A Bit Off-Topic: Human Invisibility?

[bbws1o]

I know this isn't specifically about "astronomy," but I thought it was worth mentioning. I listen to the Art Bell Show most evenings as a source of comedy. As an intelligent, educated person, a skeptic and a devoted Skeptical Inquirer reader, I was particularly amused the other night when Art's guest, Donna Good Higbee, presented her "investigation" into what she refers to as "Human Spontaneous Involuntary Invisibility." She threw in a lot of incomprehensible technobabble about the human body's "resonant vibrational frequency" and Earth Schuman resonance, etc (I almost feel sorry for people like this--but more so for the fools who buy their books). Anyway, just to be a party poop I made a couple of tries to call into the show, but the lines were busy. I was going to ask her to comment on the fact that none of the people who reported themselves "vanishing" mentioned what happened to their clothing. And if their clothing also became invisible, why not the chair they were sitting in or the floor they were standing on? Of course, this would be a very unnerving phenomenon if it happened to someone standing outside on the ground because it would seem to follow that the whole planet and all the other people and things touching it would also disappear.

I would have loved to hear her conjecture as to why none of those issues were being "investigated." Just for fun, I wrote her an e-mail asking the same thing, but I seriously doubt she'll be bothered to answer.

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy this, and continue the struggle against ignorance!

[Donnie B.]

Yeah, I'm invisible! Nyaah nyaah! You can't see me! You can't see me! /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

I've run into this claim somewhere else, but I can't recall exactly where. I think it's basically a symptom of mental illness, and in that context it's a real phenomenon. But as a physical reality, it's about as credible as... hmm, I can't think of anything less credible. Maybe vampirism (in the Hollywood sense; vampire bats are real, at least).

[irony]

You may have run into it on my website. The article I link is here (http://paranormal.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http:%2F%2Fusers1.ee.net%2Fpmason %2Finvisibility.html). The first time I read it I was pretty sure it was intended to make fun of the people who think 'Spontaneous Human Combustion' exists.

[Peter B]

Was it the "Mystery Men" movie which had the guy who could turn invisible, but only if no one was looking at him?

I thought to myself, "What a lame super power." But then his ability turned out to have an important use in the movie...! (I won't spoil it - the movie was quite enjoyable.)

[Atko]

Love all that invisibility stuff - 'course, if you could become invisible, you'd be blind as a bat 'cos light wouldn't be focused or reflected in your peepers.

[Chuck]

You'd better have perfect teeth or people would see your fillings floating in the air.

[Senor Molinero]

Well, that was one of the fall-down points (only one of???) in "Hollow Man". He claimed he couldn't sleep because his eyelids were transparent. How could he see with transparent retinas?

[tracer]

One of the main characters in the 1970s serial sitcom Soap had a delusion that he could turn invisible, sometimes involuntarily.

His evidence for this was that sometimes he would walk into a room, and no one would notice he was there. /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif

[Mr. X]

Yes, it was in Mystery Men that one guy could turn invisible only if nobody looked at him... one could become furious, the other shovelled well, very well, another one threw cutlery, The Spleen farted, and the woman could throw her bowling ball...

Alll in an effort to be like the real superhero of the city: CAPTAIN AMAZING! /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

I love this guy!

[irony]

Then there was that fellow on Monty Python who wasn't actually invisible, he was just an accountant and so boring that people forgot he was there.

[Colt]

In Hollow Man, there is a worse flaw than the retinas.. Hair. Hair is basically dead cells.. Well, the chemicals that he injected himself with would have affected the living parts of his body only, what about his hair and the dead skin cells on his skin? Also, anything he ate or drank, since it would not be a part of him, and his urine, etc. You get the idea. /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif -Colt

[AKONI]

Donnie B.

Don't laugh, but reading your post made me think of something. I've met people who actually think they're vampires. They spell it, Vampyers to distinguish from the "fictional," kind, and even though they go out in the sun, hold down steady jobs, aren't immortal, and eat fruit salad for lunch they honestly believe they're vampires.

Oh,.. sorry I meant Vampyers.

... And they get really upset when you ask them what makes them vampires beyond the fact that they think they're Vampires.

[Colt]

^ They drink each others blood and drop dead from something not quite right. /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif Really though, there is a thing on vampires in the modern world that comes on TLC, or one of the intelligent networks, good watch. -Colt

[AKONI]

You're right. I knew one once and I asked her if she was concerned about HIV or Hepatitis C, and she said...

"I'm only drinking blood, I can't get anthing that way."

I swear, those were her exact words.


I wonder if she dates the Invisible man?

[irony]

On 2002-12-29 15:58, AKONI wrote:
Donnie B.

Don't laugh, but reading your post made me think of something. I've met people who actually think they're vampires. They spell it, Vampyers to distinguish from the "fictional," kind, and even though they go out in the sun, hold down steady jobs, aren't immortal, and eat fruit salad for lunch they honestly believe they're vampires.

Oh,.. sorry I meant Vampyers.

... And they get really upset when you ask them what makes them vampires beyond the fact that they think they're Vampires.




You think that's weird? I used to know not one, but several people who thought they were... wait for it... dragons. I kid you not. (http://www.otherkin.net/)

[Mr. X]

Jeez. The human race has lots of problems. /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[hullaballo]

Happens to me all the time. Usually at restaurants after eating hot food and NEED a water refill.

[Donnie B.]

Sometimes I feel like I'm draggin'... does that count? /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Donnie B.]

Back to the question of invisibility...

Over the holidays I read an old Larry Niven novel that I hadn't read before. Just at the moment its name escapes me. However, the interesting thing is that the main character has a "psi" power -- he can disappear.

He doesn't become invisible, or dematerialize. Instead, anyone around him simply forgets he's there. They can't see him, even if they look right at him. They can hear his disembodied voice (if he talks) and they will bump into him if he's in their way, but otherwise they behave as if he wasn't there at all.

Maybe this is what was being described in the OP?

[Donnie B.]

For the record, the Niven book in question is A Gift From Earth.

[Wiley]

If we break the problem of invisiblity into three types (too bad we're not concerned with indivisiblity /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif), we can write:

1.) "true" invisiblity. In this type the actual permittivity and permeability of the object are converted to that of vacuum. I don't think this is viable for a person since I bet the process of converting his or her permittivity and permeability to vacuum would instantly kill him or her.

2.) "refractive" invisiblity or the illusionist's invisiblity. Here the light rays are bent around object. This is the "it's done with mirrors" approach and has been effectively used by stage magicians for centuries. The main drawback is that it only works when viewing from certain angles.

3.) "satirical" invisiblity. This is not really invisiblity, but an affectation of the observer's mind. We convince the observer that he does not see something that is really there. There is good precedence for this type of invisiblity in literature: Douglas Adams' SEP, the clochard rhythms of Tim Power's Declare, and of Ralph Ellison's titular hero.

For the near term, I think our efforts should be concentrated on types 2 and 3.