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"The experience of video games could reach a whole new level, but it could go much beyond that. For example, a surgeon could perform remote surgery, by controlling their virtual self from a different location."
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The video game bit sounds pretty cool.
Not to mention the potential to commit crimes remotely... err, I don't mean that sounds pretty cool - I mean that's another possibility that would need consideration.
What I find intriguing about this is:
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"The invention of this illusion is important because it reveals the basic mechanism that produces the feeling of being inside the physical body," said Ehrsson.
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If we can really understand what creates the feeling of being inside the body and how the illusion of being outside the body works, we might get some insight into how the illusion of being inside the body is also created. The mind-body problem of philosophy could reach a whole new level if we are able to show that our "normal" state of mind (i.e. feeling like we're inside the body) is no more normal than the state of mind that would arise if we were born and raised with the illusion that we were outside the body.
If both states of mind could arise just as "naturally" then there'd be nothing so "normal" about feeling like we're inside the body.
It could just be an illusion.
That would raise a lot of questions about identity.
What exactly is it that's being deluded into thinking it is inside or outside a body? What is it, and where is it while it's being deluded?
And does it make sense to ask where it is?