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Re: another invisible gorilla
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Gary: agreed in general on how often we can overlook evidence right before
us,¹ but may I query, in context, your phrase ignore significant matter.¹
The amazing (but rather artificial) Invisible Gorilla experiment works
precisely because the viewers are intensely focused on other matters
(counting basket-ball passes): the Gorilla is ignored because of its
insignificance to this task. Richard Dawkins, of all people, failed to spot
the huge hairy primate! In The Devil¹s Chaplain (2002) he confesses his
utter disbelief at missing the intruder until the video was replayed.
Jansy¹s quickly-corrected oversight can be best explained by the hurly-burly
of web browsing and crowded screens.
The popular idiom, The Elephant in the Room, is somewhat other! Here we have
an unarguably visible object that for diverse reasons we prefer not to
acknowledge. Until, that is, someone forces a reaction. Topics such as
Malcolm X¹s murder, Conan Doyle¹s adultery and VN¹s sources for Lolita
spring to mind.
Your general warning remains valid, and has long been debated by
Philosophers of Science: the unreliability of eye-witness! We all tend to
find what we are looking for: the unconscious cherry-picking of evidence
that supports our hypotheses. From the enormous number (literally
unlimited!) of potential anagrams lurking in Nabokov¹s texts, we pounce on
those that favour our interpretations, and reject counter-examples.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 28/07/2010 19:19, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> Gary Lipon: Actually right next to the copy number you quote the text of the
> colophon reads:It is published by the Arion Press with the novel as part of
> the two-volume edition, limited to 200 numbered copies for sale and 26
> lettered copies hors de commerce, that was completed in the spring of 1994.
> This reminds a little of the recently published book, The Invisible Gorilla,
> which is about, in part, how conscious focusing can cause us to ignore
> significant matter lying right before of us. Apparently this can happen to
> everyone.
>
> JM: Thanks! I was looking for the item in the open text but forgot to look
> again at the "imaged text."
>
> There's in Tolstoy's "War and Peace," a similar (religious!) reference.
> Cf. War and Peace : Book Fifteen: 1812-13 : Chapter XII by Leo Tolstoy ...
> <http://www.classicreader.com/book/92/329/>
> That same day he had learned that Prince Andrew, after surviving the battle
> ... He had equipped himself with a mental telescope and looked into remote
> space ... www.classicreader.com/book/92/329/
> <http://www.classicreader.com/book/92/329/> -
> Another instance could be the shown in a the game "with concealed rules,"
> called "Scissors" or "Simon says"...
>
> Steve Norquist sent marvellous images of America and Russia in the forties. I
> prefer to look at these (in association to Nabokoviana) than at the Berlin
> ones. Thanks, Steve!
>
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us,¹ but may I query, in context, your phrase ignore significant matter.¹
The amazing (but rather artificial) Invisible Gorilla experiment works
precisely because the viewers are intensely focused on other matters
(counting basket-ball passes): the Gorilla is ignored because of its
insignificance to this task. Richard Dawkins, of all people, failed to spot
the huge hairy primate! In The Devil¹s Chaplain (2002) he confesses his
utter disbelief at missing the intruder until the video was replayed.
Jansy¹s quickly-corrected oversight can be best explained by the hurly-burly
of web browsing and crowded screens.
The popular idiom, The Elephant in the Room, is somewhat other! Here we have
an unarguably visible object that for diverse reasons we prefer not to
acknowledge. Until, that is, someone forces a reaction. Topics such as
Malcolm X¹s murder, Conan Doyle¹s adultery and VN¹s sources for Lolita
spring to mind.
Your general warning remains valid, and has long been debated by
Philosophers of Science: the unreliability of eye-witness! We all tend to
find what we are looking for: the unconscious cherry-picking of evidence
that supports our hypotheses. From the enormous number (literally
unlimited!) of potential anagrams lurking in Nabokov¹s texts, we pounce on
those that favour our interpretations, and reject counter-examples.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 28/07/2010 19:19, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
> Gary Lipon: Actually right next to the copy number you quote the text of the
> colophon reads:It is published by the Arion Press with the novel as part of
> the two-volume edition, limited to 200 numbered copies for sale and 26
> lettered copies hors de commerce, that was completed in the spring of 1994.
> This reminds a little of the recently published book, The Invisible Gorilla,
> which is about, in part, how conscious focusing can cause us to ignore
> significant matter lying right before of us. Apparently this can happen to
> everyone.
>
> JM: Thanks! I was looking for the item in the open text but forgot to look
> again at the "imaged text."
>
> There's in Tolstoy's "War and Peace," a similar (religious!) reference.
> Cf. War and Peace : Book Fifteen: 1812-13 : Chapter XII by Leo Tolstoy ...
> <http://www.classicreader.com/book/92/329/>
> That same day he had learned that Prince Andrew, after surviving the battle
> ... He had equipped himself with a mental telescope and looked into remote
> space ... www.classicreader.com/book/92/329/
> <http://www.classicreader.com/book/92/329/> -
> Another instance could be the shown in a the game "with concealed rules,"
> called "Scissors" or "Simon says"...
>
> Steve Norquist sent marvellous images of America and Russia in the forties. I
> prefer to look at these (in association to Nabokoviana) than at the Berlin
> ones. Thanks, Steve!
>
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/