"A nightmare network of ganglia, charged and firing without my .
knowledge, cuts and splices what I do see, editing it for my brain".
-Annie Dillard.
.
If someone show me a white cup with red stripes and ask me what it is, I would look at that person with astonishment and answer him, "It's a cup. Why? What's wrong with it?" However, if he shows that same cup to a newly sighted person, he would have received a different answer. According to the book Space and Sight by Marius von Senden, newly sighted people would answer, "It is a white thing with red marks." Or if they do not know the colors name, they might say it is a thing with two colors if they know what a color is. Neither my answer nor the newly sighted person answer is wrong. The cup really is a white thing with red stripes; the person who has just gained his vision does not know that the thing he looks at is called "cup." On the other hand, instead of giving the answer in colors, I give the definition of a white cup with red stripes based on its form and function. .
The visions of newly sighted people are pure without meaning. From Von Senden's research, they see things as color-patches. They have no idea of space, form, distance, and size. They perceive the world as it is. Normal people visions were once like those of newly sighted people. It was when we were children because we had not yet learned the meanings, values, and rules of human world. .
Once we became part of sighted community, we take in our ancestors" knowledge and creations. We learn common languages in order to communicate; we call objects with the same name. We study other people notes because we want to develop the technology for our human society. We use the already existed machines because they make our lives easier. We believe in the same values as the rest of the population because these values are widely accepted. By gaining these knowledge and creations, human lose touch of reality and simplicity of nature.
