Our eyes are fooling us
[Music]
year
2007 january 12th lanfant plaza metro
station
of washington dc usa a man
acting out as homeless is playing his
violin to make a living
the man stood there for 45 minutes
playing
during this period of time around 1100
people walked by
but only 20 out of them tipped him and
just six
bypasses appreciated his music enough to
stop for a while
and listen a vast majority paid no
attention to him whatsoever
little did they know that this homeless
man
was actually joshua bell one of the most
famous
violinists of the contemporary world
whose concerts
were always sold out the average price
of a ticket you ask
over a hundred dollars so the story went
viral and even became the topic of
social studies
the question was why did the people
ignore the performance
for which they were usually more than
ready to pay a hundred bucks
it turns out people trust their eyes and
sight more than
any other of their senses after all the
stereotype is that
if you see someone homeless you may
naturally ignore him
this stereotype mainly comes forth from
the data
our eyes convey
you have probably noticed that blind
people are much more alert of their
other senses
than people with functioning vision this
is due to the fact that our eyes are the
body part that tends to fool us most of
the time
and when we don’t count on our eyes
alone our brain
is free from all the tricks and
illusions our eyes may cause
all of you might have seen countless
magic shows
most of those shows rely on eye
illusions
that is they are inspired by the tricks
and
illusions our eyes can play on our brain
now imagine
one of these shows is streamed not on tv
but
aired on radio and you don’t see
but hear what is going on
this would completely ruin the format of
the magic tricks
as they would have no effect on us a
good example
is the ponzo illusion where there is a
set of same
size sticks but the further the sticks
go the smaller they look
now imagine you do not see but hear the
simple magic trick
it would sound very simple if not
pointless
it would have absolutely no effect on us
no
impression because there’s no room for
the eye illusion
this deceiving feature of our eyes
allows some animals to take advantage
you might have seen puffer fish swell or
cobras and lizards with colors that make
them look much more exaggerated
these animals do this as they know that
their predators trust their eyes the
most
so they would like to look bigger and
thus mislead the said predator
into thinking that the creature in front
of it is much bigger and much powerful
than itself
chameleons as you know also have a handy
trick regarding this feature
as they could blend in with their
surroundings by changing color
to make their predators presume that
they’re actually not there
i began this talk with a story of a fake
homeless man
and i would like to end it similarly but
this time about a real
homeless guy and not in washington dc
but in ahmedli baku where i live
on one sunday morning my dad and i were
out for a simple stroll
when we saw a homeless man rummaging
through a garbage bin
he attempted to communicate with the
bypassers but all of his efforts were in
vain
his battered shabby clothes and dirty
appearance
especially his current state was utterly
repulsive towards the residents
as we approached closer however we heard
his extremely elegant speech
this was the thing that persuaded us to
stop for a while
and interact with him a matter of
minutes were enough to be thrilled
by his intelligence and sound opinions
on various topics
ranging from philosophy to the
perseverance of nature
the 81 year old’s calligraphy on
cardboard even included
references to the works of significant
azerbaijani figures such as mirza
fatalia kundov
and lotvizade even though he struggled
to feed himself
he took care of plants and stray animals
too
he even knew a bit of english which is
quite surprising for
a homeless man at his age in azerbaijan
if you ask me
this particular incident once more
reassured me that
the first impression our eyes can give
can be far
from reality
that is why whenever i hear someone
saying
i can’t believe my eyes i say you’re
better off if you don’t
do not get me wrong i am not making this
talk as something against the much
valued functions of our eyes but just
remember
to consult your other senses too while
coming to a conclusion
thank you for your valuable attention