Reality blindness is a funny thing. I think if the nonhumans weren’t there, he’d probably see the tents and wonder what they were for. As it is, his brain has identified the nonhumans and the tents as all part of the same thing, so nope.
Take Dave’s brother Bill, or even Clone!Dave. They couldn’t see Artie at all, even though he looks like an ordinary gerbil. And Bill couldn’t see the androids either, even though there’s nothing inherently bizarre about androids. It’s what they were doing that made them unbelievable, so Bill just blocked them out entirely.
Some people might be able to see the tents, but still not see the NHS’s. Others might see the NHS’s, but might interpret them all (even the robots) as circus animals.
He canât even see the TENTS, thatâs hilarious. I wonder, if he had to walk around the âempty fieldâ, would he subconsciously avoid any obstacles? Or would he be stumbling around bumping into things?
My understanding is that the subconscious still registers what’s going on, so he would instinctively avoid bumping into anything, lest it shatter his worldview. If one of them reached out and tripped him he’d probably just chalk it up to a protruding tree root.
I imagine it works something like an SEP field. People can SEE weird stuff, they just refuse to consciously acknowledge it. So he would carefully avoid walking into any of those impossible things, even as he denies that they’re even there.
Something definitely has to be done about the reality blindness plague imposed by A-Sig, but how many people were reality-blind already before they did it? I don’t think we ever got an actual percentage…
(This seems like a particularly bad case. One would think most people would mistake it for a circus/carnival with people in costume, floats, and decorated animals. Or is it simply that there’s so much weirdness piled up here that his protective mechanisms have become entirely overloaded and his perceptions have essentially gone Blue Screen of Death?)
I think Sweetheart gives an estimate in the filename story, from memory it’s about 20%. But that was people who just couldn’t hear her. I don’t think there was any information on more severe “can’t even see weird at all” cases, or even if they existed before. I’d say this guy is an extreme case even by current standards though, the guy at Leo’s hotel could still see a lion wandering around where there shouldn’t be one.
The weirder something is, the more reality blindness blots it out, as exploited by H.T. earlier (and when do we learn if he’s shown up here, and what his angle is?) Normally, reality-blind people react to him as if he were a normal tiger. If he wears a silly hat and deely boppers (or whatever, I don’t recall exactly), people don’t edit that out to see a normal tiger, they refuse to see him at all.
In this case, the guy’s brain has identified Leo as “part of this whole thing that I;m refusing to acknowlege,”
Think of Douglas Adams’ description of the S.E.P. (Somebody Else’s Problem) field. People instinctively edit out things they can’t understand or cope with, and just mentally file it as “Somebody else’s problem”. Paint a mountain pink, and people will walk around it without noticing. Here, the tents are visible, but so are all the creatures coming out of them, so the delivery guy lumps them into the same category of something he doesn’t have to deal with.
Having worked for a parcel company, signatures are basically just a way to cover the delivery-person’s ass if a package goes missing / gets stolen.
It’s basically a way of ensuring the delivery-person (and thus the company) can say “Hey, don’t look at me, I delivered it as instructed, if you have a problem, talk to the person who signed for the package. It was successfully delivered, whatever happened after that isn’t our fault.”
When they got the beer today,
They didnât know how to pay.
So Tip just signed for the spawn
In this Kansas mutant fair.
Getting the humans to care.
Others canât see theyâre really gone.
When they leave for Lovetron.
So theyâre gonna stay right here
On this spinning sphere.
Then watch the big crowd disappear,
And drink a beer.
Funny how this all played through
Too bad, but thereâs things to do.
No reason for, they guess.
Pavaneâs cosmic plans are kinda tough to understand.
Right now it makes no sense.
They canât make it all make sense.
So theyâre gonna stay right here
On this spinning sphere.
Then watch the big crowd disappear,
And drink a beer.
So long, their friends, looks like this is the end,
They wonât forget you.
And some other time theyâd like to
Stay right here
On this spinning sphere.
Then watch the big crowd disappear,
And drink a beer.
Drink a beer,
Drink a beer, yeah.
—from “Drink a Beer,” Jim Beavers and Chris Stapleton, sung by Luke Bryan.
Sign for twenty good kegs of the beer. The humans can’t see what is near. It might be so dotty, but with Port-a-Potties, there’s something to fix right down here.
Apparently part of it, but they assembled a number of [mad] technological advances to deploy and create it. There was a summary of them somewhere in the strip, but I forget just where (or what.)
I didn’t get the impression back then that Virginia was working on the Cure, although the next strip really does look that way.
Artie’s remark in that 3rd panel was overlooking Unity. Or maybe Artie was truly unaware that Unity’s brain was cloned from Mell’s DNA, which was sold to them by Helen. That’s the principal reason for Virginia knowing Helen’s name.
Unity was created in secret. So it’s doubtful that even most of the people who were part of that project knew of the origin of the DNA. They may not even have known that they were using a cloned brain rather than an ordinary human brain. Virginia is the brain specialist, however, so it’s a safe bet that she knew all about it.
On the other hand, Artie’s just a super-genius. He’s not all-knowing (no matter how much he’d like people to think that he is). Apart for her penchant for wanton destruction, Unity doesn’t really exhibit much outwardly that Artie would recognize as being “Mell-like”.
The NHS can only be glimpsed out of the corner of one’s eye…
Is that K.T. chatting with Unity in the background of panel 1?
K. T….Leo…Kay…it’s good to see old friends again. Maybe especially at a distance.
Oh. And is that robot on the left Gorgoth the Dominator?
For a sec I thought you meant the National Health Service.
…I wonder how well Black Ops Nursing pays? If you’re already used to feeling like nobody else wants to see the problems…
Sadly, *that* works, too… đ
Wait, so reality blindness prevents him from seeing the tents as well?
Reality blindness is a funny thing. I think if the nonhumans weren’t there, he’d probably see the tents and wonder what they were for. As it is, his brain has identified the nonhumans and the tents as all part of the same thing, so nope.
Take Dave’s brother Bill, or even Clone!Dave. They couldn’t see Artie at all, even though he looks like an ordinary gerbil. And Bill couldn’t see the androids either, even though there’s nothing inherently bizarre about androids. It’s what they were doing that made them unbelievable, so Bill just blocked them out entirely.
Some people might be able to see the tents, but still not see the NHS’s. Others might see the NHS’s, but might interpret them all (even the robots) as circus animals.
He canât even see the TENTS, thatâs hilarious. I wonder, if he had to walk around the âempty fieldâ, would he subconsciously avoid any obstacles? Or would he be stumbling around bumping into things?
My understanding is that the subconscious still registers what’s going on, so he would instinctively avoid bumping into anything, lest it shatter his worldview. If one of them reached out and tripped him he’d probably just chalk it up to a protruding tree root.
I imagine it works something like an SEP field. People can SEE weird stuff, they just refuse to consciously acknowledge it. So he would carefully avoid walking into any of those impossible things, even as he denies that they’re even there.
As funny as the situation is, now I’m wondering if A-Sig and Pavane made a deal. They get to blot reality, she gets to chart them away.
Yeah – looks like the “making them feel seen” part isn’t going so well…
Something definitely has to be done about the reality blindness plague imposed by A-Sig, but how many people were reality-blind already before they did it? I don’t think we ever got an actual percentage…
(This seems like a particularly bad case. One would think most people would mistake it for a circus/carnival with people in costume, floats, and decorated animals. Or is it simply that there’s so much weirdness piled up here that his protective mechanisms have become entirely overloaded and his perceptions have essentially gone Blue Screen of Death?)
I think Sweetheart gives an estimate in the filename story, from memory it’s about 20%. But that was people who just couldn’t hear her. I don’t think there was any information on more severe “can’t even see weird at all” cases, or even if they existed before. I’d say this guy is an extreme case even by current standards though, the guy at Leo’s hotel could still see a lion wandering around where there shouldn’t be one.
The weirder something is, the more reality blindness blots it out, as exploited by H.T. earlier (and when do we learn if he’s shown up here, and what his angle is?) Normally, reality-blind people react to him as if he were a normal tiger. If he wears a silly hat and deely boppers (or whatever, I don’t recall exactly), people don’t edit that out to see a normal tiger, they refuse to see him at all.
In this case, the guy’s brain has identified Leo as “part of this whole thing that I;m refusing to acknowlege,”
We know from Dave’s brother Bill that naturally-occuring extreme “can’t see weird at all” cases did indeed exist before this.
Think of Douglas Adams’ description of the S.E.P. (Somebody Else’s Problem) field. People instinctively edit out things they can’t understand or cope with, and just mentally file it as “Somebody else’s problem”. Paint a mountain pink, and people will walk around it without noticing. Here, the tents are visible, but so are all the creatures coming out of them, so the delivery guy lumps them into the same category of something he doesn’t have to deal with.
Pavane invited them all there. *She* should sign for the booze and the port-a-pots.
As long as it’s pre-paid, who cares?
Having worked for a parcel company, signatures are basically just a way to cover the delivery-person’s ass if a package goes missing / gets stolen.
It’s basically a way of ensuring the delivery-person (and thus the company) can say “Hey, don’t look at me, I delivered it as instructed, if you have a problem, talk to the person who signed for the package. It was successfully delivered, whatever happened after that isn’t our fault.”
“On Lovetron, there is no beer.
That’s why they drink it here.
And when they’re gone from here
Tip Wilkin will be paying for the beer.”
There may be no beer, but I imagine there’s lots of mead. It’s just hard to know if they’re willing to share any.
Beer! Beer! Glorious beer!
Fill your steins right up to here!
Don’t be afraid of it,
Drink ’til you’re made of it!
Drink to our old lager beer!
(No filk, just great lyrics)
Looks to me like a beer keg driver needs a severe shock to the system…. Calling Dr. Jones
She’d be more likely to ignore the guy and swipe the beer for her disco.
When they got the beer today,
They didnât know how to pay.
So Tip just signed for the spawn
In this Kansas mutant fair.
Getting the humans to care.
Others canât see theyâre really gone.
When they leave for Lovetron.
So theyâre gonna stay right here
On this spinning sphere.
Then watch the big crowd disappear,
And drink a beer.
Funny how this all played through
Too bad, but thereâs things to do.
No reason for, they guess.
Pavaneâs cosmic plans are kinda tough to understand.
Right now it makes no sense.
They canât make it all make sense.
So theyâre gonna stay right here
On this spinning sphere.
Then watch the big crowd disappear,
And drink a beer.
So long, their friends, looks like this is the end,
They wonât forget you.
And some other time theyâd like to
Stay right here
On this spinning sphere.
Then watch the big crowd disappear,
And drink a beer.
Drink a beer,
Drink a beer, yeah.
—from “Drink a Beer,” Jim Beavers and Chris Stapleton, sung by Luke Bryan.
Beer and port-o-pots naturally go together.
Sign for twenty good kegs of the beer. The humans can’t see what is near. It might be so dotty, but with Port-a-Potties, there’s something to fix right down here.
20 kegs and 50 portapots? Depending on the keg size that is quite the mild party.
Most of those in attendance can’t consume beverages and don’t use the toilet.
Well, you had to order some snacks, too.
I’m just loving Tip’s outfit
Loving the background work for these empty fields.
I’ve forgotten – was it established that Reality Blindness is an application of the mind control tech Anasigma purchased from Whimsy?
Apparently part of it, but they assembled a number of [mad] technological advances to deploy and create it. There was a summary of them somewhere in the strip, but I forget just where (or what.)
Did Dr. Lee contribute? Or maybe derive a cure?
I didn’t get the impression back then that Virginia was working on the Cure, although the next strip really does look that way.
Artie’s remark in that 3rd panel was overlooking Unity. Or maybe Artie was truly unaware that Unity’s brain was cloned from Mell’s DNA, which was sold to them by Helen. That’s the principal reason for Virginia knowing Helen’s name.
Found what comic I was thinking of, http://skin-horse.com/comic/the-popped-con/ though it just mentions one.
awgiedawgie, from what I’ve seen Artie being unaware would require direct intervention by Helen, would it not?
Robert, thank you SO MUCH for that link! Now I wonder how Anasigma is using the mind control software…
Unity was created in secret. So it’s doubtful that even most of the people who were part of that project knew of the origin of the DNA. They may not even have known that they were using a cloned brain rather than an ordinary human brain. Virginia is the brain specialist, however, so it’s a safe bet that she knew all about it.
On the other hand, Artie’s just a super-genius. He’s not all-knowing (no matter how much he’d like people to think that he is). Apart for her penchant for wanton destruction, Unity doesn’t really exhibit much outwardly that Artie would recognize as being “Mell-like”.