11
Sight is the only sense that I truly cannot imagine not having (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/microthoughts@lemmy.world
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Nobody ever asks "if I'm deaf, then what does it sound like?" because EVERYONE already knows what it's like to not hear anything. Same for taste, for going numb, we all experience lapses in those senses

It's sight that seems to be the exception. No one who hasn't personally experienced blindness can actually imagine what blindness is like. Even as I roll my eyes to the left and say "me not being able to see what's on my right is what being blind is like" still doesn't satisfy me because, well, I just plain can't see that. And that's the point. My brain just can't comprehend my entire vision being like that. Eyesight is so incredibly mind boggling to think about losing, that it actually tests the limits of my imagination.

And this is why eyesight is truly the most important sense. We always see something, even if it's just darkness, there's never a time that our eyes aren't working hard to show us what's in front of us

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [S] 1 point 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 child)

You're just failing to comprehend blindness

Eyes that are working will SEE darkness in the absence of light, but you simply can't see darkness if you have no eyes to see out of

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    First of all I want to preface all of this by mentioning that it really depends how vision isn't working, because there are different levels and causes for blindness, not all of them even a problem with the eyes.

    But let's say it's total blindness because the eyes are "not working", you got a face full of laser and the nerves behind your pupils are fried. They'll detect zero brightness, not because there is no brightness, but because they're broken and can't send a signal. They failed in the "off" position, so to speak. If you "SEE darkness", that was invented by your brain, and it's mostly an artifact of still remembering having vision pretty recently. Spend enough time without vision and your brain will restructure itself to make better use of those resources.

    Again though, how are your eardrums different? Your eyes detect fluctuations in the EM field, your eardrums detect fluctuations in a sound medium, both detections get passed as electrical signals to the brain for further processing.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent