On Oct 13, 2010, at 6:53 PM, joseph berg wrote: > The function of the visual system is not to transmit an image to the > brain; there's nobody up there to look at an image. It's to transmit > information about the world up to the brain.
Before I looked at the piece the quote was from, it seemed to me the remark quoted was either wrong or effectively tautological. As stated it comes across as absurd: Why, if there's no one "up there" to look at an image, would there be anyone up there to consider "information"? Turns out the remark is by a Harvard Medical School professor talking about optical illusions. In any case, her remark is wrong. It implies that an image is not "information" -- but the "information" transmitted to the brain by the visual system is totally visual. The brain then "examines" the image and dopes out that it's an optical illusion. The visual system does not dope out the "information" that it's an optical illusion, the brain does that..
