Geordi's vision through the VISOR
- Thread starter Beyerstein
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The Hansens were doing it on the Raven better part of a decade before this, so I don't see why the enterprise crew had such a hard time.
I mean, it's all just pixels...
We should remember that while LaForge would appreciate the experience of "seeing like people do", he still vastly prefers the VISOR for everyday seeing.
From "Loud as a Whisper":
Despite the VISOR creating constant pain, LaForge doesn't want to give it up! He says to Pulaski he'll get back to it, but he never does. And he seems quite satisfied with the brief experience of "seeing" a sunset (or was it sunrise?) in ST:INS, thereafter going back to prosthetics.
Going back to "Mind's Eye", where we see simple opticals overlaid with curious symbols, I'd think this is a good example of the VISOR output really being "filterable". Here, LaForge might still be seeing the full spectrum, but the Romulan spies would wish to only see the sort of visuals they can comprehend; we might be seeing the channel that provides intel to the Romulans, while other channels still serve LaForge.
Timo Saloniemi
From "Loud as a Whisper":
Despite the VISOR creating constant pain, LaForge doesn't want to give it up! He says to Pulaski he'll get back to it, but he never does. And he seems quite satisfied with the brief experience of "seeing" a sunset (or was it sunrise?) in ST:INS, thereafter going back to prosthetics.
Going back to "Mind's Eye", where we see simple opticals overlaid with curious symbols, I'd think this is a good example of the VISOR output really being "filterable". Here, LaForge might still be seeing the full spectrum, but the Romulan spies would wish to only see the sort of visuals they can comprehend; we might be seeing the channel that provides intel to the Romulans, while other channels still serve LaForge.
Timo Saloniemi
In Generations, the Klingons viewscreen showed the Visor output as being normal, visible light. So it seems it's capable of doing that. Geordi just may not want to.
After all, would you want to turn off seeing in 'colour'?
After all, would you want to turn off seeing in 'colour'?
Well, that was the point. Doesn't he have modes he can switch through? "Visible light", "Infrared", "Ultraviolet", etc...
It never sounded like he was able to do that, because they often said that he can't "see like everyone else".
Because it was on Voyager so it has no bearing on our artificial reality?
As for why the VISOR isn't like normal human sight - it has been stated in the show that Geordi's vision is "better" (by Data, I believe, in the episode "The Measure of a Man"). It was probably created by someone in a lab, trying to make this nifty gadget, and as long as there's a way to make it better than normal vision, why not, right? How's he to know? He's never been blind, he doesn't know what it's like, either way it's going to be immensly painful so why not make it really cool? Or if you're a fan of Bones, think of what she would do if she was inventing the VISOR.
Which is most likely the case when you compare what was shown on the view screen to what he directly saw in "The Enemy" and "The Mind's Eye".... which appeared far more clearer and much different.
Geordi can't. The VISOR gives him the entire EM Spectrum he sees everything from microwaves to x-rays. He can "filter out" what he sees (as he says like a person focusing on a single voice in an entire room) but near as we've ever been told he never sets the thing to visible light only because he always laments on not being able to see like other people. (visible light only.)
Now, in Generations one of two things is happening. Either Lursa and Be'tor have tuned out all of the nonsense on the VISOR to only view visible light or they're not picking up on the VISOR's signal but have implanted a "bug" into it that transmits the video signal.
When I first saw that incoherent visual display in Heart Of Glory I was like "how does he read a computer display?" The thing about him being able to mentally filter it out never held much water for me, I mean, we can't look at the sun and filter out anything, for example...one would just become blinded. Our brains receive what the eyes give it and interprets it accordingly.
It appears they didn't really pursue this, and in subsequent episodes it was more like he could see beyond what a human eye could, but nothing that specific.
It appears they didn't really pursue this, and in subsequent episodes it was more like he could see beyond what a human eye could, but nothing that specific.
Yet being blinded by the sun has not so much to do with the brain, but with how much light intensity the sensory receptors of the human eye can take. In Geordi's case it's only the question how much the VISOR can take, and I guess it can take a lot.
I see it as one of those 3D posters that were popular in the 90s. Geordi is able to "see past" the colorful bullshit and see what is behind there.
I also recall that Geordi could see through things-at least playing cards, and he could also tell when people (humans) were lying.
He could clean up being a professional card player.
He could clean up being a professional card player.
He could also see a telltale glow around Data and other (Soongian?) androids...
He was probably exaggerating his skills as a lie detector in "Up the Long Ladder", though. It might be he catches average humans well enough, but skilled and hardened liars might be able to fool him - after all, several lies go unnoticed by him in other episodes.
And even if he isolated just the visual-band feed, that still wouldn't be "seeing like you do". Walking on a wooden leg wouldn't be "walking like you do" no matter how advanced the joints, how exquisitely crafted the wood. It would still be "fake", "artificial", not "like you do it".
Timo Saloniemi
He was probably exaggerating his skills as a lie detector in "Up the Long Ladder", though. It might be he catches average humans well enough, but skilled and hardened liars might be able to fool him - after all, several lies go unnoticed by him in other episodes.
Agreed. I'd argue that LaForge's brain is unaccustomed and therefore incapable of completely isolating narrow bands such as visible light from the jumble, even through the VISOR itself is perfectly capable of doing that. Users other than LaForge himself (Soran in ST:GEN, the Romulans or their Klingon crony in "Mind's Eye") would choose to watch only those bands that appealed to them, but LaForge himself wouldn't know how to do that, or more probably would have no desire or incentive to do that.
And even if he isolated just the visual-band feed, that still wouldn't be "seeing like you do". Walking on a wooden leg wouldn't be "walking like you do" no matter how advanced the joints, how exquisitely crafted the wood. It would still be "fake", "artificial", not "like you do it".
Timo Saloniemi
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