“All photographs are illusions”

perhaps allusion is a more accurate word...

I hope you won´t mind me giving a quite general statement, but everything we see might as well be an illusion. Theoretical physicists are seriously studying the possibility that our tri-dimensional world is actually a hologram, a projection of a 2D surface. In that case, photography would be an illusion reproducing another illusion. But being a frozen moment in time (or better space-time), photography has a strong power of communicating a concept or an idea.

In the 20th Century there were cases whereby isolated cultures who had never seen a photograph were presented with one with people in it and the viewers had absolutely no idea that those 'images' were representations of people.

I do wish I could quote sources here but the fact is this: When we are presented with a photograph, we ALREADY know (subliminally, through previous training) that our brains must 'translate' the data into real world experiences and we do so accordingly and easily. This 'translation knowledge' is difficult for us to realize as a separate step because it is so habitual.

This is why sometimes intelligent people are really rather ignorant with how to teach topics to uneducated people, because they are caught in the trap of assuming too much. One has to be able to revert to ignorance in order to be able to uplift ignorance. Ironically, here, ignorance is a type of (seminal) knowledge. - David Lyga

David Lyga said:

... One has to be able to revert to ignorance in order to be able to uplift ignorance. Ironically, here ignorance is a type of knowledge. - David Lyga

Click to expand...

I would like to have that tatoo'd on one of my body parts!

Brian, you already have: on your brain. (That was a compliment.) - David Lyga

Naval (navel) gazing? How many ways can you ogle an orange?

Hmmm. I'm pretty sure we weren't looking at any boats... I could try to excuse it as a typo, but how about simple inattention?