Visual acumen test

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

Watch this video before clicking the link that follows, and before reading any other posts in this thread, otherwise you'll see the answer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY



After watching the above video and following the instructions within it, see this:
http://tinyurl.com/27my3sd













Don't scroll down to read any other posts until you watch the above video first, or you'll ruin the whole point!




























Sorry I can't say any more, that would ruin it, but I'm curious what results everybody gets :) I can't do it because I saw the article first :(

 

[Nawd]

Dang it! I counted the correct number of passes, missed the gorilla AND the curtain changing colors!!!

The gorilla is in the details. lol

Fun though, but I can NOT believe that gorilla was on the screen for 9 seconds and I didn't even see him!! Nor did I see the other black shirted player leave!

ARRGGG! (Beats chest like gorilla)

Fun test! I can't wait to read what everyone else sees!

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

And this applies to so many things. It's a good example of how limited our awareness can be, and why it's so important to pay attention to objective reality "right and left", as the C's say. The same thing seems true for our cognitive awareness too - why trying to figure something out for hours can fail, but sleeping on it and looking at it in the morning with fresh mental eyes can make a dramatic difference in what we see and how we see it. Emotions tend to be a big "blind spot" creator, and sometimes we need to wait till we're less emotional to see something clearly. Although emotions also are required to see some things clearly, but as the C's say, "limiting emotions" are the ones that can hurt us, and also allowing them to control our thoughts and actions rather than to be the fuel, not the driver.

Also this applies to any distraction in general - like how the media distracts us with stupid bread and circuses as seen in the recent article on SOTT, and people are too busy focusing on that and being oblivious to the world being on fire. And this also applies to just being ponerized - being affected by distorted pathological thinking, effectively missing the forest for the trees in all things that matter, thinking and seeing subjectively and missing the vital objective reality because of these distortions.

And of course, redirecting focus is how ALL the magic tricks work, and why they work in the first place. And isn't what psychopaths are doing to our planet and everyone on it just a big "slight of hand" trick? How else could they do it right in front of us, on a grand stage, with so few people noticing? And of those who notice, even fewer care - also a redirecting focus trick, ponerization, focusing on the trivial and on happy lies, on intellectual pursuits while emotions are undeveloped and neglected. So the analogy of SOTT being a lighthouse is apt, the magic trick won't work if someone is shining a spotlight on the things the magician wants us to not notice or realize.

 

[Nawd]

I've been giving this a lot of thought, but had I had been told there was some details that would come up that I might not see, and that the true goal was not actually just to count the number of passes the white shirts did, I would have paid closer attention. (as if now I'm blaming the test and not myself). I should have gotten the clue by the word 'test' in the thread title, I thought that the counting thing was pretty easy, and had a bad feeling half way through it that maybe the counting was not the true test. However I didn't want to start the video over because I thought 'well that might be considered cheating.' lol Had I watched it without a goal in mind (self importance to do well and be accurate), I don't think I would have missed the obvious. (Or would I have, I'll never know).

I wonder though, if the test were done 'live' instead of on a video, when a person feels pretty safe that they won't miss the obvious, if it would make some sort of difference. Perhaps not though., Magicians trick the eye in the same way with a beautiful woman or a rainbow of colors on a scarf, props, action and confusion. The audience then, even knowing they are being tricked, don't see the 'underhanded' actions going on and just see the illusions. (Sort of like society in the United States).

Thanks for the video! Excellent experiement!

And this applies to so many things. It's a good example of how limited our awareness can be, and why it's so important to pay attention to objective reality "right and left", as the C's say. The same thing seems true for our cognitive awareness too - why trying to figure something out for hours can fail, but sleeping on it and looking at it in the morning with fresh mental eyes can make a dramatic difference in what we see and how we see it. Emotions tend to be a big "blind spot" creator, and sometimes we need to wait till we're less emotional to see something clearly. Although emotions also are required to see some things clearly, but as the C's say, "limiting emotions" are the ones that can hurt us, and also allowing them to control our thoughts and actions rather than to be the fuel, not the driver.

Also this applies to any distraction in general - like how the media distracts us with stupid bread and circuses as seen in the recent article on SOTT, and people are too busy focusing on that and being oblivious to the world being on fire. And this also applies to just being ponerized - being affected by distorted pathological thinking, effectively missing the forest for the trees in all things that matter, thinking and seeing subjectively and missing the vital objective reality because of these distortions.

And of course, redirecting focus is how ALL the magic tricks work, and why they work in the first place. And isn't what psychopaths are doing to our planet and everyone on it just a big "slight of hand" trick?

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

So that brings up a few questions in my mind - can we observe something without a goal in mind? What is the difference between a goal while observing/doing something, and anticipation? It seems that no matter how much on the lookout we are, we're going to miss some stuff, and that's why networking is so crucial. Someone will notice the gorilla, someone else will notice the person leaving, and someone else will notice the curtain color change - and by networking and sharing, together we notice all those things!

It seems that having a focus is a very useful thing - if you had no goal in mind you'd have no idea how many passes were made because you wouldn't be counting them - focus allows us to see a lot more in one particular area, but also means seeing a lot less in others. And as the article mentions, the psychologists who observed it and knew about this experiment done in the past were looking for the gorilla, but missed the person leaving and the curtain changing color. So we miss things regardless of whether we have a goal in mind, a single person's mind just can't be aware of everything that might potentially be important. Other than being superhuman, it seems networking is the only solution. Everybody feeling different parts of the same elephant, sharing what they see/feel, and everybody becomes aware not only of the whole elephant, but the smaller details that matter, like that he may have a wound on one side of his body or something, which is like counting the number of passes, which is something that may not even occur to someone but would to someone else who is focusing on that particular thing.

 

[Nawd]

So that brings up a few questions in my mind - can we observe something without a goal in mind? What is the difference between a goal while observing/doing something, and anticipation? It seems that no matter how much on the lookout we are, we're going to miss some stuff, and that's why networking is so crucial. Someone will notice the gorilla, someone else will notice the person leaving, and someone else will notice the curtain color change - and by networking and sharing, together we notice all those things!

I think you are right about networking and having other eyes and ears tuned towards skills or goals even, that others may not be so good at.

That is a good question, can we observe without a goal in mind: I think it depends on the situation. If someone gives me a goal (like the video seemed to by giving directions) then it solidifies into a goal. If someone in my house says "is it suppose to rain? I'm finishing laundery and need to know if I can hang them up on the line." I would go outside, look at the sky, feel the wind (maybe check the weather online for a less accurate idea or to back up my claim of 'yes there are dark clouds'). I might even check the clothes line to make sure it is functional and hasn't fallen. Would I notice anything else if I had one goal in mind? I'm not sure. Now if I wander outside for enjoyment (is that a goal?), then I might notice the yellow butterfly, or that the spider is remaking it's web, or any dangers that may lurk in the woods.

If I had three people checking the weather with me, more eyes, more ears, they would likely notice more details, even if there was only one goal.

It seems that having a focus is a very useful thing - if you had no goal in mind you'd have no idea how many passes were made because you wouldn't be counting them - focus allows us to see a lot more in one particular area, but also means seeing a lot less in others. And as the article mentions, the psychologists who observed it and knew about this experiment done in the past were looking for the gorilla, but missed the person leaving and the curtain changing color. So we miss things regardless of whether we have a goal in mind, a single person's mind just can't be aware of everything that might potentially be important. Other than being superhuman, it seems networking is the only solution. Everybody feeling different parts of the same elephant, sharing what they see/feel, and everybody becomes aware not only of the whole elephant, but the smaller details that matter, like that he may have a wound on one side of his body or something, which is like counting the number of passes, which is something that may not even occur to someone but would to someone else who is focusing on that particular thing.

I think another good analogy could be - the person standing really close to a painting can only see various colors, textures, the directions of the brush strokes. Instead of that one person backing up (or having the goal to see the entire painting), they could pass along the information to the person one foot away and eventually all of the way back. Because the one (or few) who can see the entire painting would not know without being told, how the texture of the canvass is, or the light nearly unnoticable color variations not seen at other distances. Eventually after all details of every step back is conveyed, every single person would have a much better view no matter where they stood than any ONE person. IMO


Edited for: Well come to think of it, if I do go outside for enjoyment, would I even look for danger? Maybe sometimes a solid goal might be a dangerous way of missing important details...Networking makes it possible to not miss details that might be our detriment.

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

Now if I wander outside for enjoyment (is that a goal?), then I might notice the yellow butterfly, or that the spider is remaking it's web, or any dangers that may lurk in the woods.

I'd say it is, at least it's a mindset, and it will affect what you see and how you see it. You're probably more likely to not notice annoying/irritating things if you're not looking for them, and vice versa (and if you notice, not interpret them as annoying). Ever notice how some people complain about everything? Their world seems like a horrible place, but it's the same world, they just look for every little excuse to be upset - it's always either too hot, too cold, too muggy, too dry, too rainy, too many spiderwebs, too many bugs, the smell is wrong, too windy, or not windy enough, etc..

I think another good analogy could be - the person standing really close to a painting can only see various colors, textures, the directions of the brush strokes. Instead of that one person backing up (or having the goal to see the entire painting), they could pass along the information to the person one foot away and eventually all of the way back. Because the one (or few) who can see the entire painting would not know without being told, how the texture of the canvass is, or the light nearly unnoticable color variations not seen at other distances. Eventually after all details of every step back is conveyed, every single person would have a much better view no matter where they stood than any ONE person. IMO

Yeah that's a good analogy. The only thing I'd add is you'd need a bunch of people standing close because the texture and fine details may be different in different parts of the painting, and there isn't enough time in the day for one person to scan the whole painting with a magnifying glass, so to speak. But as Ark often says, the devil is in the details, so it helps when many people are focusing closely on different parts of the same thing, and also others are taking a step back to see the bigger picture, and everybody shares so everyone knows not only all the details but also the big picture! And then once everyone is aware of all this, we can share our unique interpretations/understandings of what we're looking at, drawing from our unique knowledge and experience, which further multiplies the beneficial effect because now not only is everyone seeing the entire picture, but everyone is also sharing notes about how/why this picture is significant, and how it fits into the rest of the puzzle of our world. This helps us correct our individual subjectivity in the process, and results in exponential objective knowledge explosion for everybody involved!

So networking is probably the most important concept we should apply to get anywhere. Without it, no matter how much Gurdjieff or other important books you read and how much you pay attention, you're pretty much guaranteed to be led astray, to allow ponerization to influence you and your interpretations and understanding, and to miss a LOT of what is really going on in the world and within your being.


Edit: I suppose complaining about everything is as bad as complaining about nothing - or seeing everything as good. On the one hand all things are "ok" since they are what they are, it is natural for them to be this way, or at least there is a reason why they are this way, but that doesn't mean we should bend over backwards trying to "like" something that's just really uncomfortable, like global ponerology, or tigers in your backyard, or a hailstorm on your head. So ultimately the best approach may be to go outside with no intention to enjoy or not enjoy, but more of an open mind to see what you'll find today, without expectation. Although if you had a stressful day or something, then an intention to enjoy yourself is probably a good idea, assuming there is no real danger. Sometimes you just want to be in the rain and get wet and love it :) Except nowadays it's probably acid rain and you'll glow green when it gets dark out... :P

 

[mada85]

Thanks for posting this, SAO. Watching the video, I counted the passes correctly, but I did not see the gorilla, the changing colour of the curtain, or the black team member leaving. So I watched it again, and had the strangest sensation that reality had changed. Was I watching the same video I had watched a few minutes before? I suspect the sensation was a product of unquestioning, egotistical belief in my own memory. The sensation was as if the rug had been pulled out from under my feet.

I experienced a kind of mental void while watching for the second time. Either reality had changed, or my memory was at fault. If I had not been open to the idea that my memory was at fault, I may have experienced some kind of breakdown or dissociation, or filled the void with inaccurate knowledge. I think this void-state must be akin to that described by Lobaczewski, when the normal human mind is confronted by pathological material which it cannot understand due to lack of knowledge. It produces a kind of gap or stop in the accustomed thought processes. That void-state is the time when accurate objective knowledge and observation is absolutely necessary otherwise the mind can grasp onto pathological material much as a drowning man grasps onto a floating plank in the water. I should think that for many people that kind of void-experience is very uncomfortable and they want to avoid it or fill it in any way they can.

 

[Nawd]

Edit: I suppose complaining about everything is as bad as complaining about nothing - or seeing everything as good. On the one hand all things are "ok" since they are what they are, it is natural for them to be this way, or at least there is a reason why they are this way, but that doesn't mean we should bend over backwards trying to "like" something that's just really uncomfortable, like global ponerology, or tigers in your backyard, or a hailstorm on your head. So ultimately the best approach may be to go outside with no intention to enjoy or not enjoy, but more of an open mind to see what you'll find today, without expectation. Although if you had a stressful day or something, then an intention to enjoy yourself is probably a good idea, assuming there is no real danger. Sometimes you just want to be in the rain and get wet and love it :) Except nowadays it's probably acid rain and you'll glow green when it gets dark out... :P

Indeeed, sometimes I go about my day with the intent of enjoyment, mostly because I don't know how many moments of enjoyment are left in this world. I'd hate to look back and think I complained yesterday about getting bit by a yellow fly (they hurt!). But I think I'll attempt to just take things as they are as much as possible with as little intent or 'goal setting' as possible when it comes at least to 'my nature walks' (barefoot!).

So far I haven't detected any acid rain, nor an abnormal green glow about myself, although I'm thinking about getting a water test kit and posting results. The EPA certainly isn't telling the truth!

I'm wondering if more people are not taking the test because they scrolled down? LOL!

 

[Nawd]

Hey that's a great idea! I didn't actually watch the video a second time until now. It makes it really strange! "How could I really have missed those major changes, why did I only do what I was told, count. I always credited myself (inaccurately) in having an 'attention to detail,' at least that is what my resume says.

It was a great way to remind myself to look around without assumptions. Really a difficult thing to try! (Then of course their is the question, is even reminding myself to not have too many assumptions, some sort of goal?)

Thanks for posting this, SAO. Watching the video, I counted the passes correctly, but I did not see the gorilla, the changing colour of the curtain, or the black team member leaving. So I watched it again, and had the strangest sensation that reality had changed. Was I watching the same video I had watched a few minutes before? I suspect the sensation was a product of unquestioning, egotistical belief in my own memory. The sensation was as if the rug had been pulled out from under my feet.

I experienced a kind of mental void while watching for the second time. Either reality had changed, or my memory was at fault. If I had not been open to the idea that my memory was at fault, I may have experienced some kind of breakdown or dissociation, or filled the void with inaccurate knowledge. I think this void-state must be akin to that described by Lobaczewski, when the normal human mind is confronted by pathological material which it cannot understand due to lack of knowledge. It produces a kind of gap or stop in the accustomed thought processes. That void-state is the time when accurate objective knowledge and observation is absolutely necessary otherwise the mind can grasp onto pathological material much as a drowning man grasps onto a floating plank in the water. I should think that for many people that kind of void-experience is very uncomfortable and they want to avoid it or fill it in any way they can.

 

[Laura]

Well, I counted the correct number of passes, but missed the gorilla and everything else. Ark, on the other hand, saw the gorilla because he knew something was up, he's a Scorpio and didn't trust the instructions. He didn't bother to count either since he wasn't interested in proving anything.

 

[Z...]

I counted the correct number of passes, didn't miss the gorilla but missed curtain changing color and black player leaving the game.

 

[Gertrudes]

The first time I saw this test was in a commercial at the cinema. The video was different, and the gorilla even stopped in the centre to do a few dance steps. I counted all the passes correctly, and when the video was slowed down and played again I turned to my partner and asked: "Are they faking it? There was no gorilla before was there?" and he answered: "there sure was, I stopped counting because I got distracted with the gorilla." It seemed so blatantly obvious that I nearly didn't believe it had been there before!

This time, sure enough I saw the gorilla but completely missed the player leaving and the curtain changing colour :D Talk about seeing things the way you expect to see them...

I think it has to do with the mindset one is in as SAO mentioned, but also with one's natural type of tendency in filtering information. The brain is bombarded with an immense amount of information that we aren't really able to process, at least not in our current state of being, so we select.
When I walk down the street with my partner for example, each of us will come up with very distinct perceptions, he'll more easily notice particularities within the buildings, the street itself, whilst my senses are more naturally tuned to the people walking in the street. And time and time again when discussing the same event I come to the conclusion that I miss a lot of things he doesn't, but he also misses a lot of things I don't. We simply notice different things.

Other than being superhuman, it seems networking is the only solution. Everybody feeling different parts of the same elephant, sharing what they see/feel, and everybody becomes aware not only of the whole elephant, but the smaller details that matter, like that he may have a wound on one side of his body or something, which is like counting the number of passes, which is something that may not even occur to someone but would to someone else who is focusing on that particular thing.

It is also how I see it.


ADDED:

Ark, on the other hand, saw the gorilla because he knew something was up, he's a Scorpio and didn't trust the instructions.

I'm also a Scorpio, but in my case I just sheepishly complied with the instructions

 

[Masamune]

I got the correct number of passes, saw the gorilla switch out for one of the people with the black shirt but completely missed the color change...

 

[sleepermustawaken]

Great post SAO.

I counted the correct passes; I saw the gorilla; I did not notice the curtain color change.

When I noticed the gorilla, I some how knew that there was a change of persons though I did not see it, because there was no extra addition of black colored clothes.