Warning: I usually save personal posts for my private journal, but I feel like I should share this reflection at the risk of boring both my readers more than usual.
I got my first pair of glasses this week and I’m amazed at the literal change in perspective. My unaided vision isn’t horrible, but years in front of glowing rectangles have started to bear noticeable effect. On top of this, my eyes apparently have varying astigmatisms – meaning the wacky curvature of my eyeballs results in distortion. I had no idea, of course, because I’ve had my life thus far to adjust. Adding corrective lenses, however, is a headache: my "corrected" field of vision falls off more sharply and artificially to the left, so everything on my monitor is warped by a bizarre, horizontal gravity. Every close, flat surface tapers to follow a new and uncomfortable perspective. My world is suddenly crisp, richly detailed, and disturbingly shifted.
Here’s the cool part though: this is temporary because my brain will adjust. I’m already less distracted by the frames on my face, and after a few days my brain should adapt to signals that are different from those it’s been interpreting my whole life. How cool is that?
By positioning some shaped polycarbonate in front of my eyes, my quality of life improves. The hardware update does not require any software change. Sometimes I’m frustrated with the limitations of my own brain, and I forget that it’s a marvelous and powerful thing whether I appreciate it or not.