RIP Sir Terry! I.....feel like something strange happened with those red/green squares. They didn’t oscillate for me, just kind of ....went together. In a weird. Yeah. Like eating what you think is a cheese and onion crisp and only when it’s in your mouth realise is a pale slice of raw meat.
Best analogy of the day awarded to Jessica. (Also: most disturbing.)
"Kind of went together" but being unable to describe what that looked like as a colour, maybe means you were seeing hints of an impossible colour? Maybe? Fascinating.
I'd say "keep doing it!" but that what I did a few days ago and I ended up so dizzy I tripped over a chair in the coffee shop and threw the remains of my latte over the floor. Best not.
I had this experience once when someone handed me a cup of coffee except it was just hot water (they’d forgotten to put coffee in the filter) and it took a while for my brain to catch up. Really trippy!
And this reminds me of the most disturbing event of my first year at university - when I picked up a loose paper bag of sausages from the butcher on the way to a lecture, and completely forgot about them, then reached into my bag to find a pen and instead grasped what felt like a cold, dead hand with limp, wet fingers...
Very interesting. I had one other thing happened you didn't mention. While I stared at the yellow circle in the first row, the green circle below kept flickering in and out of existence.
THIS MEANS I HAVE A TUMOR, DOESN'T IT? HOW LONG DO I HAVE, MIKE? HOW LONG?!?!?
There's no easy way to break it to you, Michael, so I'll just say it: I'm afraid it means that you have a condition where you are forced to wander the world, having fun and meeting new people and eating great food, and generally seeing life in all its magnificent glory.
However, I'd like to reassure you that many people with this condition go on to live full, happy lives.
(Fuller and happier than a lot of people, in fact.)
Mike, this was really fascinating! Stygian Blue really blew my mind. I did that experiment a couple of times back to back just to experience it a few more times.
Thanks for reading, Israel! And yes, it is the WEIRDEST thing. I also love how repeatable it is - I've tried it on myself a dozen times and it always checks out for me. It's one thing to discover something really weird, and another to find it's a *permanently* weird thing, not just a one-off occasional glitch.
Very interesting! In the first experiment, the colours merged into a pinky orange for me!
In the 2nd, I saw the deep black on first line and on the 2nd line I had a saw little change until my eyes moved a bit more and then I had a black box with a pink glowing outline. And a fluorescent orange on the 3rd line. Fascinating thank you!
A gradient? Wow. And THAT is a fascinating question, Adam: which forms of neurodiversity affect the way everyone perceive these colours? And if so, how?
(I would have thought it's a potentially huge difference in some cases, considering things like grapheme-coloured synaesthesia, where letters, digits or words are experienced as distinct colours: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2018.0348)
I also suspect that alcohol relaxes the perception enough to make these experiments even more fun. I don't have any evidence to back this up, or any logical argument to support it. I'm not even sure it's true. But hell, it SHOULD be true, and that's all the excuse we should need.
That was fun, but for a second I hoped you would clear up the mystery of what those mantis shrimp (of whom I am obsessively jealous) can see with their extra cones.
Mike, this _is_ amazing. I love the magical / lyrical / alternative colors -- and, you also revealed that the condition/ability that I've had since it first happened to me when I was five years old has a name! → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nystagmus thanks!
So interesting--the colors completely drained and became as if in unison at moments as I gazed at those squares. Amazing that our senses are working so much involuntarily to make sense of what we visibly see--brings up so many damn questions about relying on our senses completely, what is real, nature of the universe, and all that kind of THING. Wowza. Loved this dive.
That sounds trippy! I am not surprised, because it's a given that you have an excellent and unique brain, but - when the colours became as if in unison, would you describe it as a new colour, or just a cancelling-out of them? (Or something else?!)
And yes, that's exactly why I love this subject - and if our senses are presenting a version of the world to us, and our senses are deeply affected by the way our minds work, and the behavioural sciences suggest our brains can adapt to new stimuli, well - how much can our sense of "reality" be influenced by our intentional behaviour? As much as I raise an eyebrow at excessively speculative ideas in this direction (eg. it's been interesting seeing the word "quantum" getting used like it means something other than "very tiny amount of stuff"), it's still thrilling to follow the science and wonder where it'll take us!
ha--maybe a sort of almost new color, but then just disappears in flickers entirely. So weird! And I completely agree--it's fascinating to think of the order our senses impose for us to help us cope, but what else could be out there that we're not seeing. It's what makes everything so curious!
I loved the chimeric colours, but the red/green squares were weird! I didn’t get any flickering, but a melding of the colours that I couldn’t even start to put into words (language does fail at this!). Kinda surprised me, as I have NEVER seen a single thing in the Magic Eye pictures, no matter how hard I tried. Maybe this melding, rather than flickering, is why they don’t work for me? 🤔
Mike: When viewing the red-green stereograms, I do not see a "swapping" or "in and out of phase" color (although, admittedly, green sneaks into the top one a bit). However, I also don't find it particularly difficult to describe the color I see with the red-green stereograms or the blue-yellow stereogram. For the red-green stereogram I see something very similar to the rind of an orange on the top (more saturated) one and a dark earth sort of color on the bottom one. On the blue-yellow stereogram I see something which is quite similar to olive drab. Am I seeing the impossible colors or is something else entirely happening?
I saw all the colors quite easily! Both of the red greens were easier than the blue yellows for some reason. And I have them firmly in my memory bank now, but you’re right I can’t find them on the spectrum field. The simple trick for me is that I have permanent double vision that my brain has adjusted to somewhat, so I didn’t have to even cross my eyes - just held my iPad a certain distance away till the double images overlapped perfectly creating a blended color box in the center. It did the flicker back and forth thing for a couple of moments then I could tell when it had solidified because the black borders of the cross got darker and a new color that was neither of the boxes appeared. The closest I can get to describing red green is bright pink taupe. While blue yellow was like remembering the color of the sky when it glows in your dreams.
RIP Sir Terry! I.....feel like something strange happened with those red/green squares. They didn’t oscillate for me, just kind of ....went together. In a weird. Yeah. Like eating what you think is a cheese and onion crisp and only when it’s in your mouth realise is a pale slice of raw meat.
Best analogy of the day awarded to Jessica. (Also: most disturbing.)
"Kind of went together" but being unable to describe what that looked like as a colour, maybe means you were seeing hints of an impossible colour? Maybe? Fascinating.
I'd say "keep doing it!" but that what I did a few days ago and I ended up so dizzy I tripped over a chair in the coffee shop and threw the remains of my latte over the floor. Best not.
👎
I had this experience once when someone handed me a cup of coffee except it was just hot water (they’d forgotten to put coffee in the filter) and it took a while for my brain to catch up. Really trippy!
And this reminds me of the most disturbing event of my first year at university - when I picked up a loose paper bag of sausages from the butcher on the way to a lecture, and completely forgot about them, then reached into my bag to find a pen and instead grasped what felt like a cold, dead hand with limp, wet fingers...
That wasn't a good day.
Just ... no.
Very interesting. I had one other thing happened you didn't mention. While I stared at the yellow circle in the first row, the green circle below kept flickering in and out of existence.
THIS MEANS I HAVE A TUMOR, DOESN'T IT? HOW LONG DO I HAVE, MIKE? HOW LONG?!?!?
There's no easy way to break it to you, Michael, so I'll just say it: I'm afraid it means that you have a condition where you are forced to wander the world, having fun and meeting new people and eating great food, and generally seeing life in all its magnificent glory.
However, I'd like to reassure you that many people with this condition go on to live full, happy lives.
(Fuller and happier than a lot of people, in fact.)
Mike, this was really fascinating! Stygian Blue really blew my mind. I did that experiment a couple of times back to back just to experience it a few more times.
Thanks for reading, Israel! And yes, it is the WEIRDEST thing. I also love how repeatable it is - I've tried it on myself a dozen times and it always checks out for me. It's one thing to discover something really weird, and another to find it's a *permanently* weird thing, not just a one-off occasional glitch.
It made me feel like I did when I first discovered my blind spot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_spot_(vision)
Very interesting! In the first experiment, the colours merged into a pinky orange for me!
In the 2nd, I saw the deep black on first line and on the 2nd line I had a saw little change until my eyes moved a bit more and then I had a black box with a pink glowing outline. And a fluorescent orange on the 3rd line. Fascinating thank you!
My pleasure! Thank you for putting your eyes through all of that weirdness, Tracey.
Tangentially related video about how brown is weird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh4aWZRtTwU
Wow, that's a mindbender. I had no idea - thank you, Andrew!
That was super cool!
that is wild!
It didn’t flicker for me instead I had a cool gradient, maybe it’s how my dyslexic brain is wired
A gradient? Wow. And THAT is a fascinating question, Adam: which forms of neurodiversity affect the way everyone perceive these colours? And if so, how?
(I would have thought it's a potentially huge difference in some cases, considering things like grapheme-coloured synaesthesia, where letters, digits or words are experienced as distinct colours: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2018.0348)
For my neurodiverse brain, I see the left (red) square as "winning" over the green, but occasionally it'll flicker over to green in parts.
That was wild and fun but now I need more tea! Or something stronger.
THE ONLY THING BETTER THAN TEA IS MORE TEA.
(Or possibly Candace's book on tea: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stuff-Every-Lover-Should-Know/dp/1683691784)
I also suspect that alcohol relaxes the perception enough to make these experiments even more fun. I don't have any evidence to back this up, or any logical argument to support it. I'm not even sure it's true. But hell, it SHOULD be true, and that's all the excuse we should need.
Sadly, I don’t really drink anymore. Or maybe not sadly! More time for tea!
That was fun, but for a second I hoped you would clear up the mystery of what those mantis shrimp (of whom I am obsessively jealous) can see with their extra cones.
Haha - I wish! TWELVE combining photoreceptors? Madness.
But even if I tried, it looks like someone's about to beat everyone to it, for the best of reasons: https://www.medgadget.com/2021/05/mantis-shrimp-inspired-camera-to-detect-tumors-during-surgery.html
Amazing!
Mike, this _is_ amazing. I love the magical / lyrical / alternative colors -- and, you also revealed that the condition/ability that I've had since it first happened to me when I was five years old has a name! → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nystagmus thanks!
Oh, you too, Bowen? Fantastic. :) Yeah, I had no idea it had a name either until I went looking. I'm so glad I saved you some time here...
So interesting--the colors completely drained and became as if in unison at moments as I gazed at those squares. Amazing that our senses are working so much involuntarily to make sense of what we visibly see--brings up so many damn questions about relying on our senses completely, what is real, nature of the universe, and all that kind of THING. Wowza. Loved this dive.
That sounds trippy! I am not surprised, because it's a given that you have an excellent and unique brain, but - when the colours became as if in unison, would you describe it as a new colour, or just a cancelling-out of them? (Or something else?!)
And yes, that's exactly why I love this subject - and if our senses are presenting a version of the world to us, and our senses are deeply affected by the way our minds work, and the behavioural sciences suggest our brains can adapt to new stimuli, well - how much can our sense of "reality" be influenced by our intentional behaviour? As much as I raise an eyebrow at excessively speculative ideas in this direction (eg. it's been interesting seeing the word "quantum" getting used like it means something other than "very tiny amount of stuff"), it's still thrilling to follow the science and wonder where it'll take us!
ha--maybe a sort of almost new color, but then just disappears in flickers entirely. So weird! And I completely agree--it's fascinating to think of the order our senses impose for us to help us cope, but what else could be out there that we're not seeing. It's what makes everything so curious!
The second pair of red and green do blend for me. That was very trippy! Thanks!
So that's a yes to the brain tumor. Damnit.
I loved the chimeric colours, but the red/green squares were weird! I didn’t get any flickering, but a melding of the colours that I couldn’t even start to put into words (language does fail at this!). Kinda surprised me, as I have NEVER seen a single thing in the Magic Eye pictures, no matter how hard I tried. Maybe this melding, rather than flickering, is why they don’t work for me? 🤔
Mike: When viewing the red-green stereograms, I do not see a "swapping" or "in and out of phase" color (although, admittedly, green sneaks into the top one a bit). However, I also don't find it particularly difficult to describe the color I see with the red-green stereograms or the blue-yellow stereogram. For the red-green stereogram I see something very similar to the rind of an orange on the top (more saturated) one and a dark earth sort of color on the bottom one. On the blue-yellow stereogram I see something which is quite similar to olive drab. Am I seeing the impossible colors or is something else entirely happening?
I saw all the colors quite easily! Both of the red greens were easier than the blue yellows for some reason. And I have them firmly in my memory bank now, but you’re right I can’t find them on the spectrum field. The simple trick for me is that I have permanent double vision that my brain has adjusted to somewhat, so I didn’t have to even cross my eyes - just held my iPad a certain distance away till the double images overlapped perfectly creating a blended color box in the center. It did the flicker back and forth thing for a couple of moments then I could tell when it had solidified because the black borders of the cross got darker and a new color that was neither of the boxes appeared. The closest I can get to describing red green is bright pink taupe. While blue yellow was like remembering the color of the sky when it glows in your dreams.
I have nothing to add except "you know of Fallen London?!"