More on the Flat Life ...

...  from the same book, The Mind's Eye, by Oliver Sacks.

Sacks relates the experience of a doctor who lost his depth perception due to a neurological disturbance of some sort. The doctor reports, 

"Although driving at a normal speed replaces the lost of depth perception with motion stereopsis* , I have lost my spatial orientation.  There is no longer the feeling I used to have of knowing exactly where I am in space and the world."

Sacks continues: "His conclusion, after thirty-five days, was that ... 'I can't see spending the rest of my life in this way .... Life in a two-dimensional world is very different from that in a three-dimensional world and very inferior.'" Fortunately for the doctor, his binocular depth perception returned.

As I mentioned in the previous post, putting young children in front of a flat screen, whether for distraction, entertainment, or education, has a cost.  It displaces, to some degree, the development of depth perception, spatial orientation, sense of direction, and motion-distance estimation.  What do you want for your child?  Comment.

 [* - a kind of depth perception perceived when driving, as closer objects pass by at a greater perceived speed than objects farther away, with the most distant ones appearing stationary]