The Force is trong with this one...
A guy in Switzerland can "see" , despite being medically blind.
Sounds very fake, but the paper which it references is genuine - if you have access to ScienceDirect (like what I do, guv'nor), you can read it for yourself.
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DrPrunesquallor is determined to post more as of, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 11:26,
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I don't know
I think I've heard about this before. His eyes still work perfectly, it's just the part of his brain that interprets what they see is broken.
It's not massively unreasonable to suppose other parts can detect basic visual cues.
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The Coast Of Yemen, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 11:30,
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Yeah
Was in NewScientist about 2 months ago I think
just before my subscription ran out :(
(, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 13:44, Reply)
It's true
the man can't see but the brain still gets information from the eyes so his instinct to avoid objects in his path remains intact while he's not able to visually recognise or "see" what he's avoiding
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Sonic 2 and Knuckles, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 11:32,
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...otherwise known as cortical blindness
(wikipedia link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_visual_impairment )
I used to see patients with this when I used to work on an acute stroke ward - granted it's not as common as your regular lost-all-use-of-arm-and-leg stroke.
People can see, just not enough to interpret building models of aircraft.
(, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 11:40, Reply)
Thanks for the wiki link
The brain never fails to amaze me, the only shame is that we seem to do most of our figuring out how it works when it's broken...
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DrPrunesquallor is determined to post more as of, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:04,
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Brains are truely weird things.
None so weird as a non-dominant hemisphere stroke; those guys don't often believe they've had a stroke at all, and make an attempt to get out of bed.
Also, if you're interested in such things, look up 'visual neglect'. Often leads to people being quite literally, half-dressed...
(, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:06, Reply)
That visual neglect thing is pretty wierd
I see an educational half-hour on wikipedia ahead...
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DrPrunesquallor is determined to post more as of, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:13,
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It's genuine
Brains work in strange ways, I know from personal experience.
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Monty Propps, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 11:40,
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Meh
You should have seen me when I couldn't speak, but could sing Nick Cave songs.
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Monty Propps, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:28,
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As with the other responses...
... it's genuine. It's a nice little demonstration of the difference between awareness and consciousness, or - to steal and misuse a theme from Sartre - the difference between consciousness and "consciousness (of) consciousness. "Seeing" usually implies knowing-that-you're-seeing; in this case it doesn't. But the sight is still there.
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Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 11:47,
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That's a pretty subtle difference
isn't it pretty hard to differentiate (even sematically) between conciousness and awareness?
Surely you can't have one without the other, e.g. if unconscious, you're not aware, and vice versa...
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DrPrunesquallor is determined to post more as of, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:08,
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Not all that hard
I'd've thought that this story gives a fairly good example of the difference. He's "aware" of the world around him - he just isn't conscious of that awareness.
Consciousness, we might want to say, implies awareness; but the relationship isn't reciprocal.
On the other hand, I may be getting way out of my depth here. "Mind and world" philosophy really isn't my thing: I always drift off during those papers...
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Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:17,
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if you're ineterested in this kind of thing
There was a brilliant Reith lecture back in 2003 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2003/) by an eminent neuroscientist talking about such things
(, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:22, Reply)
Ah, whatsisface
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Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:23,
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he's great
he is everything that useless fucksock out of heroes wants to be
(, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 12:32, Reply)