1. A Creative Genius for Vision
Visual Intelligence
Donald D. Hoffman
Chapter One

2. The Genius of Vision Everything you see, you construct
Our visual prowess is a genius that often goes unrecognized
Yet, we construct scenes that contradict reality
Is our vision or our hand erroneous?
Can there be elements in the picture causing the problem?

3. More Evidence The “Magic Square”
Brighter inside is a vision or photometer error?
Ironically, the boundary increase makes the construction of the square difficult

4. More Evidence The Devil’s Triangle
Vision can do more than fabricate a structure, as it goes against reality
We build a triangle, even though this could be a structure photographed at a specific angle
The Devil’s Triangle

5. “What you see”
There are elegant principles being applied when constructing an image
Phenomenal sense – The way things appear to us, objects we construct regardless of reality constraints
Relational sense – what you interact with when you see, things must exist to be seen
The phenomenal sense applies to our “visual genius”
Visual experiences serve as user-friendly computer icon interface with those things we relationally see

6. Vision Comes Naturally
Unlike the ability to walk or talk, humans can see upon birth
It is also an ability that we share with animals alike
Gold fish have four color receptors
Honeybees see ultraviolet light
Is our vision the correct vision?

7. A Child’s Visual Development
One month – infants blink if something moves toward their eyes
3 months – infants use visual motion to construct boundaries of objects
4 months – use motion and stereovision to construct 3D shapes of objects
7 months – use shading, perspective, and interposition to construct depth and shape
One year – visual geniuses that begin to learn the name of objects

8. Visual Construction in Nature
Blackbird Nestlings
For some species, their visual construction displays less genius
But no different than humans, this leaves room for visual errors

9. Visual Construction in Nature
View of Chickens and Ducks
The Common Toad

10. Brief History
Ptolemy (2nd century AD) – recognized in Optics is a dictate of logic
Alhazen ( ) – visual properties due to unconscious inference
Nicolas Malebranche ( ) – visual inferences came God

11. A Brief History
Hermann von Helmholtz ( ) – described vision as a process of unconscious inference
David Marr ( ) – compared visual construction to information processing in computers
Ernst Hans Gombrich(1909) – unconscious and automatic processes are “projections”, while those that are more labored for are “inference” or “knowledge”

12. Fundamental Problem of Vision
The image at the eye has countless interpretations
How can we know that we all see the same thing?
Innate rules which grant visual mastery and lead to consensus in the visual constructions despite ambiguity
Everyone constructs the same vision (with or without the same interpretation)
The rules, which work quickly and effectively are the key