11 August

Do you wear glasses? Glasses are interesting because their invention comes from the assumption that we see with our eyes. It seems obvious that we see with our eyes. But we don't, yes the eyes are involved, but seeing is a much more interesting thing than that. And it's a story that is so little known, and has huge implications in lots of ways, including in the loopy ideas abut 3D (have posted about those), and also whether we really need glasses as much as they're prescribed, or whether we need to re-learn how to see instead. It's a huge and bit long story, but the standard idea is our eyes take in 'images' of the outside world, which our brain then 'processes' for us. Sounds common sense, but it's completely ridiculous in all sorts of ways. For example if the eye really is taking in images, why does the brain need to 'process' them? If you look at diagrams like the one attached, there's the assumption that the image is already fully formed in the eye, onto the back of the retina, before it heads up the optic nerve to the brain. So no processing needed.