Before I begin sculpting my roving thoughts, dear readers, allow me to explain I sometimes write bits based on what life would be like in someone else’s shoes. Allow yourself to be captivated by different perceptions!
This bit is about how sound affects us, blindness, questions about how perception would exist, imagining how sensory and hearing would be the basis for relating to the world, and how my thoughts lead up to it.
This morning I was strolling along a busy street. As a UPS truck rumbled by, it sparked a memory of a TED talk about how noise affects human beings. Human beings are remarkably physiologically sensitive to noise. Even if your emotions don’t change, your blood pressure goes up and a handful of other bodily happenings change when noise levels jump. Knowing this, I wondered if it was possible to keep those physiological changes from occurring or if it would be defeating nature’s purpose of giving us more excellent reaction times.
Visuals allow us to see the origin of loud noises, allow our brains to decide whether they are harmful or not, and let us relate our perspective to the world based upon that visual-auditory connection.
Without visual ability, how would you relate to the world?
If you were blind…
Imagine walking down a busy street in a town. Unable to see, you rely on your hearing and your white-tipped cane. You sweep your white-tipped cane to and fro in front of you until it comes in contact with something. A ridge in the sidewalk? What does the sidewalk look like? How do you relate what sidewalk is in your head? As a particular substance you walk on?
How would it feel to rely on your hands to feel a substance and decide whether it was a door, a pickle, or a car? How would you categorize objects based on the feel feedback?
Feel free to jump in, and reblog and/or comment on what it might be like or how it is.
World, Mind, and Food 