Re: Evolution 101

2005-7-23 12:32:00

Very interesting experience Larry. I'm sure depth perception means much more to you than others that never went through the experience.

However, I'm not saying now or ever that any new development in evolution or ability will ever run contrary to any of the laws of physics or the universe. All the higher lives merely use the laws we know and some we do not know to remove limitations.

The all-seeing eye uses natural law to see in the physical and also higher planes as well as wavelengths not available to the normal human, It can not only see through physical objects but around them and thus has a depth perception much greater than the two eyes, making two eyes unnecessary.

The all permeating light of the spirit is everywhere making universal vision possible.

JJ writes:

Why are you assuming that evolution cannot create one eye that can do the work of two or be better than two?

Do you understand how our eyes currently help us get a three dimensional picture of the world? Neither eye in itself can do this (and in fact both eyes by themselves cannot do it). It is only by the cooperation of the two eyes _and_ some very special mental manipulation that we actually perceive 3-dimensionality.

Binocular vision in humans works because two eyes are separated by a short distance. The picture seen by each retina is _slightly_ different. The difference is great for objects nearby and becomes imperceptible for very distant things. A 3D perception of the world is built up in the brain, which computes the retinal differences and interprets them as 3D.

In other words the brain can compare the two pictures and learn to compute distance from that. It is actually similar in principle to how battleships compute the range for firing projectiles. Two optical devices are focused simultaneously on the same target and the distance to the object is computed by the difference in angle of the two devices.

In every case it takes two optical devices separated by some known distance creating a composite image to make the calculation.

I am personally very aware of this because I was a teenager before I actually ever experienced 3-dimensional sight. Most people take this for granted because they have always experienced it, but I was born with very different acuity between my left and right eyes. My left eye was 20-20 for distance but could not resolve very close objects. My right eye is very nearsighted in that it is good for reading, but cannot resolve anything much farther away. Without correction I have no depth perception.

When I got prescription glasses for the first time as a teenager it was literally a revelation to experience the world in full three dimensionality. I found this rather marvelous at first until I got used to it.

The point is that we perceive this 3-dimensionality through well understood laws of physics. The eye is an extremely specialized organ that is adapated to respond to a fairly small range of light frequency and is coupled with a very well developed mental process to evaluate the input. While other means of perception might very well evolve, it is hard to believe that there would be any evoltionary advantage to abandoning such a well developed and effective mechanism that is perfectly adapted to life on earth (as long as we live on Earth).

lk