In this picture, can you see the x through the hole? (Poll to come.)
Important: in order to obtain unbiased statistics, please enter your answer before looking at the results, or other people’s posts. (Spoiler boxes are encouraged, at least in the first few posts.)
I’m making the choice a binary one to keep it simple, but if you like, feel free to discuss how much (if anything) of the x you believe is visible, and also how you arrived at your answer.
The picture is taken from Daniel Dennett’s ‘Consciousness Explaines’, where he uses it to make a point regarding the actual qualitative paucity of our subjective visual imagination—namely, that it is far less detailed than we are usually led to believe; that rather than producing high-def 3D internal projections, we actually make do with relatively poor heuristics and quick and dirty shortcuts.
So this is just meant as an informal survey; I’m simply curious as to whether Dennett’s contention that typically, people can’t accomplish the visualization task pans out, or whether a consensus will emerge. By the way, I myself haven’t a clue; if there’s enough resonance in this thread, maybe somebody could whip up a quick model or work it out with graph paper or something (I might do it myself, if I find the time).
I answered “no,” but because this is a question where it seems to me the answer would so obviously be “no” for most people, that the real answer is actually a surprise “yes.” I can’t imagine why else it would be posted. So, my game theory, money-on-the-line answer is “yes,” but my “does it seem to you that you should be able to see the X” is “no.” (and that is the one I voted, as that is what I assume the OP wants.)
istm, if you could see the top left, you could see the top right. For me the answer is done with visual/estimate geometry. Visualizing a line from the bottom front of the top block of the hole to the top of the block just in front of the space before the “x”. Does the continuation of that line connect with the x’s block low enough? I don’t think so, hence I answered no. Going at an angle can get the line steeper but I still think no. A pretty simple math problem but hard to do visually
Hard to tell from the drawing but I’m going to say yes. If you divide the surface the X is on into 9 equal squares you will be able to see the top middle and top right squares. I think a portion of that X would be in that top right square.
I voted no but tried it it out using Minecraft. The block was 16 pixels high and the top five pixels were visible through the hole, so I think it would be possible to see the X.
I promise, there’s no gotcha involved—I genuinely have no idea about the right answer. But did you look at the results now? Either a sizable fraction are trying to ‘game’ the system as you proposed to do, or to many people it’s less obvious than to you (or actually, maybe it’s as obvious to them, but their answer differs from yours).
You’re right, actually—for some reason, I merely imagined looking through the opening dead-on, but of course, one can pan.
That’s very good, would you be willing to maybe post a screenshot (or even better, animated gif or something) somewhere?
@All: maybe we can do away with the spoiler boxes now, it gets cumbersome, and anybody scrolling down this far probably either has voted, or just wants to see what others have posted.
[spoiler]Rotating the model in my head, I can see the top of the X.
Doing a few calculations on paper convinces me my intuition is correct. Without taking left/right offsets into account, you should be able to see the top 1/3 of the face with the X. Some of the top left corner will be occluded by the block to the left of the gap, but not enough to obscure the X entirely.
[/spoiler]
I voted “yes” then I whipped out my old set of plastic “Soma” cubes, and actually made the puppy. And, yes, you can see about the top third of the square with the X.
I’d post a photo, but at this point in time I don’t know a good photo-sharing service. Photobucket changed their workings, and now they suck.
I can’t see the X through the hole. My line of sight would be above and to the left of the little cranny that the X is in; the blocks immediately down and in front of me would be in the way of me seeing down into that crevice.
ETA: and now after reading other folks’ answers I’m inclined to change my answer. I see what you mean. Well I was never great at this visual-spatial shit.
For poll purposes, I just went with my gut. That turned out to be wrong, but I’m not surprised. I knew that I’d have to do some “measuring” to get a right answer and not just guess at it.
I’m confused by the point this picture is supposed to make, though. Who out there is being told that we create true, high-def 3D models in our minds?
I don’t know anyone saying that. In fact, a common intelligence test question is to show you a picture of a hand and ask you which hand it is - lots of people apparently have trouble rotating the image in their head in order to figure out which arm it ought to attach to, despite “knowing it like the back of their hand.”
So it just confirms to me what I’ve always known, which is that most people are pretty lousy at manipulating objects in their heads. Did I somehow grow up in a bubble?
