Here is an excellent optical illusion:
Even as the illusion is explained, you can't stop your senses from changing the literal image into something that isn't. And, as the researcher explains, our senses do this because they are shaped by evolution to present us with what we "expect" to see.
Funny. Most of us believe we "see" the real world, but an illusion like this shows that our senses do not immediately grapple with what is "out there". Our senses have been shaped and they present us with things that our rational mind can understand as illusion. Our reality is a tricky thing. It isn't necessarily what we "see". We can apply our logical mind and -- at least sometimes -- understand how our senses fool us. If you ever take an introductory philosophy course, they present you with a large number of these illusions in order to prepare you to be more sceptical about our "common sense" understanding of the world.
By the way... Schizophrenics are not fooled by this illusion. Which goes to show that not all minds process information the same way. Right now I'm reading Daniel Tammet's Embracing the Wide Sky where Chapter 7 shows a number of illusions that autistic people are not fooled by. Again, not all people see the world the same way. It depends on how your brain is wired. Or, in my case, with red-green colour blindness, it depends on your genes and the kinds of photorecptors they built for you.
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