inspect scenes critically now after seeing a few of them. Either way, synesthesia, or illusion, it’s a fascinating field of study.

There’s a theory put out by Richard Cytowic, a major synesthesia researcher, who says that we are all synesthetic, but the cross-talk between senses is limited in ‘normal’ brains. With the progression of technology, soon maybe we’ll have proof that we are all synesthetes & a way to open up those channels of cross-talk between senses more than they already are.

Oh, and just WAIT until we figure out where consciousness comes from. That may even help us solve the quantum enigma, i.e. why is a (possibly conscious) observer needed to create everyday reality out of the quantum substrate we exist in – quantum probabilities exist in every state until observed, when they collapse into what we perceive. It’s so perplexing they don’t even try to explain in it school, they just say it happens and move on.