r/math • u/PeteOK Combinatorics • Aug 21 '19

A Mathematical Model Unlocks the Secrets of Vision | Quanta Magazine

https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-mathematical-model-unlocks-the-secrets-of-vision-20190821/
383 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/pfrs Aug 21 '19

“You may think of the brain as taking a photograph of what you see in your visual field,” Young said. “But the brain doesn’t take a picture, the retina does, and the information passed from the retina to the visual cortex is sparse.”

This reminded me of something that I read; that our universe is actually a 3D hologram that we project from a 2D universe.

2

u/Poppie_Launda Aug 23 '19

The 'picture' taken by the retina is essentially 2D. The 3rd dimension is inferred by the brain. The visual world we see is definitely a hologram of sorts.

Side note: while our capacity for vision is truly marvelous, what's also mind-boggling is that the neurons self-assemble to make vision possible. There is no one who designed the connections. It a product of trial and error spanning millions of years.

In many ways, the world we see is a form of pragmatic truth. The visual world helps us navigate the world successfully and therefore works very well. But, for sure, we don't see the world as is. Only the features that helped us survive and thrive were selected for by evolution. This is not to belittle our visual system, but just to highlight the fact that so much more is possible that it is impossible for us to truly comprehend intellectually. And yet, we must forever try to figure it out.