Week 14

I found the article on magicians especially interesting, not only as it relates to magicians, but rather how it examines the way we perceive and understand our surroundings. Knowing that we only actually see a small part of the world in detail, it seems incredible that we can, for example, walk down a street and not run into anything, have a conversation, watch a movie, or play sports. It makes me wonder how many things I do not see in my day to day life, and, thus, have no awareness of at all. It is sort of a vulnerable realization, but also incredible one, to appreciate the power of the mind as well as the body in the daily experience. I also wonder how much of the ability to fill in the blanks in what we do not see is based on experiencing similar situations and learning what to expect. For example, if I were able to re-experience my infancy, would I "see" less of my surroundings because I had not yet experienced enough to be able to fill in the blanks? I suppose one could figure that out by seeing if children or adults are more easily fooled by the sorts of magic tricks discussed in the article...