From:	Paul J. Adam Paul@********.demon.co.uk
Subject:	On Cybereyes
Date:	Wed, 15 Sep 1999 23:09:27 +0100

In article <37DDCA41.AC98B077@*****.com>, Penta <cpenta@*****.com>
writes
>Paul J. Adam wrote:
>> I don't buy it. By that token I should be mad (or even more insane than I
>> am) from the jarring changes in vision I get from no correction (anything
>> further away than arm's length and the world is a smeary blur), contacts (I
>> can see!) and glasses (a startling amount of distortion around the edges of
>> my vision).
>
>The difference there isn't much. You're getting a "feed" into your eyes.

Why would getting cybereyes be any different? They'd be designed to feed
my optic nerve or visual cortex with what it "expected" to see.

>It's
>different going from NO sight at all (or maybe just light), to normal
>sight..

True, but I was thinking about getting cybereyes myself (take out those
squishy traitors and replace them with 20/20 mechanical perfection that
include magnification, low-light and thermal imaging...) Someone born
profoundly blind and getting visual input for the first time, would be a
different matter altogether.

>> This is probably why you're - to all intents and purposes - blind for a week
>> after getting cybereyes. Your brain has to adapt to the new-style visual
>> input. Once you do, though, you're okay.
>
>Maybe. I'd still think that, psychologically, there'd still be a HUGE impact.
>It'd take MORE than a week. Maybe a week to get the PHYSICAL end of it in
>shape.

>It'd take LONGER, a LOT longer, to get the psychological end in shape if you
>didn't have sight before (or had bad sight).

My sight is fine... with my contacts in. With glasses it's okay (resolution's
probably better if I look dead ahead, but five dioptres of myopia mean my
peripheral vision with glasses is jarringly different and woefully inferior to
that with contacts)

I still remember the shock I got when I first tried contact lenses. Not even
strong enough to _fix_ my vision, I was still short sighted, but I could walk
around safely, see clearly enough to cope, I just couldn't read text at
arm's length. (Normally, uncorrected I can only see smeary blurs past a
few feet) I could look with my _eyes_ instead of my whole head at
something off to the side. I could walk into a warm room from a cold
outdoors and still see. I was suddenly like a normal person.

It didn't incapacitate or shock me. It delighted me and I signed up for my
first pair of soft contacts, and I've worn those and then disposables ever
since. I could _see_!


--
Paul J. Adam