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Embracing Subjectivity: Afterword


I just realized there is an even better example of subjectivity that I forgot to mention. One that I enjoyed immensely as a kid: the "rotating snakes" optical illusion. Take a look at the picture below. What most people should see is a bunch of slowly rotating colored disks. This is actually an optical illusion, the discs are not physically changing orientation at all, but the color combination makes us perceive them as rotating.



There is, however, a very small subset of people who do not see the disks rotating. I'm sure, to them, that we sound quite crazy indeed telling them that the disks are rotating! Which group is the more deluded?

Suppose that the very small subset of people who do not see the rotating disks, wish to see the illusion. Is it worthwhile for someone to study how to "teach" someone to see the illusion? How will they know they've succeeded except to hear someone say "Thank you very much sir. I see it now."?