WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2010
wk1 reading – What do humans perceive?
In their book, The Art of Possibility, Rosamund and Benjamin Zander say that humans "perceive only the sensations that we are programmed to receive." That statement makes me wonder if different individuals perceive different things. Its been proven that cats, dogs, and other animals see differently than humans, and according to the Zanders, its because they see what they need to see to survive. But what about humans? Does one human see things differently than another human?
After reading just the first few paragraphs of the first chapter and thinking about the statement above, I was reminded of the movie Mallrats. There's a particular scene where Willem (played by Ethan Suplee) has been staring at a MagicEye 3-D poster for hours trying to see a sailboat, while everyone around him glances at the same poster for a few seconds and sees the boat with no problems. Willem gets aggravated with everyone because they can see the sailboat and he can't.
So why couldn't Willem see the sailboat? Was he not programmed to see it or was he just not "relaxing his eyes" like the other characters advised him to do?
After reading just the first few paragraphs of the first chapter and thinking about the statement above, I was reminded of the movie Mallrats. There's a particular scene where Willem (played by Ethan Suplee) has been staring at a MagicEye 3-D poster for hours trying to see a sailboat, while everyone around him glances at the same poster for a few seconds and sees the boat with no problems. Willem gets aggravated with everyone because they can see the sailboat and he can't.
So why couldn't Willem see the sailboat? Was he not programmed to see it or was he just not "relaxing his eyes" like the other characters advised him to do?
1 COMMENTS:
em said...
- It is interesting to me that you made that observation. My instinct was to think of the eye diagrams of how you see like the ones in a science book that flip the image two or three times. I would say that humans do perceive things differently. I like to take a lot of photos but I generally will notice the lines and/or texture of an image before I'll see the people or the whole scene. I think it is based on programming, some environmental and some natural. One assignment in a photography class was to take a roll of film on textures, another on shadows, and another on reflections. While some students really struggled to see them at the beginning, by the end of it they were good at it. We did the same thing with portraits. I struggled greatly with them. The teacher worked with me and eventually I was able to do it but it took work. Like I already said, some of it is environmental (being taught how) and some of it is natural (born with the ability).
- JUNE 3, 2010 1:28 PM
I've never seen the movie Mallrats, but I can total sympathize with Willem. I have never been able to see those MagicEye 3-D pictures or poster. Everyone made be feel like there was something wrong with me, because I couldn't/can't see them. I think it has something to do with my astigmatism.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm pondering your comments, I tried to think back to when I first discovered that not everyone thinks like I do. I think that it is part of our growing process. When we are young, we are the center of our universe. As we grow and gain years of knowledge, we learn or discover that there are other people who deserve attention to and we begin to empathize with them and help them. And still yet, as we grow older, we discover the more we help 'others' the better 'our' world seems. I guess you could say, I'm still discovering daily that other see things differently than I do. I find students today, really see things differently, therefore, so must I. I need to 'see' differently, but I must also 'respond' differently.
I too agree with the statement that everyone views things different from different perspectives and angles. People view things based on their own past and personal experiences. For instance an architect might visit New York City and stare at the buildings and the different structures adn angles. Whereas I would just go and window shop. Angles of buildings do not really interest me that much, but show me a good sale on some item and I am there for it!! (Ha Ha!!) I think that this is true in every aspect of life and that is what makes the other statement, "Variety is the spice of life" correct!!!
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