A Person Sized Optical Illusion

Happy New Year!

It was certainly a strange holiday season but hopefully everyone found some safe enjoyment and an opportunity to connect with loved ones, even if that might not have been in person.

Here’s a little bit of magical “eye candy” in the form of a person-sized optical illusion from Derek Muller and Veritasium:

Optical illusions present some of the most magical experiences. That’s because the magic remains even after they’ve been explained. That whole thing about magicians swearing never to reveal the secrets? That’s usually because most magic secrets trigger a response of “Wait?!? That’s it?” which generally leads to disappointment and also pretty much guarantees that you’re never able to enjoy the same trick in the same way. (Unless, of course, you learn to do it yourself, then you derive enjoyment from giving that sense of wonder to others, even if you can’t experience the “magic” yourself.)

Everyday Optical Illusion

Human beings are used to being on the ground, standing right side up. So when you view the world from a different perspective, such as from aerial photographs, things often don't look quite right. Minute Physics explains a common optical illusion used to make maps easier to read:

Thanks to Skillshare for supporting this video: http://skl.sh/MinutePhysics for 2 free months! This video is about a multistable perceptual illusion, similar to the hollow face illusion, whereby maps or aerial or satellite photos look upside down/inside out, ie, concave (valley) parts look convex and convex (mountainous) parts look concave.

Some Optical Illusions

Psychologist and collector of weird knowledge with a British accent, Richard Wiseman, put together an interesting assortment of optical illusions to make your Wednesday weird:

Quirkology book: https://quirkologyblog.wordpress.com/about/ Quirkology illusion set: https://quirkologyblog.wordpress.com/illusion-set/ Music: https://cameronwattmusic.wordpress.com