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Alicat
Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094
Coastal Texas

0 posted 2000-07-21 08:20 AM


This topic is something that has intrigued me for some time: what one sees.  When two people see something, do they indeed see the same thing?  Or, rather, do they see something similar, but skewed by personal perspective?  How would someone colorblind view the same object?

I understand the mechanism for sight, and how light and image are transfered and relayed, but that is simply the clinical definition of sight.  I guess I'm wondering about the mundane definition.  Is it all based upon experience and perspective, or do the conal formations have a larger role to play?

I also have a question about phantom limbs, but that can be saved for a later discussion.


Alicat

As I sit here dimly thinking
Watching modem lights a-blinking
Churning out poetic hash.
Lord, in all Your piety,
Help me keep my sanity:
Please don't let the modem crash! --Alicat



© Copyright 2000 Alastair Adamson - All Rights Reserved
Lady Lost
Member
since 2000-07-13
Posts 470

1 posted 2000-07-21 09:00 AM


My brain was hungry this morning...thanks for the food.

I know this sounds soooo cliche but it I believe that ONE's perception is ONE's reality...and two people do not see the same thing.  Some see only in black and white, they can not see beyond what is tangible, for they are conformists, they live in the box that society makes most of us very comfy in.  Others have a marvalous way of looking at things with great detail and can view something so simple in a profound intriguing way...I hope any of that made any sense or was at least somewhat relevant to the topic  

You can never have too much fiction; reality can be such a bore

Elizabeth
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Moderator
Member Ascendant
since 1999-06-07
Posts 6871
Minnesota
2 posted 2000-07-21 10:27 AM


Good question. If we are talking aobut the physical act of seeing (the light and images being transferred, etc.) then how can two people NOT see the same thing? Example: two people looking at a rose. They're both going to see the stem, petals, thorns, and whatever else is on a flower.

And now on to the question of perception: will they perceive the same thing? Person A may be thinking, "Oh, what a beautiful flower!", because maybe Person A likes roses. On the other hand, Person B may be thinking about how ugly it is, as roses may have a bad connotation for them. (I don't know why-perhaps it's reminding them of a tragic event, like a funeral. Who knows?)

So they are physically seeing the same thing: a rose. But they perceive it two very different ways. And I don't know much about color-blindness, but they a color-blind person would most likely see a dull, gray blossom on a dull, gray stem.

Just my thoughts.

Elizabeth


I'm grabbing my hat and coat
I'm leaving the cat a note
Quick call me a ferry boat-getting out of town!



AngelShell
Member
since 2000-03-01
Posts 446
not heaven nor hell so...
3 posted 2000-07-22 02:54 AM


That's so strange, I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday!!!

Well, my ideas on this subject are: (are you're going to have to bare with me here)

I agree to the thinking that they are both seeing a rose but it just has a different meaning to them.

However there is another side of it.
Maybe that when two people are looking at the same thing, they see two different things.  I was thinking about this when I was sitting with my best friend and we were looking at paintings and she said that she liked it yet I couldn't stand to look at it.  I think it is an interesting concept that an object only looks like it does because we think it looks like that.  This is where the imagination comes into it.  You ask someone to "picture an alien" and their imagination kicks in.  One persons alien may be completely different to sixteen others.

And then there is the other thing that I was wondering about.  The notion that things are only what they appear to be because we think they SOULD be like that.  I could example of this is physical objects.  Take a table.  Is the table only solid because we THINK it should be?  Or is it ACTUALLY solid?  Are there only walls in a room because we think there should be walls in the room?

Something to think about.

Shell


Beautiful is empty
Beautiful is free
Beautiful loves no one
Beautiful stripped me
~Beautiful~
~Creed~

brian madden
Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374
ireland
4 posted 2000-07-22 06:11 AM


I think that two people viewing the same object will see the same thing but the point is how it affects them emotionally. That is what makes the experience unique to that person alone, and in that respect everyone sees something different. Take the example of two people in a busy street filled with people. One person sees a busy street the other not used to his surroundings sees chaos he becomes claustrophobic even though he is in an open space.

As for a colour blind person I think only a colour blind person can answer that question.


why must we pray
screaming? why must not death be redefined? we shut our eyes we stretch out our arms and whirl on a pane of glass-patti smith

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