You have a piece of software that takes in sensory data and processes it to produce an output which we call our visual experience. The program is put together pretty well and it uses shortcuts to adjust the nonsense in the real world to give you a consistent view out of your windshield.
You have two blind spots in the middle of your vision. You can see them with tests like these. The blind spots are caused by the space where your occipital nerve connects to your eye. The visual processing takes out these blind spots and puts in a placeholder for what is most likely there. I think it is a very kind feature.
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Looking at the air above a fire pit or the haze over a hot highway in Arizona, the air seems to wiggle and dance above the heat. Light will always take the fastest route from Point A to Point B. Light can travel faster in heat than in cold, so the light will bend to travel closer to the heat source.
Our visual processing system will tell us that reality is wavy above the heat, but once that information passes to another program, the “higher” brain, something beautiful happens. We are capable of recursive thoughts. We can nest certain thoughts into each other. I can look at an undulating and curvy tree behind a campfire and know that the tree is not moving, but the fire is causing this phenomenon. I can also reflect on that very thought and think how beautiful the human experience is. I can also reflect on that thought and think that it is a good idea for an article.