Triangles: Seeing and thinking

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How many triangles do you see? There are no triangles! Your brain makes the triangles using abstraction (built into the brain).

Programming a computer involves a lot of abstraction of code text without thinking like a computer.

We often see or perceive things that are not actually there. Do you see the triangle? Kanisza Triangle

There is no triangle! Your brain makes the triangle that you see. The eye just passed along the image information to the brain which organizes ind recognizes it.

Abstraction involves looking at similarities and differences and filling in missing details - sometimes appropriately, sometimes inappropriately. This abstraction can be used to deceive by providing some details but leaving other details to be filled in by unsuspecting listeners or viewers.

More: Kanizsa triangle: seeing what is not there

How many triangles do you see now? Do they exist? To many, the triangle that is seen but does not exist and appears brighter than the surrounding area.

This type of illusion was discovered/created by Gaetano Kanizsa who popularized such illusions, in part from his 1976 Scientific American paper on the subject (though he had been working on such ideas for many years before this paper).

The triangle is still seen when just dots are present at the corners. Can a triangle that does not exist be "whiter than white"? White is white, right?

Here is a Necker cube. Which corner nearest to the viewer?

Do you see the Necker cube now? It does not exist except in your mind.