The power to be unseen

Maria Isabel Garcia

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The power to be unseen
[Science Solitaire] What happens to our psyche when we think we are literally invisible ourselves?

In childhood play, I always chose to be Wonder Woman because of her invisible plane. I could fit my entire neighborhood of playmates in that plane. There was such power in invisibility. There was no limit since my young brain confused invisibility with infinite capacity. Why I did not choose to be a superhero who was invisible herself is still one of my great failures to max out imaginary play.

But science has been attending to matters of invisibility on a couple of fronts. As we all know, we see things when light reaches our eyes. In terms of tricking others to thinking you are invisible, researchers have been working with various ways to use special mirrors and manipulating light.  Last year, there was a breakthrough in rendering objects to be unseen using ordinary lenses. I think this front will progress until we can find invisibility cloak devices for sale as a gift option in Divisoria when we do our holiday shopping.  I am sure this gift will be popular among ninongs and ninangs (godparents) who want to hide from their inaanak (godchildren).

But what about what happens to our psyche when we think we are literally invisible ourselves? Of course, I am not talking about the effective invisibility that people feel in the digital world. I refer to actually thinking that yourself and others could not see the body you feel. A study which could be visible to those interested did just that.

The said study concluded with two insights: One, they proved that healthy individuals (those that have no condition that routinely make them really think they are invisible) could experience the illusion that they have an invisible body by synchronizing touch and visual signals to the actual body and to an “empty” space. The second is that that this feeling affects how you perceive your own body in terms of transparency and also your anxiety levels when facing a crowd.

What could this mean? I think for one, we humans have once again proven that we are so good in tricking ourselves, even about our own bodies not existing in visible space. It is like each of us is at least two-headed, in our views of anything, even of ourselves. The poet Pablo Neruda penned this multiplicity perfectly in his “We are many.”

Another is that sensory signals, as “touch” and “sight”, are so innate in how “verify” our own physical existence that, if manipulated even in empty space, to synch with the touch you feel and the things you see, could lead you to think you were really invisible!

And lastly, being watched intently by others is one of the greatest sources of anxiety for us humans. This is why I am thoroughly intrigued by the constitution of people whose careers rest on how consistently they could face a crowd and do whatever it is they do.  For myself, I do not mind doing it once in a while but to do it everyday would not be good for my own mental health. What tricks, if any, could they be employing to shun anxiety? Or maybe there are people who really thrive on the surety of constant scrutiny or adulation.

When this invisibility cloak is perfected enough to be affordable, I think I would really want one. One for myself when I want time for myself but do not have the budget to disappear and a couple to throw to my favorite public characters who think they were bestowed by nature the great responsibility of inflicting themselves on our eyes and ears. – Rappler.com

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