Boy, you sighted people came up with another dilly, didn't you?
[swoosh / music plays]
This question's been coming up a little bit in the comments lately. "What does a blind
person imagine when someone refers to an object?
Like, do you visualize something in your mind?"
Being blind since birth, I don't really visualize anything, right, because I don't know how to see
and my subconscious doesn't know how to see. When I think about something
I supposed I think about its properties.
You know, I think about what that thing is or its shape or its size.
But I think about my memory of it. For example,
if you were to talk about a baseball, I remember
what one feels like. Now, I haven't felt one in a while but I remember it's got the
stitching on it, it's round, it's dense.
You can't squeeze it. I remember the approximate size of it.
You know, so I imagine what it feels like. That's what I go by.
Not a picture like you guys, but it's something.
So Ben, why don't you name off a couple things and I'll
describe what I think about when you say these things.
I won't see it in my mind but I can tell you about the things I remember.
This is very strange. But I think you'll get it.
[music plays]
BEN: Okay... a bottle of soda.
TOMMY: I think about a bottle of soda, I think about the shape of it.
Like a Coke bottle for example, I think about
the plastic. I think about the cap. I think about the
approximate size of it. The lable. Those things on the bottom
so it doesn't fall down - the five things there.
That's what I think about when I --- and that it's cold to the touch generally
if it's been in the fridge. It's so strange,
because I do remember the shape but I remember the shape in my hands, right.
I couldn't imagine a bottle of soda on the table,
because I'd have to be touching it to know it was there.
I see the shape through my hands. I don't see it with my eyes. I have to
touch it. So, I remember from always
from my perspective.
BEN: How about a banana?
TOMMY: A banana... Okay. When I think of a banana,
I imagine touching one so I'm imagining
the sort of cylindrical object with a bit of bend to it and that
skin and it's in a bunch --- it's attached to the others
up at the top. And that's what I think of with a banana.
And maybe if it's been sitting around for a little bit, it's starting to smell
more like a banana. When it comes to the color of a banana,
I don't really think about that part. I'm not quite sure --- I think a banana
is yellow. I wouldn't think about the color because I don't see
the color and the color doesn't mean anything to me.
I more interested in the shape and the size of it and the texture.
[music plays]
BEN: How about a car? TOMMY: See, a car is more
difficult for me to imagine because I can't hold it in my
hand, right. Like a big station wagon or an SUV or something
like that, but I think of the parts
so I think of the door of where I'm going to get in. I think about the seats
inside. You know, maybe over on the driver's side, I think about
the steering wheel and all that kind of stuff that's over there,
and the pedals on the floors. But...
I can't think of it as a whole. When I
drew the car in a past video, I had to think about
all the different pieces of the car, right, the different parts of it and how I could
put it together on a piece of paper for you to look at. But when I think
of a car, I just think about one part at a time.
I mean, again, I can't imagine an entire car
because I've never touched an entire car all at once.
[music plays]
BEN: When somebody says an iPhone, what pops in your mind?
TOMMY: Immediately, I think of the shape. Well, first off,
I think of my own iPhone. Okay. I have a 6.
So I think about the shape of it, the rectangle,
I think about the thickness of it, the texture of it.
And then I imagine the buttons on the side
and the home key at the bottom. And that's...
boom what's in my mind when you say iPhone. You know, I only think of the one that
I know the best. It's so strange.
I mean, of course I imagine it, but I just don't do it
in the way that you do. When I say imagine, I'm talking about
what I feel and what I remember,
right, because it's all from memory. But when you say visualize I can't do that
because to visualize means to look at it and to see a picture of it
and I don't. To visualize something for me is to remember
what it feels like and maybe even what it smells like.
You know what I mean? It's fascinating
that people can visualize things in their mind. But with time it must
change. For example, for me, my mom's been
gone for an awfully long time now. And I remember
her voice but I'm sure it's not even close. I haven't heard a recording of it in
years. So it's changed through time and I would imagine
that's what happens to your memories too, your visual ones
of something that you could only see once, or something that you
haven't seen for years. I can't imagine that you'd be able
to keep an image that perfect in your mind.
It would have to change overtime. And that's like what sound does
to me and what shapes do to me too I guess.
[music plays] Memorizing shapes
is a strange kind of thing I suppose. You know, when I was a kid, for example,
geometry was done in raised line drawings, that's how they did it
back in the day, right. And so, it would just be
raised lines of a rectangle or of a triangle
or of an isosceles triangle or an angle
or an obtuse or acute angle.
Or a square or a parallelogram --- whatever it is. But I remember those shapes
and raised line drawings. But at the same time
I can remember solid version of those shapes from like building blocks or
that kind of the stuff that you'd have as a kid. Right, and lego pieces.
Because they're different - they are square and rectangle lego pieces
and triangle ones and stuff. You know, so that's what I remember
for shapes. And that's how I was taught them.
I think the moral of the story is this. The most important key here
is our memories. I think that's what it is. I think that's what
we base everything on. I remember things just from my memory of them.
I can only imagine what I've ever experienced in my life.
Right, I can't imagine something I've never touched.
I can wonder about it, but I can't imagine it.
[music plays]
If you've got anymore questions that are going to make my brain hurt and make me think
hard about how I could explain my world to you,
please let me know. I'll take a crack at it.
This is a video you've got to see to believe... wait.
The object of this video is to shape up.
If you were thinking this video was going to make you laugh,
think again... and think again and again and again because
that's what this video's going to make you do. [Ben laughs]
[Tommy laughs]