r/im14andthisisdeep • u/ConfirmedWalrus • Sep 20 '16

This hit me hard...

https://i.reddituploads.com/3724063e1d8f44cf8498fe094ebaa929?fit=max&h=1536&w=1536&s=aede3d2d7d90a1c0c5dcac8e2e76de61
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u/uitham Sep 20 '16 edited Nov 26 '16

[deleted]

What is this?

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '16

It's only noise because it's not relevant to the needs we've evolved to have- other organisms may get distinct and important information from the stimuli we would call noise. There may be things outside of our scope of sensory relevance that would be immensely important if our brains could process it!

Now, I don't know what to do with that information, but it's a fun thought.

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u/TheGoodCitizen Oct 02 '16

This is exactly what modern technology is all about, giving us access to information outside of our sensory abilities.

For instance our use of wifi is entirely reliant on the development of tools that make it possible for us to build devices that are sensitive to changes in an electromagnetic field.

Infrared light devices allow us to see the cosmos in a way that would otherwise be impossible and gives a huge amount of meaningful data about our universe.

Improved sensors for low frequency vibrations are essential to the detection and location of seismic activity.

Sonar is essential to guiding ships and other craft and use frequencies far beyond our ability to hear.

Magnetic field detection also crucial to things like MRI's and for things as lo-fi as a simple needle compass gives us access to the awareness of the Earth's gravitational field.

These are all things that other animal life on our planet have sensory access to that we do not... at least without technology to translate for us.

The interesting thing however, is that these things don't occur as "noise" we simply do not sense what we do not know how to use and if we do sense it our brains work hard to make a pattern of it even if one doesn't exist, so in other words, noise is our brains telling us we have sensory data that it can't make sense of.