Any of you remember our ill-fated optical illusion Friday column? Lack of interest and a dwindling supply of decent illusions killed that, but every now and then we come across another one we wish we’d posted back then. The above is the work of three scientists at Keio University in Japan. And here’s how it works: look at the cross in the middle. All the dots looks like they’re wriggling around in random patterns, right? Wrong. Turns out they’re all in straight line trajectories, allegedly without colliding. You can convince yourself that this is at least partially true by following a random dot, rather than focusing on the cross. As for the claim that they’re not colliding, we don’t have the patience to confirm or debunk, but if true, we’re pretty impressed. If only cars could do that at intersections, traffic would be a thing of the past.
[ Research Paper ] VIA [ Sploid ]
It appears random because the dots momentarily form patterns and then disperse. Our brains are hardwired to find patterns (even when none exist). An individual dot isn’t a pattern so for all intents and purposes they are moving random in patterns.
Isn’t the absence of collisions simply due to the fact that dots disappear in mid flight (probably just before what would be a collision!)? Also, it seems to be a clip that lasts for a couple of seconds that repeats over and over… not a good solution for traffic at intersections !!!