Mar 4, 2025 05:35 PM
It’s been 10 years since “The Dress”
https://slate.com/technology/2025/02/the...ology.html
EXCERPTS: I’m talking, of course, about “the dress,” which went viral on Feb. 26, 2015. To recap: A cellphone picture of a wedding guest’s dress, uploaded to the internet, sharply divided people into those who saw it as white and gold and those who saw it in black and blue—even if they were viewing it together, on the very same computer or phone screen. The notorious dress, under natural lighting conditions, is unambiguously black and blue, for (almost) everyone who saw it in person, or in other photographs.
[...] A decade after the dress, we’ve learned a lot about how people could see a simple image so differently from one another. ... One thing that you might notice about all of these examples: Your brain never tells you “We really can’t tell what the color is because we don’t have all necessary information available.” There’s no flag that goes up saying “Just FYI, your assumptions did much of the heavy lifting here.” The brain prioritizes decisive perception (giving you the ability to take decisive action) over being paralyzed by uncertainty and doubt. Your brain helps you make a snap judgement, a snap judgement that might be wrong. This streak carries through all of cognition... (MORE - details)
Video about it 10 years ago ... https://youtu.be/AskAQwOBvhc
https://slate.com/technology/2025/02/the...ology.html
EXCERPTS: I’m talking, of course, about “the dress,” which went viral on Feb. 26, 2015. To recap: A cellphone picture of a wedding guest’s dress, uploaded to the internet, sharply divided people into those who saw it as white and gold and those who saw it in black and blue—even if they were viewing it together, on the very same computer or phone screen. The notorious dress, under natural lighting conditions, is unambiguously black and blue, for (almost) everyone who saw it in person, or in other photographs.
[...] A decade after the dress, we’ve learned a lot about how people could see a simple image so differently from one another. ... One thing that you might notice about all of these examples: Your brain never tells you “We really can’t tell what the color is because we don’t have all necessary information available.” There’s no flag that goes up saying “Just FYI, your assumptions did much of the heavy lifting here.” The brain prioritizes decisive perception (giving you the ability to take decisive action) over being paralyzed by uncertainty and doubt. Your brain helps you make a snap judgement, a snap judgement that might be wrong. This streak carries through all of cognition... (MORE - details)
Video about it 10 years ago ... https://youtu.be/AskAQwOBvhc