Apologies for being slow in posting and replying to comments recently. I spent last week on vacation in Yosemite.
In Yosemite, I heard two bears (on two different occasions), each within about 20-30 feet, but I saw neither. For some reason, this is vastly more disappointing than had I seen two bears at the same distance but not heard them. Why is that? I don't think it's just that visual information is much richer than auditory information -- for I would have been happy even with a fleeting glimpse, even if that glimpse contained no more information than I received by hearing the crashing sounds through the underbrush.
It is also quite likely that light from those bears was reflected into my eyes and made some difference to my visual experience, despite the fact that I was unable to discern its bearish source. This also is disappointing, for some reason. In some sense, I probably saw both bears -- I just didn't see that they were bears. Seeing that is just much cooler.
In about 20 miles of hiking the trails of Yosemite, I noticed only two pieces of litter. I find that quite remarkable given that some of these trails get 10,000 hikers a day.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Yosemite
Posted by Eric Schwitzgebel at 5:42 PM
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5 comments:
Personally, I much prefer to be able to see the bears I'm hearing in the woods, but for a different reason!
Just bought a pair of stereo speakers last night and was musing on how many people are immensely discerning about sound quality. Yet do many people care similarly about video quality? Myself, I'm much happier with a mediocre TV than a mediocre stereo. You might expect the opposite given our visual bias in other areas...
Interesting observation, Dan. Minimally, it's much closer to a tie.
You had a desire to witness bears first-hand. The visual stimulus, even if it contained as much information as the auditory stimulus, may just correspond more closely to your goal. Seeing a bear could evoke a greater sense of "witnessing" the bear as compared to merely hearing ruffles as a bear (or maybe it's some other creature?) walks through the forest.
Two pieces of litter. The question is, did you pick them up?
I picked up one.
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