Why is only seeing believing?
Asked by
Mtl_zack (
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February 22nd, 2009
Why do we have to see something, rather than hear it, taste it, touch it or smell it. When you hear something, you turn aound, when you touch something, you glance at it, when you taste or smell something, you try to figure out where it comes from. Why is sight different than all the rest when it comes to believing that something exists?
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25 Answers
I prefer the phrase, “reality is perception”.
Interesting question. In the movie “In the Bedroom”, a murder occurred which could not be proven because the witness saw the murderer approach the victim,
and heard the blow, but didn’t actually see the act. Not good enough.
I believe in things I can’t see.
We had a skunk under our front steps once and I didn’t have to see him to know he was there.
Maybe sight is the one of the five senses that sends messages to your brain faster than the other ones because you readily identify and believe in what you are looking at as soon as you see something.
Because you know what you saw and know that its not all made up.
So, what if you are blind? That changes things totaly.
@LouianaGirl You don’t know what you see or that its real. How do you know that your life isn’t a projection or some great cosmic prank? Descartes was right, you only know that you are. That’s it. But because that is so unsettling its best just to believe what you perceive. Either everything is “real” to you or reality is nothing.
Light stops existing when I blink.
maybe your mind is playing tricks on you and you only think you see one thing and not what you thought you saw. Like when little kids on tv see a boogie man in the closet and come to find out it is just a coat on a hanger. So yea it can go either way.
@ mrswho That is what happens when I close my refigerator.
Don’t believe everything you read.
Have the stuff I see I dont believe anyway
We rely primarily on sight, so it makes sense that we would need to see something to believe it. Scent, sound, taste, and even touch are easier to fool that sight.
Humans evolved with sight as their primary sense, while others rely on sound or scent more than sight (Ex. dogs). For a dog, hearing and smelling is probably believing.
I think we rely primarily on sight simply because most people are better at distinguishing detail in images rather than in sound; photons are simply a more precise medium than vibrations in the air, and sight can provide information such as depth and exact direction more readily than can sound. The more we know about something, the more willing we are to believe in it; and we know from experience that hearing is more prone to error than sight.
I don’t believe everything I see, because I understand how the human eye works (in principle), how it transmits to the brain, and how easily the eye can be fooled. And since humans are pattern seeking animals, seeing is not always believing because sometimes what you see isn’t really there, or your sight is affected by being drowsy, inebriated, or any number of other things. Even an adrenaline rush can affect how you perceive the world. Also, if you have ever done any sort of artistic painting, you know how easy it is to fool the eye.
There are more neurons in your brain dedicated to processing sight than are dedicated to processing all your other senses combined.
at least, according to Dr. House
Dr. House of TV fame? Oh man, when we accept the stuff of television drama shows as fact, I think that might spell the end of civilization as we know it. In fact, I am sure that is one of the seven signs of Armaggedon, right after dogs and cats living together.
“Human memory and mental processes rely heavily on sight. There are more neurons in the nervous system dedicated to vision than to any other of the five senses, indicating vision’s importance. ”
Encyclopedia of Nursing
I don’t trust TV doctors and scientists, either !
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