The Surprising Truth Behind How Your Brain Sees the World
You perceive everything. Here’s why it doesn’t feel like it.
Do you ever notice how overwhelming the world is?
Colour. Texture. Distances. Voices. Background noise. Bodily aches. Movement. Temperature. Smells. Hunger.
Yet this is barely any of what is actually there.
- Most of the world is invisible to us. Not to the mantis shrimp.
- Most sounds are inaudible to us. Not to dogs.
- Most physical sensations are a mystery to us. Not to the star-nosed mole.
Humans evolved to notice changes we would die if we missed. For example, as social mammals, we are incredibly attuned to human faces. To the extent we see them on Mars.
Meanwhile, the mantis shrimp can see our entire spectrum of visible light, plus ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths.
They can even see cancer. No fair.
This seems like a cool ability for humans to have. But we’re surviving just fine without it, so it never naturally evolved.
Instead, our human capacity for invention and ingenuity led us to develop cameras that can detect cancer. Based on the shrimp eyes.
