The User Illusion

The User Illusion. Cutting Consciousness Down to Size by Tor Norretranders, Jonathan Sydenham (Translator)

ISBN 0140230122 The English title of a book by the Danish author TorNorretranders. The book can best be characterized as "popular science" and some say it is too shallow on references, but it does present some interesting thoughts, in short: Every second the human brain receives 11 Mbit of information, of which 10 Mbit from the optic nerve alone. The conscious mind can act on the basis of an input of only 10 bits per second, and the brain's most important function is data reduction, or abstraction. The process of reducing a visual impression to the conscious recognition of a well-known face takes 0.5 seconds, and the "user illusion" is that we make ourselves believe we recognize our friends immediately when we see them.

This book has the potential of belonging in a "programmers' canon" just like books by JrrTolkien, DouglasHofstadter and WilliamGibson.

CategoryBook