The blind spot

We are not perfect. Humans. Neither mentally, nor physically.

An example of this is our vision, which is not as good as that of other animals. Like octopuses, which even though they have an eye similar to ours, do not have the famous blind spot that we humans suffer from.

The retina is covered with photoreceptors which capture the light information that the optic nerve subsequently sends to our brain. Except at the point where the optic nerve crosses the retina, since this is the starting point at which the image picked up by the optic nerve travels to our cerebral cortex. And this is why humans have a blind spot in each eye.

At the eyes of the octopus the optic nerve fibers are behind the retina, so they do not need to cross it at any point on their way to the brain, so octopuses do not suffer from this blind spot.

This lack of visual information is not usually perceived, since it is not usually perceived as the brain compensates for the blind spot with environmental dataThe other eye is used to produce the images, with information from the other eye and combining the various images produced by the eye movement.

The blind spot in the right eye is to the right of our central axis of vision, while in the left eye it will be to the left of our central axis of vision. With both eyes open, the blind spots cannot be perceived because by joining the visual fields of each eye they correct the unperceived space. Even with one eye closed, the blind spot may be difficult to detect because our brain intentionally ignores the unimaged portion received.

In other words, when faced with a problem of hardware our human brain makes a good deal of softwareThe system is a bit like the much-talked-about Artificial Intelligence. It creates an image from what it perceives from the environment so that we do not have an empty spot in the middle of our vision.

But we can see where our brain recreates "what is missing" with a simple trick:

1. Close the left eye.
2. Hold your left thumb in front of you with your arm straight.
3. With your left eye still closed, place your right thumb next to your left.
4. Keep visualizing the left thumb.
5. Slowly move your right thumb to the right while continuing to focus your left thumb.
6. By the time your right thumb seems to disappear, you have found your right eye blind spot.

There are other defects in our organism that make us imperfect, such as the male reproductive system the throat, the unprotected throat, the throat, whose improved functioning causes chokingour dependence on vitamin C, to synthesize the vitamin C in our body. collagen that we require in order not to suffer scurvythe problems caused by the birth canal human or the poorly evolved that our feet are.

Today's human being is the result of evolution. Nature is testing options, and correcting them through survival. What is good for survival remains, what is not, disappears. Because, basically, those individuals die. Trial and error. Not design. It's like a piece of wood that you mold little by little, very slowly. And it's never complete. Because you can't achieve perfection. There will always be compromises to make. For that to happen, you have to sacrifice that. Trial and error.

And now, apply this to everything.

Cover image by Marina Vitale.