Imagine you could experience the world the way someone else does.

Not just see through their eyes, but feel what they feel,

love what they love, hate who they hate.

As it is your perception of reality is filtered through years of experiences,

heartbreak, and trauma, it builds up barriers in your head between your reality and my reality.

I'm Bob Carlson and coming up on the unfictional podcast stories that melt those barriers,

stories of perception.

The episodes this season are about seeing things from new perspectives,

opening up to different viewpoints, finding surprises in the past,

and seeing yourself in a new way.

But this first story is about and seeing yourself in a new way.

But this first story is about a brain experiment

that leads to a sudden flash of understanding.

This is the story of John Elder Robeson, who lived the first part of his life feeling very little connection to other people,

but with a profound connection to sound, machines, and electronics.

He designed stunt guitars for Kiss concerts in the 1970s.

He built circuitry for early video games.

But he did it all alone. He never felt like he could read

faces or understand the unspoken communication that seemed to be going on

automatically for everyone else.

I didn't know how to connect with other people.

I looked at the world around me and I tried to figure out how to engage it,

...