"How many animals of each type did Moses take with him in the arc?"
Usually the answer will be "2 animals of each kind". Apart from problems of biological nature (male & female doesn't count for snails a.o.), the answer should be "none".
None? Yes, because it was not Moses but Noach, that built the arc.....
And no, this is not just a joke I hope you fell for, it is an illustration of the way our mind works. A problem does not have to be complete, there may be some mistake in the information, it is not a problem for us, as illustrated before. We, people, are very good in fuzzy information.
Take a look at the following picture.
You probably recognize the sentence, it is used to introduce you to a new font. It is used because it contains all the letters in the alphabet. Why I did put it here?
Well, did you notice anything wrong? Maybe you did, but you probably did not.
Read the sentence. Say the sentence. Say the sentence again, now without looking at the picture. Still without looking at it, count the number of words in the sentence.
Now look at the picture and count the words again. Notice anything strange?
This is what our mind does. It perceives. It perceives what it thinks is meant, and all 'ballast' is filtered out. More examples are available at the "Groninger Universiteitsmuseum". When you are in (or near) Groningen, I recommend a visit. It is almost free, it is very interesting (it helps if you understand Dutch), and it is Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 7a.
UNIVERSITEITSMUSEUM
Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 7a
9712 EA Groningen
tel. 050-3635083/3635562
Tuesday to sunday, 13.00 - 17.00
until May 13
Groninger Universiteitsmuseum
Bent u een goed verstaander?
4 comments:
These kinds of things are really interesting. Funny how the brain works. Visited a workshop of yours about two years ago. It was really interesting. Keep em coming.
Hi Harry,
thanks for stopping by. And you can count on that!
I think it is important for us to realise that we create our world (for me it is) in our brains. And this creation is affected by visual illusions, verbal illusions, cultural illusions, well, it's a list that has no ending. There will be more!
Ik reageer even in het Nederlands ;)
Erg interessant allemaal.
Bij het eerste voorbeeld dacht ik gelijk: Mozes? Huh? Maar bij het tweede voorbeeld zag ik de extra 'the' in het begin niet. Zo zijn er tal van voorbeelden :)
Hi Eddie,
Dutch is OK. Thanx for your reaction. And there will be more, I am working on other examples!
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