The Real Superhumans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic

I'm currently watching this program on the Discovery Channel called: The Real Superhumans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic. It's a documentary about people who have extraordinary gifts. They're real people and they really astounding. The one that really caught my attention was about a man from Turkey named Esref Armagan. Esref was born without eyes. This in itself wouldn't be that astounding except that he is a painter by profession. Not an abstract painter, a realist painter. He can paint realistic paintings better than many people who can see properly. He can paint them with colour and in perspective. To understand how his brain works Dr. John Kennedy from the university of Toronto had him sit in an MRI machine and draw. The astounding thing they found was that although he had never seen a day in his life when he drew, his visual centers lit up. This means that the way we have understood vision is not totally correct. Much as I had found in my thesis work space has everything to do with how we see. In this case however it seems that it is not just connected it is actually part of how we see. To further understand how he sees he is taken to Brunelleschi's Baptistery in Florence (famous for helping Brunellesch understand perspective). To see if he can in fact draw the 8 cornered building in proper perspective. It is a feat that most people with perfect vision have a hard time mastering. He managed to complete it. Watching him draw is an incredible thing because he draws with his hands in a way that is difficult to describe.

I thought it was very interesting to learn that something I had started to touch on in my thesis (and I am not the first) can actually be proven by the extra-ordinary abilities of Esref Armagan. For more about the program visit The Discovery Channel. For more information about Esref visit his Discovery Channel bio or his website.