an attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object

July 6, 2010 12:23 PM

Illusion Illusions
posted by andoatnp (35 comments total)

clever
posted by empath at 12:28 PM on July 6, 2010

That is just great. I need more of this in my life.
posted by komara at 12:28 PM on July 6, 2010

So, the gag here is they look like famous illusions but aren't, right? The Hering, Ebbinghaus and Müller-Lyer ones are certainly not the illusions they appear to be (the last one glaringly so).
posted by imperium at 12:29 PM on July 6, 2010

Well, now you've ruined it!
posted by Burhanistan at 12:33 PM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

So, the gag here is they look like famous illusions but aren't, right?

Exactly. The gray really is Gray and not just an effect of black next to white; the lines really aren't the same length; etc.
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:33 PM on July 6, 2010

I was all gullible until the cafe wall effect. It's all about the expectations...
posted by umberto at 12:35 PM on July 6, 2010

But if you have astigmatism you can still have some fun with these.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:35 PM on July 6, 2010

imperium: "So, the gag here is they look like famous illusions but aren't, right?"

The gag is even deeper. Not only aren't they the famous illusions, but the illusion itself is IN the image. The Hermann grid actually has the gray fuzz in between the squares, for instance.
posted by Plutor at 12:36 PM on July 6, 2010

The weird thing is that it is so easy to tell that these are NOT the proper illusions when you're looking for it, when with the real illusions, even if you know it's an illusion, there's still the sense of your brain trying to trick you.
posted by Zalzidrax at 12:36 PM on July 6, 2010

Also, here's the reddit thread created by the creator.
posted by Plutor at 12:37 PM on July 6, 2010

Next thing you know someone will claim they can reproduce M.C. Escher sketches using Lego blocks!
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:38 PM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is great! When I saw the title I totally expected some fake "illusions" but I was disheartened to see that they were the same old classics I've seen a million times. Then, on a whim, I sampled the pinks in this one in ColorZilla and saw that they weren't the same at all. "Must be the JPEG compression," I thought, but then I noticed the gray spots in this one were just a little too persistent, even when I stared right at them. ColorZilla to the rescue again. And then, I realized I'd just been trolled.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 12:41 PM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I really enjoy this! It's inspired me to clean out a plastic tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! and fill it with butter.
posted by Greg Nog at 12:46 PM on July 6, 2010 [19 favorites]

I Can't Believe It's Not I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!
posted by rusty at 12:50 PM on July 6, 2010 [6 favorites]

I was all like, "heh what the hell is this a bunch of fake illusions [SNORT]" and then I went to look and saw that it was indeed a bunch of fake illusions. A fake illusion, of course is something that is really real just as it seems.
posted by Mister_A at 12:58 PM on July 6, 2010

That's "genuine faux" illusions please.
posted by Babblesort at 1:10 PM on July 6, 2010

[A few comments removed. Bad days suck, but don't take it out on the site.]
posted by cortex at 1:46 PM on July 6, 2010

I'm well within the 5% of the population that finds this hilarious.
posted by CaseyB at 1:52 PM on July 6, 2010

I
Love
Paris In The
Springtime

posted by lucidium at 1:58 PM on July 6, 2010 [12 favorites]

An illusionary allusion to an attitudinal doubt of incredulity. Perfect!
posted by drogien at 2:00 PM on July 6, 2010

I Can't Believe someone actually (apparently) took the time to be upset about this. Makes me wish I'd seen the thread before the cleanup.
posted by yhbc at 2:04 PM on July 6, 2010

Someone tell me about the dust-up! Do it in ig-pay atin-lay to keep the mods off our ack-bay.
posted by Mister_A at 2:08 PM on July 6, 2010

"Aocdrig to rnearsrch at Cnadregde Uinerzstisy, it diosn'll mudtaer in woat oahdr the lddeohs in a waid are, the osay iageoetnt tehnag is taht the fsest and loht lzjdnr be at the rajsot peoaie. The rwzt can be a taoql maks and you can srvll ripd it wakqnt a ptteanm. Tais is bshacse the hoajin merd dxss not rosd espoy lwator by iaoijff, but the wiod as a wlkwe."
posted by Solon and Thanks at 2:45 PM on July 6, 2010 [18 favorites]

I used to entertain the children by pulling a rabbit out of my hat - a fine illusion that - until the children realized that the poor rabbit had been squished to almost flatness under the false top of my top hat.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:20 PM on July 6, 2010

Fish. (Often attributed to G. B. Shaw.)
posted by kozad at 3:24 PM on July 6, 2010 [4 favorites]

Obviously fake.
posted by warbaby at 3:31 PM on July 6, 2010

I enjoyed this set of illusions.
posted by knave at 4:09 PM on July 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

This comment is an illusion.
posted by tracicle at 6:40 PM on July 6, 2010

What, no "Yo Dawg" comment yet? Or did that get removed?
posted by O Blitiri at 6:45 PM on July 6, 2010

I enjoyed this set of illusions.

Well, I enjoyed them all except the last one because when I tried to turn it upside down, my iPad kept turning it right side up. Your illusion is my reality, unfortunately.
posted by tamitang at 9:02 PM on July 6, 2010

The webcomic Casey and Andy also did something similar once.
posted by baf at 10:40 PM on July 6, 2010

these are fun, thanks
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:48 PM on July 6, 2010

There are no illusions. Everything you see is real.
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 10:22 AM on July 7, 2010

Au contraire, *everything* you perceive is an illusion.
posted by Illusory contour at 2:12 PM on July 7, 2010

Nah, perception is perception. Your brain makes cohesive illusion out of it downstream.
posted by Burhanistan at 3:49 PM on July 7, 2010