Humans are not robots. We are visual creatures. We do not dream in text or in code. A sheep is real to us, if we can see it running through the fields. Even in our dreams.
My dog, Foxter, used to run to the door excitedly whenever anyone arrived at the door. He was a hound dog, so the world to him was filtered through his nose. He was apprehensive of any intruder, until such time as he could verify the intruder’s identity… How? A: By sniffing them, of course. As soon as he had given the intruder a good sniff, he would either welcome them or remain apprehensive. If he sensed that they were carrying food, he would charm or trick them into giving it up.
Truth and verification for Foxter was olfactory. For him, Watson & Crick, Stephen Hawking, Einstein, Don Cherry or any other theorist would be required to provide proof on his colloquial “smellovision”. He would offer little more than a blank stare by watching electron microscope images of a double helix, light refracting at a particular speed, or the Bruins winning against the Leafs. Until he could smell these occurrences or images, as far as Foxter was concerned, they occupied the realm of the possible or even probable, but not certain!
Humans, on the other hand are addicted to vision. The most complex and complete mathematical models in the world still don’t hold a candle to something actually being seen. The first place we go when we want to verify whether a particular solar system truly exists is our eyeballs. Until such time as we have some degree of visual proof, even the data that our most complex measurement instruments provide still remains suspect, until we can see the products of our measurement and theories.
Until I see an electron, or the Bruins beating the Leafs, those theoretically possible events and constructs will remain cloudy, theoretical possibilities. Arguably, even vision may not be enough to convince me of a Leafs loss.. But, that’s another story.
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