years ago i learned (thank you, oatmeal) about mantis shrimp and how it can perceive 12* different color channels and i am not the same person since

for comparison, we, humans, can only perceive 3 channels (red, green, blue)

what do the other 9 channels look like?

🤷‍♂️

*— it actually varies from 12 to 16

I got really into this recently too. Not the shrimp per se but how animals experience the world differently than us. It led me to Jakob Johann von Uexküll and his book A STROLL THROUGH THE WORLDS OF ANIMALS AND MEN 

He invented their concept of Umwelt: that all species have their own understanding of the world shaped by their sensory and perceptual capabilities. 

“Often translated as "self-centered world," the term highlights how organisms, despite sharing the same physical environment, can inhabit distinct perceptual realities” 

His book explains umwelt through showing you different animals’ umwelts: ticks, humans, fish, birds, insects, dogs… exploring different perception and sensory abilities along the way. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Johann_von_Uexk%C3%BCll

His ideas have gone on to have application in computing and cybernetics. What a great rabbit hole

The Farcaster formerly known as Kchamp. Books, beats, bodybuilding, bright ideas and beautiful things.

katherinechampagne.com

I wouldn’t say I had any personal revelations although I did leave it feeling in awe of God’s creation

Researcher at MIT Media Lab | Creating futures | https://cyrus.website/info

nice, it's a great rabbit hole and these are the types of things we need to spend a lot more time thinking about, from microorganisms to AI.

Did it provoke any new thoughts for you?