Dumb like a moose.
Jan. 27th, 2009 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackofallgeeksBecause I'm feeling pedantic, I'm going to pick on the author of this
article. The article itself is about how widescreen computers aren't
necessarily the best idea for business, but I don't really care. Instead
i'm going to pull out the line where he talks about the mechanics of our
eyes, specifically, "But when we have work to do, the fact that our eyes are
set up to spot a herd of jackals approaching us over the plain becomes
irrelevant."
Now, what he seems to be saying here is that our eyes are designed to let us
notice predators coming to get us. That's actually pretty false, judging
from the highschool-level grasp of biology that I have. Prey animals, like
dear, cows, and most birds, have their eyes on the sides of their heads,
allowing them some 300+ degrees of vision. They can see predators sneaking
up of them from behind, and take evasive action. Being that our eyes are on
the front of our heards, we only get about 120 degrees of sight, slightly
more if you count periferal vision. (I never do because I never use it. I
also bump into things alot.) The benefit, I believe, is that we get
binocular vision which lets us judge distances better, but as anyone who has
a little brother knows, we can be snuck up on fairly easily.
No, we aren't built as prey, we're built as predator. Ours are the
eyes of the wolf, the lion, and the raptor*. The only reason we'd notice
the jackals (who, by the way, are more scavengers than predators, anyways)
would be because we wanted to eat them. (And if you've ever
eaten jackal you'd know why even that is a fairly silly idea. Trust me.)
I didn't read the rest of the article because, like I said, I don't really
care. But I thought I'd latch onto this otherwise-unimportant little phrase
and make a big deal about it. Because after the day I've had, I needed a
bit of cerebral exercise.
*Bird, dinosaur, take your pick -- it doesn't matter to me.
article. The article itself is about how widescreen computers aren't
necessarily the best idea for business, but I don't really care. Instead
i'm going to pull out the line where he talks about the mechanics of our
eyes, specifically, "But when we have work to do, the fact that our eyes are
set up to spot a herd of jackals approaching us over the plain becomes
irrelevant."
Now, what he seems to be saying here is that our eyes are designed to let us
notice predators coming to get us. That's actually pretty false, judging
from the highschool-level grasp of biology that I have. Prey animals, like
dear, cows, and most birds, have their eyes on the sides of their heads,
allowing them some 300+ degrees of vision. They can see predators sneaking
up of them from behind, and take evasive action. Being that our eyes are on
the front of our heards, we only get about 120 degrees of sight, slightly
more if you count periferal vision. (I never do because I never use it. I
also bump into things alot.) The benefit, I believe, is that we get
binocular vision which lets us judge distances better, but as anyone who has
a little brother knows, we can be snuck up on fairly easily.
No, we aren't built as prey, we're built as predator. Ours are the
eyes of the wolf, the lion, and the raptor*. The only reason we'd notice
the jackals (who, by the way, are more scavengers than predators, anyways)
would be because we wanted to eat them. (And if you've ever
eaten jackal you'd know why even that is a fairly silly idea. Trust me.)
I didn't read the rest of the article because, like I said, I don't really
care. But I thought I'd latch onto this otherwise-unimportant little phrase
and make a big deal about it. Because after the day I've had, I needed a
bit of cerebral exercise.
*Bird, dinosaur, take your pick -- it doesn't matter to me.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 02:14 pm (UTC)Wikipedia calls them packs, but notes that they're usually in a pair or solo.
So looks like we have not one, but three nitpicky factual errors from this foolish statement. Yay intellectual superiority!
As a side note, I think it's only really owls and a select few other raptors that have binocular vision. Birds are generally wide-angle high-res, as depth perception isn't nearly as important when you have such a (long-term) speed advantage, I imagine...