# What the Bleep Do We Know? (the movie) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181 "2006-01-09T17:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/41 "2006-01-27T22:48:37Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > This reminds me of the inevitable dreaded “Is there something different about me today?” question from the spouse… > > Hair? Shoes? Makeup? Shirt? AAAaiaiiiiigiiiggghhhh!!! “You look beautiful. Let’s go out to dinner.” -Joe, pauper ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/42 "2006-01-27T23:05:48Z")
> [@XaMcQ](#): > > I saw the gorillia bit on a Discovery-type program and was following the instructions to count passes. Never saw the big ape at all till they pointed it out at the end. It also reminded me of a Candid Camera episode I saw once where they had a guy asking strangers for directions. The guy was tricked out as a golfer, then two workers walked between him and the person who wasn’t in on it, carrying a large panel. While the panel hid him from view, the person asking directions was exchanged with someone with different clothes and props. The panel passes and the person goes back to giving directions without noticing the difference. Attention Blindness and Change Blindness, respectively. Pretty well recognized perceptual facets. [I covered some of these things in this thread, in case anybody is curious.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=305734) The story of the buffalo seen as an insect, by the way, was reported by Colin Turnbull describing an incident in the former Congo in the 1950s with a BaMbuti pygmy as his subject. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/43 "2006-01-28T08:14:11Z")
Just because the native (pre)Americans did not recognize the ships as ships (which is logical given that recognition typically comes from experience and this is the first time they saw a ship) doesn’t mean they did not see the ships. The written description seems to sum it up pretty well, they could see all of the attributes of the ship and could relate those to things they were familiar with (birds wings etc.), but could not put it all together correctly simply because it was their first viewing. So basically the story reminds us that our sensory perception is based on prior experience. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/44 "2006-01-28T13:21:55Z")
Hang on, hang on - these natives, they lived on islands, right, in the Caribean Sea, right? ummm, how did they get there? or, in other words, isn’t it kind of patronising to assume they couldn’t make the conceptual leap from “canoe” to “big canoe with sails”. Without any evidence, that is, because I still haven’t seen anyone pointing to any actual accounts of that being the Native experience with the Spaniards… ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/45 "2006-01-31T13:59:13Z")
I guess it’s all in what you’re told ahead of time. I sent my girlfriend the link for the monkey video and told her to count the passes between the players in black. Here’s her response: > [@](#): > > 19 completed shots and going for a 20th…why do you ask? Hmm… -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/46 "2006-03-28T00:16:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The depth perception thing bugs me, too. The only thing I’ve seen remotely like it was a test where people living in different cultures were shown a picture that showed a jungle scene done as a line drawing. An elephant and some other beast are shown in the foreground. In the middle of the picture, and in the background is a guy with a spear, up on a rock. Because he’s way off in the background, he’s drawn smaller. > > A lot of people in “primitive” societies perceive the man as being smaller because he’s drawn smaller, not because of perspective. > > To me, it looks like a difference in assumptions and familiarity with artistic conventions… I have pictures I drew at age 4, of apartment buildings in “Perspectiva Caballera” (the X and Y axis are parallel to the paper, undistorted; the Z axis is tilted and gets scaled down, shortened; I’ve never been able to find out what is it called in English). I drew that way because that was what I saw from my window. Discovering that Perspectiva Caballera was a 17th century invention completely blew my mind :eek: ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/47 "2006-03-28T01:10:57Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > But the ships – is there any evidence other than speculative that the Indians didn’t see Columbus’s ships because they were not conditioned to see them? Any documentation on this other than new-age feel-good tripe? When the Indians finally saw the ships, did bumblebees suddenly start falling from the skies as well? That bit is complete BS. Hell, by that standred, they shouldn’t have been able to see the Spanish, because they were White Europeans and they had never seen a white European before. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/48 "2006-03-28T01:19:04Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > “Perspectiva Caballera” (the X and Y axis are parallel to the paper, undistorted; the Z axis is tilted and gets scaled down, shortened; I’ve never been able to find out what is it called in English). [“Cavalier Projection”](http://www.tpub.com/content/engineering/14069/css/14069_177.htm). Sometimes also called [oblique projection](http://www.math.utah.edu/~treiberg/Perspect/Perspect.htm). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/49 "2006-03-28T04:24:48Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > No, it’s that _viewers_, when asked afterwards about the the gorilla, said, “What gorilla?” The guy in the gorilla suit who walked across the screen from right to left? I was supposed to miss that? ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181/50 "2006-03-28T04:49:10Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The guy in the gorilla suit who walked across the screen from right to left? I was supposed to miss that? Well… you were supposed to be told to focus on one team, generally the white team, and to count how many times the ball was passed. Many people, once given those instructions, simply do not see the gorilla. Many who are told to watch the black team also do not see the gorilla as they’re following the ball. But if someone just says “Hey, here’s a video”, of course you’re most likely going to see the gorilla. It is, after all, a demonstration of the phenomena known as _attention blindness_, not _gorilla blindness_. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-bleep-do-we-know-the-movie/339181.md?page=2)