5 ms·

I find this kind of work interesting and important because, just like old CGA monitors, our own bodies are also a type of hardware that we have little ability t

by xamuel 7y ago

I find this kind of work interesting and important because, just like old CGA monitors, our own bodies are also a type of hardware that we have little ability to upgrade. Imagine finding hacks similar to this which would allow the human body to perceive things outside of what it's built to perceive.

phaedrus 7y ago
Vernor Vinge's Deepness in the Sky features an alien race which, because they evolved from genetically engineered spiderlike creatures, have an interesting condition: in addition to many eyes their retinas also have a fantastic range of spectrum response from infrared to ultraviolet, so that their visual input feed exceeds their visual processing capability. The hack is that their visual cortex is multiplexed in a way that certain colors or color combinations might be interpreted as feeling like seeing "plaid" or "tartan" even though the color is solid.
- EvanAnderson 7y ago
  (This is unrelated to the article, but given that Vinge is one of my favorite authors I couldn't resist replying to this.) It's been a few years since I read "Deepness", but I don't recall that the Spiders were ever referred-to as genetically-engineered. I'll definitely look into that. re: the perception of color - I took that to be the Focused translators' interpretation of the spiders' vision, rather than a literal description of the spiders' cognitive process. I've always read the portions of the book that take place on the spiders' world as being a narrative created by the translators, in which the incomprehensibly-alien spiders are made more "relate-able" by analogizing alien concepts with human concepts.
  - Roboprog 7y ago
    The on-off system itself was believed to be artificial in the story, which might imply that the residents were also. Speculation on top of fiction:-)
andai 7y ago
> Late in his life, Claude Monet developed cataracts. As his lenses degraded, they blocked parts of the visible spectrum, and the colors he perceived grew muddy. Monet's cataracts left him struggling to paint; he complained to friends that he felt as if he saw everything in a fog. After years of failed treatments, he agreed at age 82 to have the lens of his left eye completely removed. Light could now stream through the opening unimpeded. Monet could now see familiar colors again. And he could also see colors he had never seen before. Monet began to see - and to paint - in ultraviolet. https://www.downloadtheuniverse.com/dtu/2012/04/monets-ultraviolet-eye.html https://www.downloadtheuniverse.com/dtu/2012/04/monets-ultra...
- NikolaNovak 7y ago
  I must admit I have never thought of Monet as a Cyborg Enhanced Superman - but that has changed today, thank you; the site itself also looks quite interesting!
- friedegg 7y ago
  I was born with cataracts in both eyes. One was removed when I was a toddler (including the lens), and the other (with better vision) was left alone until I was a teenager at which point I got an artificial lens implant. I can't see ultraviolet out of my eye without a lens as far as I can tell (or maybe I can and just never noticed).
  - andai 7y ago
    You might be able to see a difference in flowers. Many flowers have markings that usually only bees are able to see. https://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/2012_05_19_archive.html https://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/2012_05_...
  - XaspR8d 7y ago
    It would be a very subtle tweak to your blue perception. UV sensitivity is quite low even without the lens filtering it out. As cool as accidental historical biohacking is, I think the Monet-UV hypothesis should be taken with a grain of salt.
tyingq 7y ago
I wouldn't do it myself, but I found the various compass implants pretty fascinating. They vibrate differently depending on what compass direction you're facing. Supposedly, after some time, you don't "think" about it, it just becomes more like an innate sixth sense.
jerf 7y ago
In the spirit of "it's always the first time for somebody", here's how you can perceive colors you technically can't see, which is a fun moment's diversion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color#Chimerical_colors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color#Chimerical_co...
- tambourine_man 7y ago
  That was fun, thanks

by xamuel 7y ago

phaedrus 7y ago

Vernor Vinge's Deepness in the Sky features an alien race which, because they evolved from genetically engineered spiderlike creatures, have an interesting condition: in addition to many eyes their retinas also have a fantastic range of spectrum response from infrared to ultraviolet, so that their visual input feed exceeds their visual processing capability. The hack is that their visual cortex is multiplexed in a way that certain colors or color combinations might be interpreted as feeling like seeing "plaid" or "tartan" even though the color is solid.

EvanAnderson 7y ago
(This is unrelated to the article, but given that Vinge is one of my favorite authors I couldn't resist replying to this.) It's been a few years since I read "Deepness", but I don't recall that the Spiders were ever referred-to as genetically-engineered. I'll definitely look into that. re: the perception of color - I took that to be the Focused translators' interpretation of the spiders' vision, rather than a literal description of the spiders' cognitive process. I've always read the portions of the book that take place on the spiders' world as being a narrative created by the translators, in which the incomprehensibly-alien spiders are made more "relate-able" by analogizing alien concepts with human concepts.
- Roboprog 7y ago
  The on-off system itself was believed to be artificial in the story, which might imply that the residents were also. Speculation on top of fiction:-)

andai 7y ago

> Late in his life, Claude Monet developed cataracts. As his lenses degraded, they blocked parts of the visible spectrum, and the colors he perceived grew muddy. Monet's cataracts left him struggling to paint; he complained to friends that he felt as if he saw everything in a fog. After years of failed treatments, he agreed at age 82 to have the lens of his left eye completely removed. Light could now stream through the opening unimpeded. Monet could now see familiar colors again. And he could also see colors he had never seen before. Monet began to see - and to paint - in ultraviolet. https://www.downloadtheuniverse.com/dtu/2012/04/monets-ultraviolet-eye.html https://www.downloadtheuniverse.com/dtu/2012/04/monets-ultra...

NikolaNovak 7y ago
I must admit I have never thought of Monet as a Cyborg Enhanced Superman - but that has changed today, thank you; the site itself also looks quite interesting!
friedegg 7y ago
I was born with cataracts in both eyes. One was removed when I was a toddler (including the lens), and the other (with better vision) was left alone until I was a teenager at which point I got an artificial lens implant. I can't see ultraviolet out of my eye without a lens as far as I can tell (or maybe I can and just never noticed).
- andai 7y ago
  You might be able to see a difference in flowers. Many flowers have markings that usually only bees are able to see. https://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/2012_05_19_archive.html https://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/2012_05_...
- XaspR8d 7y ago
  It would be a very subtle tweak to your blue perception. UV sensitivity is quite low even without the lens filtering it out. As cool as accidental historical biohacking is, I think the Monet-UV hypothesis should be taken with a grain of salt.

tyingq 7y ago

I wouldn't do it myself, but I found the various compass implants pretty fascinating. They vibrate differently depending on what compass direction you're facing. Supposedly, after some time, you don't "think" about it, it just becomes more like an innate sixth sense.

jerf 7y ago

In the spirit of "it's always the first time for somebody", here's how you can perceive colors you technically can't see, which is a fun moment's diversion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color#Chimerical_colors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color#Chimerical_co...

tambourine_man 7y ago
That was fun, thanks