From: ABlainey@aol.com
Date: Wed Nov 13 2002 - 17:45:43 MST
In a message dated 13/11/02 22:54:49 GMT Standard Time, hal@finney.org writes:
> I often
>notice that when I drive my car or my bike, I seem to "feel" the roadway
>through the tires. Or when you draw, you feel the texture of the paper
>through your pencil or pen. This is a limited example of expanding our
>tactile senses beyond the boundaries of skin. It may be possible to go
>much farther in this direction.
A very thought provoking article. A couple of things spring to mind from my
own experience. Like you when driving I also seem to feel the road. Its
something that I wasn't aware of when I first learned to drive, probably
because if the sensory overload felt by inexperienced drivers. I also have
what most consider to be a weird driving habit that really highlights senses
very well. I have always driven with the windows slightly open. Only an inch
or so. I find that this gives me a far greater awareness of the car
surroundings. This is especially useful when driving down narrow streets that
are lined with parked cars. You would be surprised at how accurately you can
judge the distance of a passing object simply by the reflected sounds that
come from it. Give it a try. This is most easily demonstrated when driving
passed objects such as posts, you can actually hear the reflected sound of
your car and the road coming off them.
Another weird thing I have noticed is what I have called touch
tasting. Some types of metal cause a bitter or acidic taste in your mouth
when you touch them with your fingers. If you are an engineer or work with
bare metal, you may know what I mean. Im not sure how this works, but I would
hazard a guess that it is just a strange neural artefact caused by micro
electric currents when you touch the metal surface.
Back to the point. I wonder if continued use of devices like the Tongue
vision aid would effect the ability of tongue to taste? Would the
'reprogramming' of a sense effect its original use?
Alex
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jan 15 2003 - 17:58:06 MST