It wasn't easy to recall which animal it was that can look in two directions. I knew that it was either the octopus, the owl, or the chameleon. All of these animals are kind of wacky in that Saturday Night Live "Brian Fellow's Safari Planet"-skit sort of way (my all-time favorite).
The owl can't move its eyeballs around so well, so it can turn its head all the way around like in some freaky horror movie. The octopus has too many arms (or legs) and those suckers on the tips are to die for. Ah, it is the chameleon that has the eyes that can gaze in independent directions—the animal world is humbling.
In an effort to see more (information) with the less (our normal vision system) that we humans are endowed with, Axel Kilian did some interesting basic research in 2000. He posited the ability of looking at a space of complex information by placing specific points of focus throughout the space. Usually when we look at a space of information, we look at one particular area. In Axel's vision (no pun intended), you can point to three or more spots in the space where you can request specific attention to clarity. The result is being able to see at more places than one, simultaneously.
I suspect that Axel's methodology will become an important fundamental technique for achieving greater understanding of complex information systems. And if it doesn't make sense to you now (it took me 5 years to understand it), in the meantime it's awfully pretty to look at.
Posted by maeda at January 7, 2005 08:33 AM