I've acquired a new superpower • Hacker News Board

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#231

Post by CrimsonCape » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:33 PM UTC

I have a true vision-based super power.

my vision is so bad with nearsightedness that when I take corrective lenses off, I can focus on an ipad mini screen within 10" of my face and perceptually it is the same as focusing on a distant movie theater screen. No straining, eyes totally relaxed.

With the lights off, it's better than being in a theater. I tried an ipad pro in the Apple store and it felt like I had my own personal unfairly huge IMAX screen.

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#232

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:34 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#233

Post by kevinsync » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:35 PM UTC

I've got -7.5 myopia/nearsightedness in both eyes, with astigmatism. As a result, my eyes can easily go out of focus to do Magic Eye or this type of thing. The bonus superpower is, if I take my contacts out and get really close up on something, it's like I'm looking through a microscope; if I happen to have glasses on, sometimes I can also catch the light and focus in just the right way to further magnify what I'm seeing already zoomed in. In those instances I see whatever's reflecting through the glasses, so mostly eyelashes and skin/pores, but it's fascinating nonetheless. Can't see a damn thing beyond the tip of my nose without corrective lenses though LOL

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#234

Post by nadis » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:36 PM UTC

soco wrote: post #65

Workaccount2 wrote: post #43

At a local bar they had a game machine, and if you got a high score on any of the games, your tab for the evening was free. One of the games was a "spot the differences" between two pictures with an ever decreasing timer for each round. Using this trick I was able to easily surpass the high score, and garner a crowd watching me perform this mind numbing feat. Probably my peak fame right there.

I can't overlap the images to save my life - they get like halfway there and that's it...

Same! I feel like I can get a fleeting moment and then it's gone. I swear I could cross my eyes when I was a kid - I wonder if with practice it'll come back or if I'm just old and this skill I didn't-know-I-wanted is lost

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#235

Post by uoaei » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:38 PM UTC

I appreciate the sentiment but "overlay the images by crossing your eyes" receiving that kind of incredulous reaction is really funny and kind of sad for me. I hope it's just amateur editorializing.

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#236

Post by drumttocs8 » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:39 PM UTC

kevinsync wrote: post #233

I've got -7.5 myopia/nearsightedness in both eyes, with astigmatism. As a result, my eyes can easily go out of focus to do Magic Eye or this type of thing. The bonus superpower is, if I take my contacts out and get really close up on something, it's like I'm looking through a microscope; if I happen to have glasses on, sometimes I can also catch the light and focus in just the right way to further magnify what I'm se…

Same vision, and I found it hard to do at first- but super cool when the image appeared crystal clear!

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#237

Post by hyperthesis » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:40 PM UTC

A parallel processor is you!

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#238

Post by Fnoord » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:42 PM UTC

boogieknite wrote: post #226

HaZeust wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relaxing focus for me doesn't cause merging or cross-eyed effects, it causes my vision to go too blurry to do anything lol

i had the same thing where best i could get when i relaxed was a narrow merge, and when i crossed my focus was too close to my face to be helpful, plus strain. sudden clicked after fully crossing 5 or 6 times and then relaxing and was able to hold the "3rd image" very easily. felt like magic, even hardest difficulty was obvious

For me it just does not work right now. Maybe I have bad eyesight, I wear glasses and am past 40. I believe I was able to do this trick in past though. At the very least on psychedelics (various kinds). This also made me able to relax my eyes more, wheras I normally have too much pressure on them according to optician.

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#239

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:43 PM UTC

There are some great examples and detailed explanations IMO of this general phenomenon in the book "How the Mind Works" by Stephen Pinker. It essentially discusses how your brain is doing statistical work to build the 3D model from these 2 stereoscopic images.

Re: I've acquired a new superpower

#240

Post by null0pointer » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 7:43 PM UTC

You can use this same technique to view glasses-less 3D (stereoscopic) images. It's also fairly easy to create your own. Take two photos but offset the camera lens by approximately eye-width. Open the image editor of your choice and place the images side-by-side. View the composite image cross-eyed and you are now viewing a 3D scene.

Also worth noting there are 2 versions of this kind of cross-eyed focus depending on whether your eyes are focusing on a point in front of or behind the actual image. This determines which side the left and right eye images should go on in the composite. I find it easier to focus on a point in front of the images but IME most examples online are for focusing on a point behind the image.