HTTP://@KALX.COM on Tue, 28 Sep 1999 18:26:29 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Shifting the sensory balance: restoring sight at the age of 52 |
Gegory (1978) tells the story of S.B., a man who had his sight restored at the age of fifty-two. Before the operation this man had lived an active and productive life. He liked making things in a shed in his garden, and sometimes rode a bicycle with a friend holding his shoulder to guide him. Immediately after the cornea transplant, he had some trouble judging distance--for example, he thought his hospital window was about 6 feet from the ground when it was really about 60. But he recognized objects by sight that he had learned to touch. He had little trouble learning to tell time--for years he had used a watch with large raised numberals. But S.B. never learned to completely trust his new sense. When he was blind he would blithely cross the busiest streets with only his cane to guide him.. Later, he was terrified by traffic and never felt comfortable crossing the street. After the initial thrill wore off, S.B. gradually became rather depressed by how drab the world was. Flaking paint and blemishes on things disturbed him. His depressions gradually became deeper and more general, and he died a few years after the operation. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net