And on another TOTALLY unrelated topic. Because I got happy and excited this morning.
This morning I’m working on new lessons on 6 ways to generate test ideas. I’ve been thinking about how to challenge assumptions that we have around ‘knowing’ the world is as it is. One of the things I use software testing/hacking for (which I think of as applied critical thinking) is to break assumptions that marginalized youth have of the world, themselves, and the limitations that others have of them, often which they’ve internalized. So I’ve started looking at generating testing ideas for ‘capabilities’ versus testing for features. Developers often focus on the feature of a thing, not so much whether it delivers the capability that they assume the feature will deliver.
To kick off the lesson, I was looking for an indisputable assumption that we ‘know’. Something that would challenge or shake up the youths’ world a little.
I’ve come up with this: ‘we see with our eyes’. Would most people dispute that?
The capability is ‘seeing’.
The feature is ‘eyes.
A tester (in this case an optometrist) would test the eyes to check our capability to see.
How we see makes me think of one of my heroes Paul Bach-Y-Rita, he’s talked about in the book ‘The Brain That Changes Itself’. I found a video on a machine that he made back in 1960!!
The “tactile-vision-device”. It operated on the principle that touch could be used to translate a black and white image via camera, to pins to a person’s back that vibrated heavily or light in correspondence to that section of the image that was dark or light. Go to 3.24 minutes to see this in action
So the capability is ‘seeing’ the feature is the “tactile-vision-device”.
How cool is that?
I didn’t understand when I read that book years ago, that no one had run with that idea, which goes with my lesson how much we hold onto what we ‘know’, regardless of the facts, i.e. Sheppard’s dad died of beer and fried chicken sandwiches. (Which by the way seems disrespectful, I think being killed by the Trust would give his death more status.)
So I did a search and one company has, it’s called Wicab. They use a device that translates vision to a black and white image impressed on the tongue. Go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48evjcN73rw
So this has NOTHING to do with Suji or Dark Matter or Stargate – but I had to share, doesn’t any idea that challenges how we see the world excite you?
Also, two brothers with the Ancient gene. One with flight training and one without ? How could they miss a research opportunity like that ? Stick Dave Sheppard in the outpost chair already.
Fascinating video! I’ve heard people talking about crawl therapy for brain injury and Autism. The machine is something new.
This theory reminds me of something I heard about Lincoln’s assassination. The bullet that shot him in the head was small. If the doctor’s had left the bullet in, he might have recovered. Medicine, being as it was then, didn’t realize the damage done by trying to dig the bullet out. Interesting, yes?
Totally not related to today’s post….Did Sheppard’s dad (Patrick) really die of a heart attack or was he murdered by the Trust ?
He died of natural causes
I still don’t believe it.
And on another TOTALLY unrelated topic. Because I got happy and excited this morning.
This morning I’m working on new lessons on 6 ways to generate test ideas. I’ve been thinking about how to challenge assumptions that we have around ‘knowing’ the world is as it is. One of the things I use software testing/hacking for (which I think of as applied critical thinking) is to break assumptions that marginalized youth have of the world, themselves, and the limitations that others have of them, often which they’ve internalized. So I’ve started looking at generating testing ideas for ‘capabilities’ versus testing for features. Developers often focus on the feature of a thing, not so much whether it delivers the capability that they assume the feature will deliver.
To kick off the lesson, I was looking for an indisputable assumption that we ‘know’. Something that would challenge or shake up the youths’ world a little.
I’ve come up with this: ‘we see with our eyes’. Would most people dispute that?
The capability is ‘seeing’.
The feature is ‘eyes.
A tester (in this case an optometrist) would test the eyes to check our capability to see.
How we see makes me think of one of my heroes Paul Bach-Y-Rita, he’s talked about in the book ‘The Brain That Changes Itself’. I found a video on a machine that he made back in 1960!!
The “tactile-vision-device”. It operated on the principle that touch could be used to translate a black and white image via camera, to pins to a person’s back that vibrated heavily or light in correspondence to that section of the image that was dark or light. Go to 3.24 minutes to see this in action
So the capability is ‘seeing’ the feature is the “tactile-vision-device”.
How cool is that?
I didn’t understand when I read that book years ago, that no one had run with that idea, which goes with my lesson how much we hold onto what we ‘know’, regardless of the facts, i.e. Sheppard’s dad died of beer and fried chicken sandwiches. (Which by the way seems disrespectful, I think being killed by the Trust would give his death more status.)
So I did a search and one company has, it’s called Wicab. They use a device that translates vision to a black and white image impressed on the tongue. Go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48evjcN73rw
So this has NOTHING to do with Suji or Dark Matter or Stargate – but I had to share, doesn’t any idea that challenges how we see the world excite you?
Also, two brothers with the Ancient gene. One with flight training and one without ? How could they miss a research opportunity like that ? Stick Dave Sheppard in the outpost chair already.
Fascinating video! I’ve heard people talking about crawl therapy for brain injury and Autism. The machine is something new.
This theory reminds me of something I heard about Lincoln’s assassination. The bullet that shot him in the head was small. If the doctor’s had left the bullet in, he might have recovered. Medicine, being as it was then, didn’t realize the damage done by trying to dig the bullet out. Interesting, yes?
He loved his beer and fried chicken sandwiches.
Duh, who doesn’t? 😉