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Invisible Man thought experiment.. - Magical Realist - Apr 25, 2026
Could the Invisible Man, if he really existed, see? This is a provocative enigma that involves rethinking what we mean by seeing, what we know as light, and what we mean by invisible.
RE: Invisible Man thought experiment.. - C C - Apr 25, 2026
(Apr 25, 2026 10:19 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: Could the Invisible Man, if he really existed, see? This is a provocative enigma that involves rethinking what we mean by seeing, what we know as light, and what we mean by invisible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Man#Scientific_accuracy
RE: Invisible Man thought experiment.. - Magical Realist - Apr 25, 2026
But here's the thing with that: the Invisible Man as conceived by Wells was still physically there as a solid body. He could touch things and move things and interact normally with the physical world. So physically the light would still be entering his invisible eyes and generating images in his invisible brain because his is still a solid body. In this sense light would still be interacting normally with his body and brain but would all be going on invisibly, "cloaked" as it were by the photonic non-reflectivity of his epidermis.
Another thought...What if he could see with invisible radiation. Like all the EM frequencies that are not visible to us. The requirement that the visible photons only interact with visible matter would be bypassed allowing an invisible reactivity of light at higher frequencies. And yet, this ability in itself might disable his sight of the world around him. Like seeing in X-rays where everything would be invisible to him!
RE: Invisible Man thought experiment.. - C C - Apr 26, 2026
Griffin alters his body so that it neither absorbs nor reflects visible light, except presumably for parts of his "immunized" eyes. None of that is possible (EM waves passing through without interacting with the matter or biological organization). So active camouflage and confusion-generating stealth methods as exemplified by the fictitious Predator species is the actual route to some semblance of invisibility.
RE: Invisible Man thought experiment.. - C C - Apr 26, 2026
(Apr 25, 2026 11:08 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [...] Another thought...What if he could see with invisible radiation. Like all the EM frequencies that are not visible to us. The requirement that the visible photons only interact with visible matter would be bypassed allowing an invisible reactivity of light at higher frequencies. And yet, this ability in itself might disable his sight of the world around him. Like seeing in X-rays where everything would be invisible to him!
Yah, for an invisible man (of the impossible HG Wells kind), any wearable device detecting infrared (etc) and converting into a code of tactile sensations (or whatever) would be exposed. Similar drawback for using technology-based human echolocation that was above the range of human hearing. And a truly deaf invisible man using his non-artificial form of echolocation would be noisily exposed by the fact that he couldn't reach the ultrasonic range of bats.
RE: Invisible Man thought experiment.. - Magical Realist - Apr 26, 2026
I once wrote an essay entitled "29 Ways of Being Invisible"..Alas, I have lost it. But I just may recompose it here. Probably in my Creative Writings thread. We'll see.
Edit: Done! I could only come up with 24 though. lol