What is the strangest illusion you've ever seen?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Loren Booda
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
The discussion highlights the intersection of personal experiences with natural phenomena and the human tendency to develop superstitions in the absence of scientific explanations. One participant recounts a vivid memory of driving from Seattle to Milwaukee, where they encountered an enormous, seemingly imaginary tumbleweed that led to a moment of panic. This experience is contrasted with a surreal night in Mexico, where the individual observed shifting silhouettes of a circus on their ceiling, which they attribute to possible substance use. The narrative emphasizes the fear and confusion that can arise from such experiences, reinforcing the idea that when science does not provide clear answers, people are inclined to create superstitions to make sense of the unknown. The mention of the double-slit experiment suggests a fascination with the complexities of reality and perception, further underpinning the discussion's theme of seeking understanding in ambiguous situations.
Loren Booda
Messages
3,108
Reaction score
4
No wonder that people have superstitions when science furnishes no immediate answer to natural phenomena!

What did you experience?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I was driving a straight shot from Seattle to Milwaukee several years ago. The next day just before dawn, somewhere around the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, An enormous tumbleweed came rolling across the road. The thing must have been ten feet tall. I swerved into the other lane to avoid it and then realized that there was nothing there at all. Not long after that I pulled into a rest area to sleep for a few hours. I had heard that the animal that kills the most people in the U.S. is deer. After worrying about deer jumping out at me all night I was almost taken out by an imaginary tumbleweed.

Then there was this one time in Mexico I was watching the sillhouettes of a traveling circus on my bedroom cieling. The hue shifted as I watched. Occassionally some of them would appear to come closer to me than the other vague shapes. I remember the shapes of giraffes and elephants and clowns, lots of clown heads. The entire time I felt like Goldilocks, trying to make sure my heart wasn't beating too slow or too fast, but just right. The experience seemed to last for hours, but my internal clock wasn't working. A minute could have been an hour for all I could tell.

It was a terrifying experience. That isn't the way I would choose to die and I thought that night it was entirely likely I might. I had been smoking some pot earlier and I suspect that it may have been laced with something else. I don't think the priests at the church I was staying at would have been happy to find an overdosed american in their church.
 
Loren Booda said:
No wonder that people have superstitions when science furnishes no immediate answer to natural phenomena!

For me, it's the double-slit experiment
 
Back
Top