[HN Gopher] Illusion of the Year 2021
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       Illusion of the Year 2021
        
       Author : depsypher
       Score  : 63 points
       Date   : 2022-01-01 16:37 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (illusionoftheyear.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (illusionoftheyear.com)
        
       | 323 wrote:
       | The winning one, the phantom queen, it's not what I would call an
       | optical illusion.
       | 
       | It's more of a magic trick, like when they cut a person in a box
       | in two.
        
       | notfed wrote:
       | The crocs illusion is just plain wrong. It says "the correct
       | answer is <pink>". They then contradict themselves by saying it's
       | green-gray. It's green-gray.
       | 
       | Am I crazy? Any else's thoughts?
        
         | jawns wrote:
         | You need to make a distinction between color of the shoe (under
         | normal lighting conditions) and pixel values of the shoe in the
         | photograph.
         | 
         | The shoe is pink under normal lighting conditions, but the
         | pixel values are green-gray in the photograph, where the
         | lighting has been manipulated.
         | 
         | So, if you were to use a color-dropper tool on the photograph,
         | you would get green-gray values for those pixels.
         | 
         | But some people are able to do color-correction in their minds
         | and determine that the underlying color of the shoe (under
         | normal lighting conditions) is pink. Indeed, the automatic
         | color correction that occurs as they visually process the image
         | is so strong that they find it hard to recognize that the
         | actual pixel values are green-gray.
         | 
         | Yet when the color of the socks is changed to white, but
         | nothing else about the photograph is altered, the visual cue
         | that prompts them to do color-correction in their minds
         | disappears, and they perceive the shoe color in the photograph
         | to be green-gray, just as others do.
        
           | notfed wrote:
           | I'm still not convinced. They said the answer is pink.
           | But...it wasn't pink, even to their own admission. A pink
           | shoe, when placed under pure-green lighting is no longer
           | pink: at this point we're out of illusion territory and into
           | lighting trick / semantics territory.
           | 
           | If they'd have said the answer is green-gray, then fine, this
           | would be an illusion for those people who incorrectly thought
           | the shoes are pink, but their answer is still wrong.
        
             | krsrhe wrote:
             | The picture is gray, but the actual shoes are pink, but
             | bathed in green light. Some people sometimes can mentally
             | remove the green lighting.
        
         | allenu wrote:
         | I think you're right. The RGB values clearly show it's green-
         | gray.
        
         | zootboy wrote:
         | I wasn't too impressed with this one, either. In my mind, this
         | illusion is much more straightforward demo of a similar effect
         | (color perception being relative to surrounding colors):
         | 
         | https://www.illusionsindex.org/ir/checkershadow
        
           | notfed wrote:
           | Yeah, this one is a true illusion: they're actually the same
           | color, unlike the shoe example.
        
       | jccalhoun wrote:
       | Some of these are pretty cool but I always feel like the ones
       | that depend on the camera being in a fixed perspective aren't
       | nearly as cool.
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | Some of them actually work quite well in real life. Even when
         | looking with two eyes (thus giving your brain information about
         | depth) and from a non-perfect angle. I've had exhibitions with
         | these in the physical world, and no one can avoid seeing the
         | illusion, even after picking up the objects and seeing the
         | secret. The brain is stupid!
         | 
         | https://github.com/Matsemann/impossible-objects
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | Illusion of the year: "I won".
        
         | 1-6 wrote:
         | Another one: "Brandon"
        
       | depsypher wrote:
       | Since the site is struggling, here's the videos in top ten order:
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/i4p_x0S5bmQ
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/TXk-Oc35oN4
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/bVbPmFpspXc
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/q_JqmwwbtpA
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/yC5kHTsmXqQ
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/zWr63p3gsM0
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/LFvOzXUMXwM
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/jb29X2SrgDM
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/CePZ6vwYOYQ
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/a7LUNyMvGqU
        
         | 1-6 wrote:
         | I'd like to preface that once you see it, you can't unsee it.
         | Enjoy the illusion while the answer is not revealed.
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | > https://youtu.be/jb29X2SrgDM
         | 
         | Expected Kokichi Sugihara to be represented as always, not
         | disappointed. I will have to try and replicate this one as
         | well.
        
         | lisper wrote:
         | I don't get the fourth one, the one with the different colored
         | crocs. I put a color meter on the images and the mystery pair
         | is definitely not the same color as the pink pair.
        
           | krsrhe wrote:
        
           | armchairhacker wrote:
           | it's not the same in the photo, the lighting changes the
           | actual color. If you put a red object under green light or
           | vice versa, it will physically appear grey. But it doesn't
           | really work as an illusion in a digital video.
        
             | lisper wrote:
             | Well, yeah, but that's hardly news. What makes this qualify
             | as an illusion-of-the-year?
        
         | amelius wrote:
         | Not a fan of illusions that only work from 1 camera angle. But
         | the others are great.
        
       | gnabgib wrote:
       | Domain doesn't seem to be super responsive -
       | https://archive.fo/dam04
        
       | 1-6 wrote:
       | I really enjoyed slime hand. It really brings home the potential
       | of various haptic devices which will enhance our experiences in
       | VR/metaverse.
        
       | TrianguloY wrote:
       | In "the double ring illusion" I'm unable to see them as 180deg
       | rotations. I see all rings in the video doing constant 360deg
       | rotations, and I don't care if they intersect.
       | 
       | Maybe I'm too used to see virtual 3D animations where objects can
       | intersect and do whatever they want without any physics involved.
        
         | jccalhoun wrote:
         | I'm the opposite. I see the rings spinning back and forth in
         | all the examples.
        
       | icsllaf wrote:
       | Majority of the illusions seem to be 2D object projected as 3D
       | object, they still get me every-time though. Definitely would
       | recommend a game called Superliminal if this kind of stuff gets
       | you.
        
       | robwwilliams wrote:
       | Yes, a bit slow to load but worth it. Ten videos of visual system
       | illusion that work well.
       | 
       | The last illusion "Phantom Wiggle" is probably caused by time
       | base differences of rods and cone photoreceptor systems.
       | 
       | The wiggle and movement of the strobed light is caused by
       | ineffective calibrated of the bright and fast neural signals
       | relative to the darker and slow (mesopic) signals of the large
       | surrounding field of vision.
       | 
       | Timing differences between retinal subsystems (rods and cones
       | mainly) are misinterpreted as movement.
       | 
       | Easy to see (expose) this temporal-spatial error effect between
       | the slow rod photoreceptor system and the fast cone system.
       | 
       | Here is how: Just after dusk look at a bright light or even a
       | star low on the horizon that ALSO happens to be near the trunk of
       | a dark tree. Close one eye and then look at the bright light
       | while gently rocking the corner of your open eye back and forth
       | with your finger. The light and tree trunk will move relative to
       | each other. In fact, the light may appear in the tree trunk. Time
       | and space are also relative in the brain.
       | 
       | The brain has no clock or oscillator and has to create its own
       | unifying timing system. The near-synchronization among brain
       | subsystems is a key role of the thalmo-cortico-thalamuc feedback
       | loop (imho).
        
         | hiptobecubic wrote:
         | I remember discovering this phantom wiggle when looking at LED
         | clocks as a kid. Look at an old clock (or microwave) and
         | vibrate either it or you (hum) at various speeds.
        
         | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
         | You can induce the phantom wiggle by looking at a matrix
         | scanned 7-segment display and making motorboat sounds that
         | vibrate your head.
        
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