Invisibility
 

Being the anthropologist that I am, it riddles me to see the amount of youths on this board that will believe invisibility is possible.

Basically, there are only two practicical ways to be invisible, either

1) apply cloaking material to yourself, in other words, you hide, maybe some super special clothing, but that's not the invisibility we have here,

method 2, is the actually altering of light rays and relevant molecules, it's physically impossible because to make one scared means light rays can pass through human flesh, which, includes the pupils in your eyes, well optometry tells us that if lights can penetrate the glass in the eyeballs, then the eye would not be able to reflect any imagine on the cornea, which makes you blind, now that wouldn't be much use of invisibility then...

Huh?

I agree... But wouldn't it be neat to observe life as if you weren't there? :)

Re: Invisibility
 

The "super special clothing" is no longer a maybe, as long as you have the "super special projector" with it.

http://projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp...DIA/xv/oc.html

http://projects.star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp...ges/cloth2.jpg

I am invisible. All you guys can't see me, can you?

You don't exist :p

What if 100% of us are invisible? Maybe in the world of invisible invisible people see eachother. Could be.

Is that Harry Potter?

You forgot the other way -introduced to me via Ad&D Psionics -which is basically to convince everyone who sees you that you are not there...

A question that's been bugging me, how does Harry Potter know where the invisiability cloak is?

S

.. um what does this have to do with you being an anthropologist? What area of anthro is your speciality? These boards span across many different cultures.. and also I haven't read too many posts about being invisible.

I mean... I can turn on "invisible mode" on AIM and then no one will know I'm online even though I am.. in that sense I'm invisible.

I'm not so sure people believe that one can become Invisible, but that one can become EFFECTIVELY Invisible. This would be done with dark clothing in the middle of the night when the moon isn't out or in a dark building with no windows. Or simple camouflage while hiding in tall grass. You're not invisible, but effectively you are as you are not able to be seen.. especially in the latter case as you can see others but they cannot see you.

Of course, one can take this one step further and use the help of some definations.
First off lets throw out #4 as it doesn't really pertain to people being invisible... to those being picky... its not the style the topic refers to.

The first defination... it could take on many philosophical views. Right now I am invisible to you as it is impossible for you to see me right now. But of course its the common sense, it is about how you described it. People are visible... always.

But there are other definations that we must view before we are surprised that people think invisibility exists as perhaps they are using a different defination than you are.

The second one... this one actually follows that philosophical point to a T. If you can't see it right now.. its invisible. Much like George Carlin states that God is an 'invisible man in the sky.' It is not accessible to him to view, and thus God must be invisible.

The third one fits with camouflage. An Octopus on the sea floor is invisible as its damn near impossible to point it out until it moves.

I also used the word Invisibility, so lets look at that word as well.

Well according to this.. invisibility exists to every blind person. According to this defination, everything is invisible to the blind.
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I just thought I'd point all this out as you just said many people believed in invisibility being reality, but you failed to mention how exactly they viewed such invisibility to exist. According to these definations.. it does exist.

I am sorry, I did not realize that so many people believed that invisibility was possible. I must have missed out on something.

I only give it one century before we learn to fly, though.

Uh, maybe you better put some clothes on, eh?

Invisibility can also come from directing attention away from yourself, or being in a way that doesn't draw attention. There have been times when people have sworn I wasn't somewhere or didn't do something, when I was there and I did that thing. Some might call it sneaking, but I've always thought of it as "being invisible".

isn't stealth or camoflauge equal to invisible?

I have asked out women who sometimes pretend I am not even there. Does that count?

I was not aware that the topic invisibility was widely spoken about on this board.

Heh, you learn something new every day :).

I'm confused.

when jerry garcia told his fans the time has come to become invisible, i believe he was speaking figuratively, not litterally,

i know a great way to become invisible....




alright now everyone CLOSE YOUR EYES!


see?! well no i guess you can't can you?

Just because of how sought-after invisibility surely is, I can't help but believe that invisibility will be a reality sometime in the future. Convenient invisibility likely won't happen 'til another century, I think...but don't let me fool you; I'm no scientist. =P

My wife tells me that she feels invisible all the time

the cloak itself isn't invisible when not used...haven't u seen the film!!! ;)

I just don't understand kids today with their hoola hoops, pacman video games, Dan Fogleburg records and their Zima.

Well, I've personally never really thought seriously about invisibility, but it's nice to be told, with no instigation, that it is impossible.

At least I know that now.

When i put a blanket over my head, i am invisible.

I am surprised no one mentioned the SEP field. Hitchhikers Guides explains that turining invisible wasn't really possible nor cost effective so they developed the SEP field.

The SEP field or "Someone Elses Problem" makes the object virtually invisible. It relies on our own ability to only pay attention to what is important to us and ignore the rest. It makes the user totally unimportant. People can see you enough to step aside but won't remember what they stepped aside for.

Re: Invisibility
 

No kidding, really? Wow. Well cheers for putting us "youths" back in our place, and thank you very much for informing us that invisibility isn't possible. :rolleyes:

I still see him. And his jacket.

What fantastic technology.

Invisibility is not only possible, it exists in nature. Members of the Octopodidae family are able to change the color and texture of their skin to match their environments.

There are actually certain species of octopus who can be harvested to produce OLEDs, a flexible paper-thin screen. Obviously the cost of the screen and the need to harvest invertabrates makes it unmarketable, but it proves that it is possible to make a color changing surface that can render something invisible if the right image is projected onto it.


edit// and don't tell me you haven't heard of the jedi mind trick ;P

i remember killing time at barnes n noble, and there was this Powers of the X-Men or some crazy super hero book. it was basically an encyclopedia type book with all the main heroes and a discussion on their powers and how it would be possible and what physics would need to do in order to acheive it.

one of the chapters was about sue storm from the fantastic four who's got the ability to go invisible. they brought up the point that if she actually became invisible, the light would pass through her eyes and she'd be blind. they rationed that therefore she had control over light waves and were able to shape the light waves around her, but also direct it directly into her eyes so she could see.

i don't know how you'd manipulate light waves, but this seems to be how i would imagine it being done. short of technology of course- a la james bond who's vanquish turns invisible. they used an intricate array of cameras and displays on the car, basically displaying what was on the other side of the car. thought that was a cool approach at it also.

invisibility? that's crazy talk... now who wants to see my plan for a perpetual motion machine?

apeman: that's rubbish really, how would you ever turn that blasted thing off?