tilthat: TIL a philosophy riddle from 1688 was recently solved. If a man born blind can feel the differences between shapes such as spheres and cubes, could he, if given the ability, distinguish those objects by sight alone? In 2003 five people had their sight restored though surgery, and, no they could not.

nentuaby: I love when apparently Deep questions turn out to have clear empirical answers.

  • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    First, how can you restore sight to someone who never had in the first place? Second, anyone got a link to any details about these folks who were apparently born blind but had sight surgically granted to them?

    Nevermind. I found this article that talks about this exact topic.

    • rwhitisissle@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      how can you restore sight to someone who never had in the first place?

      Semantically, it implies that their bodies were born with the capacity for sight, but something occurred, either in utero or when they were very young, to rob them of it. Also, the subjects in the experiment all had some very minor visual capacity, like the ability to distinguish the direction light was coming from. They just didn’t have visual acuity.

      Also, this wikipedia page isn’t behind a paywall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molyneux’s_problem

      • NightAuthor@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        in vitro means in glass, as in a petri dish. and in vivo is just like, in a living body generally, not necessary just fetuses. So, I’m thinking maybe you were going for in utero?

        Sry, idk when I’m being a pedant or a helpful person who appreciates language, well, words. Grammar can get fucked.

        • rwhitisissle@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          in vitro means in glass, as in a petri dish. and in vivo is just like, in a living body generally, not necessary just fetuses. So, I’m thinking maybe you were going for in utero?

          Look, dog, words are hard and I’m stupid. Aite?

    • Kyoyeou (Ki jəʊ juː)@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      I’m just going to write here, that there are different type of Blindness! For certain people like the ones from the article, there is something in the eye blocking vision of the outside, and we now have the capacity to take it off, restoring eyesight

    • cannache@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      Well theoretically I could blindfold you, give you a complex 3d object to touch up for about half an hour, make you step back, place the object into a large container full of similar objects, then remove the blindfold and ask you to look for the object in the container.