Image: jupiterimages.com

Around two weeks back, I set out on an unplanned trip and happened to visit a science museum. It had some great stuff, though, for the most part, it was easily explainable… image processing, sound/speech synthesis, character recognition etc. But there was one thing that not only caught my attention, but also initiated deep and prolonged thoughts and opinions as summarized in this two-part article.

The thought-triggering experience…

“Just another fun game”, I thought to myself as I approached that corner. It looked simple. All it said was that the displayed image would change slowly into another similar image, and that you are supposed to touch the part of the image on the touch-screen to indicate where it was that you saw the picture change.

I’ve played a lot of these puzzles during my childhood – “Spot 10 differences” between two given images. And hey! We do it in real life situations as well, don’t we, when comparing two items to find out which one is better or worse? “Piece of cake”, I thought, as I hit the start button.

The first image showed, and I watched intently, pretty sure I could spot the change. After a few seconds, it displayed a message stating that I did not indicate which part had changed.

“What?” I blurted, as I couldn’t believe the image had already changed and, moreover, that I wasn’t able to notice the change. Then the machine indicated the portion of the image that had changed, by circling it on the screen. What had changed in the circled part? I had absolutely no clue! I had to play another round of the game using the same image to actually see what it was that changed.

After getting a fair idea of how the image was changing – rapidly with extremely minute changes happening in succession – I tried playing the game on the next image, hoping to get it this time. But I couldn’t!

It certainly was an extremely difficult task to identify the change as it was happening. However, once I saw the answer to where exactly it changes, it was less difficult to identify the change, by playing it all over again. But that’s like being told the answer after an unsuccessful attempt, and that’s no fun at all, is it? And even then, the change was perceivable only when I would concentrate on the portion of the image where the change was happening… whether it was happening over 10% or for that matter 50% of the image.

I tried to create a simulation of the scenario, but I am not very satisfied with it because it is kind of easy to identify the changes happening in this example. Believe me, the changes in the game at the museum were very difficult to identify. Anyway, just give it a try. When you are ready to begin, click on the “Start the Game” link, and see if you can identify the changes that happen to the image.

(Image transition script by www.brothercake.com)

Start the Game

Reflection and analysis

What had started for me as just another puzzle game went on to occupy my thoughts for days, and made me ponder deeply over its implication in our lives.

It was a difficult task to summarize my thoughts from this learning experience, but here is how I would like to put it for now…

1) Minute (very small) changes go unnoticed easily

Obvious as it may sound, this is often taken for granted and is not paid due attention to. In the big picture, we do not realize when things change in a few places, leave alone noticing what changed and where.

Human mind can’t possibly notice and register all the small changes. And unless you make a conscious effort and employ means to track the changes, they’ll go unnoticed.

2) Rapid changes, though minor, lead to big changes

Life changes rapidly, with very minute changes, at least for the most part of it. Over a period of time, the minute changes add up to make bigger changes, which can still go unnoticed.

Before we even realize, things change in enormous ways. Even such changes (which have happened in small increments) go unnoticed if you do not pay attention to what is going on around you.

3) When big changes get noticed, it’s possibly too late

Complicated that life is, it becomes difficult to keep track of all that has changed. We normal perceive only a small amount of changes that happen around us, and mostly not until we feel the lack of the earlier situation. Changes usually get noticed only one fine day when they become big enough and impact our lives, when it might even be a little too late to do anything about it.

The solution?

So, what can we do to not let the changing world take us by surprise?

Okay! This post is going to be a little unusual. I’m going to leave it without providing a conclusion and a solution, and instead ask you to express what you think would be a solution, or simply, what you would do, or are currently used to doing, to be in control of such changes.

I’d like to let my opinion out right away, but I’ll hold on until there are at least 10 comments in response to this post from 10 different readers, or until a month’s time, whichever is earlier. I am hoping that, and would be most glad if, all of you would jump up right away and provide your comments and make me publish Part 2 of this article within the next few hours.

So, do you often come across situations where you suddenly find something has changed a lot and you could not perceive the changes while they were happening, even if the changes would have been happening right under your nose? What are the measures you currently take, or plan to take, to keep in control and not let the changing world take you by surprise?