Sight

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Re: Sight

There was once a test where a man named George Stratton wore glasses that flipped everything over. Eventually his brain adjusted and when they took the glasses off they saw things upside down!

If that really happened to a man with normal vision, do you guys think that if a person who somehow had upside-down vision could have it corrected with glasses that would make that person see what we would define as up-side-up?

[devonin]

Re: Sight

I think the point of the exercise is to state that your mind is somehow -aware- of how you are supposed to be seeing things, and will eventually take steps to correct it.

I used to wear glasses because I saw things on a slight angle (as a kid, I was often tripping over nothing, losing my balance etc) but I hated the glasses, stopped wearing them, and eventually my brain adapted my incoming sight information, such that I actually have quite excellent hand-eye coordination and balance.

[Cavernio]

Re: Sight

Master of the faster: That's a very difficult question to answer. The most important thing is, I don't think anyone can have 'upside down' vision. I know you're just asking hypothetically speaking, but if there's a way of interpreting the world that the mind is not capable of reproducing...

To get to what Chrissi was talking about, if you just don't happen to see the world the usual 'right side up' way, doesn't mean you're seeing it upside down as default.
Pretend someone were actually perceiving the world entirely as upside down. We'd never be able to know it because they adapt to what they see and be able to work with it perfectly fine. Why? Because everything's standardized in themselves.

BTW, does anyone happen to know how George Stratton actually perceived the world? Did he eventually see things the way he did before he put on the glasses, or did he just adapt to the upsidedowness?

[aperson]

Re: Sight

BTW, does anyone happen to know how George Stratton actually perceived the world? Did he eventually see things the way he did before he put on the glasses, or did he just adapt to the upsidedowness?

Anyone's vision will reorient itself after time once they've taken the glasses off.

[Cavernio]

Re: Sight

You misunderstood my question I think. He adapts, but what does he see? Initially, he saw the world as upsidedown. After a month, did he still see the world upsidedown and he knew how to function properly with that visual perspective, or did his visual perspective right itself so that the rest of him could function properly?

[devonin]

Re: Sight

We can't actually know what he sees, as we lack the technology to directly hijack his vision and see how it compares to our own. A phrase like "he sees upside down" is very misleading because it tries to imply that he sees himself standing up normally, feet on the ground, but everything around him is inverted, without really clearing up what that actually means.

Everything that seems to be known about vision and how the brain processes the inputs entering through your eyes implies that your vision would reorient to the "proper" perspective.