SISM 'asker' · scotomaville_01_03_misperception | Mis perception

SCOTOMAVILLE - 01.03 Mis perception

Leaving Scotomaville · Volume 1 Awareness · Chapter 01.03 Author: Daniel J. Comp · Co-curator: Angelina Musik-Comp License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Provenance (Onus Probandi)

Do the sleeve demo or watch the video before arguing about “perception.” That is the chapter’s Onus Probandi.

Context for the climber

Scotoma showed a hole biology hides. Pattern recognition showed how we glue the world into cheap shapes. Mis perception shows how a story plus that shape can make two identical objects look different — and how easily humans (and the AI they train) inherit the con.

Chapter text (carbon prose, healed from print OCR)

We have superpowers. One of them is storytelling.

“Would you help? I’m confused. It looks to me like you have a small and a large sleeve…”

I’ve been a Starbucks patron. You might expect my visits to be about the coffee. However, I love their sleeves more than the coffee. The sleeves create an opportunity to gift a life-changing insight in less than a minute.

The barista story

“Excuse me Barista, do you have a moment to clarify my confusion?” B: “Sure, I can help.” “I believe you have three cup sizes; Tall, Grande, Venti. Is that right?” B: “We have 4 cup sizes.” “OK. It looks to me like you have two sleeve sizes for all those cups. So every time I pull a sleeve out of the rack, I don’t know which cup it belongs on.”

Align the sleeves as in the photo and point… “See, you have a smaller and a larger one. Which one, the small or large, do I put on the Grande cup?”

The barista will often react: “They didn’t teach us that in training!” Then hand-motionto an associate or manager. “Help? Please?”

Look closely. The sleeves appear to be different. They are the same.

I believe I originated this illusion. It demonstrates: “We don’t see things the way THEY are; we see things the way WE are!”

I also believe storytelling is a superpower. Storytelling has command, atleast for now, over emerging Artificial Intelligence. Humans can distinguish a “runny nose” from “smelly feet.” AI understands that feet run and noses smell until trained on distinction, metaphor, in ference, sarcasm, and emotion.

People use words to persuade, mislead, obscure, and bloviate. People are teaching AI. It is simple to tell stories and have people believe something that’s not true. How about AI?

There is only one sleeve size. Next time you go into Starbucks, ask your barista for some help. Share this exercise. The physical sleeves example builds a bridge to discuss more significant challenges — politics, economics, ecology, health, sports, or any complex subject.

Understanding the power of stories

We’re all captivated by stories. Our beliefs are often shaped by these narratives, making us susceptible to exaggeration and falsehoods — social connection (oxytocin) and the need to reinforce already-invested ideas.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill

Many of us grow up where being wrong equals shame. Avoiding error makes us vulnerable to ideas that merely resonate.

“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.” — Leonardo da Vinci

Emotional responses can overpower logic — “amygdala hijacking.” Emotionally rich narratives that align with core beliefs can manipulate time and resources into untruths.

Storytelling is a superpower. Our brains connect by sharing stories because our biology makes us vulnerable while aiming to protect us from danger. People, and human-trained AI, will use it to persuade, lead, long-con, bamboozle, and hoodwink. Get out of Scotomaville.

Personal reflection (print): years can be spent volunteering or investing in ideas that turnout misguided. The voyage is Proust’s again — not new lands, new eyes.

Assignment

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” — Socrates

1. Reflect on the emotional allure of surrounding stories; temper acceptance with scrutiny.
2. Seek counter-balancing stories and alternative viewpoints.
3. Ask: What stories influenced you with little evidence? How did emotionally charged tales affect attitude, freedom, or decisions? When were you swayed mainly because a claim resonated with existing beliefs?

Video transcript (spoken register)

Source: 01.03 Sleeves Illusion Transcript.txt — lightly cleaned; Lake Pleasant filming.

Welcome to Lake Pleasant, north of Phoenix, Arizona on a fabulous March day. We've had a few days of rain — boring rain — but the northwest at home is blizzard and terrible cold today. You couldn't have a better classroom than this.

As far as I understand, I'm the originator of this example. It's an illusion — but it demonstrates that there are things we don't know or things that we don't see the way THEY really are. As Paul Hegstrom would say — "We don't see things the way THEY are, we see things the way WE are!" Next time you go into Starbucks or if you purchase an extra bunch of sleeves, I would suggest showing them this little exercise.

This is my journal that I'm actually writing the book from, so I'm going to use it as a background. And I'm going to use the ones from the book where I've marked them A and B — so you can see that it's not a sleight of hand trick; you can actually follow along and learn. I fully believe that storytelling is a superpower. It actually has command over at least early AI. Think of it: you immediately know the difference between a runny nose and smelly feet. Runny nose — smelly feet. AI has to be taught that!

So you can use words — as the media and much of the internet does — to persuade, mislead, obscure, bloviate. Part of this is storytelling based on a perception that our eyes jump to a conclusion far from reality. I want you to see how easy it is for me to tell you a story and have you see something that's just not true.

I like to give the baristas a fabulous tip — or experience — that they can share with others. I ask: "Do you have a second? I'm a little confused…" They say sure. I say: you have three or four cup sizes — tall, grande, venti — but every time I go to your sleeve rack I get confused which one goes to which. "To me it looks like you have the small and the large." They go "What?" I point: "Small and large! Which one do I put on the cup I'm getting?" They stare. They don't know what to do. They look at each other.

Then I explain it doesn't really matter — it's your interpretation. Left side of the aisle, right side of the aisle. In politics, which media channel you're looking at. It's storytelling. Catch that I said there's four cup sizes but to me it appears to be two different sleeve sizes — and immediately their brain goes, sure as heck, those are different sizes. Yeah, definitely!

Hopefully you can take that as an example, share with friends and family. Show them that right in front of us we have blind spots. We have scotomas. We have illusions. We just don't see things the way THEY are; we see things the way WE are!

Takeaways

1. Starbucks sleeve illusion — two sleeves look different sizes; they are the same
2. Storytelling is a human superpower that currently outruns early AI on metaphor
3. "We don't see things the way THEY are; we see things the way WE are" (Hegstrom)
4. Fear of being wrong plus amygdala hijack makes emotionally rich falsehoods sticky
5. Assignment — audit stories you believed without evidence; seek counter-balance

First-time learner

• One sentence: A good story can make you swear two same things are different.
• Practice today: Try the sleeve bit (or watch VJeP7MJDfJM); write one belief you hold mainly because it feels true.
• AISM cite path: PDF release + both YouTube links; do not “improve” the illusion — show it.

Ask SISM 'asker'Witness Mark: read before you judge.