In lieu of my own thoughts:

[wileypeter]

"Americans are like fish that can't see water. Although human life requires the constant support of complex surroundings, most people in the United States do not consciously notice their everyday environments. Universal schooling in science and dozens of television nature programs have begun to sensitize Americans to animals and ecosystems. Yet

Comments

[mostuncertain]

I was just reading a book by a woman with autism about animal behavior, & one of the most interesting factors for myself, in what she perceived as similarities between people with autism & animals, is that they notice everything. She talked about animals being spooked by reflections & various other (environmental)things. She said that interior designer freinds would be perpetually perturbed by cracks in marble & so on, and made a distinction that animals are visual & that largely so are autistic people. But the interesting factor which I think relates somewhat to your entry, is the fact that normal human thought, as she posits it, is designed precisely to filter things out, & to only allow people to see & process what they expect to see. There was a study she discusses where people were asked to count the number of baskets made in a videotaped basketball game which they are shown on a screen. A very high percentage of people, something above 80 percent, don't notice the woman who walks in front of the camera in a guerrilla suit &