Curiosity has haunted mankind since time immemorial and still continues to. In fact, human civilisation is a living example of this. If our ancestors were not curious about the bounties of nature we now know how to exploit so well, we would not be living a life like we do. It doesn’t just include technological advancements but also includes metamorphosis in way of life, social and behavioural traits. And this transformation hasn’t ceased yet. Man is still exploring the nature, newspapers full of stories of inventions taking place in some or the other part of the world is a proof of this. This quest to know more encompasses all domains, be it food, technology, beauty, health, conservation of resources and a host of other disciplines. The likes of Einstein, Aryabhatta, and Darwin threw light on this curious nature of humans. Curiosity is ageless. It never diminishes, there is always something that fascinates you, makes you wonder, makes you ponder over and stays till the last breath. I’m no exception this.
I have this weird curiosity about how the world looks from someone else’s eyes. Of course, it is a well-known fact that every individual has a perception of their own, which is governed by their society, culture, upbringing, circumstances, life experiences among a plethora of other factors, and this perception decides to some extent our future and the choices we make in life. But let’s scrutinize it at physiological level about how the world seems from someone else’s eyes, literally. It’s inexplicable but it’s something like this: if ten people were made to sit in a room and shown a bunch of grapes, they would all report green colour. Even though their interpreted colours can be different but still everyone reports ‘green’ colour because they have learnt to call their interpreted colours ‘green’. This can be explained by the fact that since everyone is unique and wired uniquely, the interplay between eyes and brain that enables vision might be a unique characteristic of an individual too, just like fingerprints are.
But just as intriguing as this idea is, it’s difficult to validate it. As practically it is not possible to swap our eyes with someone else’s. Even if it were possible we wouldn’t get a true picture because it’s not just the eyes but also how the brain interprets what our eyes see, that constitutes vision. And obviously if we swapped our brains with someone else our existence itself becomes an ambiguity!
I have reflected upon this for a very long time now and I have failed to find a resolve, even if I did, it’s not practically possible to exercise it.
Thus my curiosity remains un-satiated and unsettled like many others.
Y12 Undergraduate, The LNMIIT
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