Learning To See

by Ben Scofield

In the talk titled "Learning To See," presented by Ben Scofield at the Keep Ruby Weird 2017 event, the speaker explores the journey of understanding perception and representation through the lens of drawing and creativity. The main theme revolves around how our preconceived notions and mental models shape our understanding and ultimately influence what we create.

Key points discussed in the talk include:
- Personal Anecdote: Ben shares his experience with a former roommate, Will, whose grandiose self-assessment led to reflections on how arrogance can distort one’s perception and self-awareness in creative endeavors.
- Artistic Learning: Transitioning from programming to drawing, Ben describes attending various art classes, where he observed a diverse array of learners facing common challenges in artistic representation, which mirrored his own learning journey.
- Common Drawing Mistakes: He highlights frequent drawing pitfalls, such as the 'short poll phenomenon', where artists often neglect the proportions of the human head, leading to distortions in their work.
- Children's Creativity: Observing his children’s drawing patterns offers insights into how mental models affect representation, exemplified through humorous inaccuracies in their stick figures and imaginative creatures like dragons.
- Cognitive Dissonance: Ben shares how psychological studies indicate that both adults and children often draw from flawed mental models, leading to misrepresentations based upon limited observations of reality.
- Real-world Application: Analogies are made between drawing and coding, shedding light on the feedback loop in creative practices and the cognitive dissonance that arises when our understanding of systems does not align with their functioning.
- Technological Reflection: Mentioning the book "Technically Wrong," Ben discusses the importance of recognizing user-centered design flaws that originate from misconceptions in the tech industry, suggesting that a thorough understanding of users enhances product development.

The main takeaway from this talk is the encouragement to challenge and refine our preconceived notions and cognitive biases to enhance both artistic and technological pursuits. By adopting a mindset open to feedback and questioning our perceptions, we can improve our creative outcomes and deepen our understanding of the world around us.

00:00:10.370 There was a time when I would put My Little Pony or other cartoon characters in every talk I gave. It was a lot of fun! I don't have that this time, but I do have a story about a guy named Will. I was in grad school for Float, and during my first year, I lived by myself, which was great. It felt particularly good when you're out of college and feel like you're an adult. However, it was also very expensive. So, in my second year, I decided to get a roommate.

00:00:17.820 I looked at other people in the program and thought, 'This guy Will gets it; he'd be a great roommate.' He was nice, smart, and friendly. He had just gotten out of a breakup, so he needed a new room. Everything was great initially. We went home for the summer, and I stayed on campus. I moved into an apartment, waiting for Will to arrive.

00:00:37.040 However, once Will got there, some issues started to emerge that made me question whether he was going to be such a great roommate after all. One of his favorite books was by an Objectivist. Now, if you know what that means, it translates to him being rather selfish. Over the course of the year, he became progressively more pompous and grandiose. He would make claims such as, 'I think I'm better than pretty much everybody and better than average in pretty much anything.' We would challenge him with thoughts like, 'Well, you don't speak Chinese. Do you really think you're better at speaking Chinese than average?' He'd confidently reply, 'Yes, yes I do.'

00:01:00.960 In some ways, Will predated the whole meritocratic culture found in parts of San Francisco. We were at dinner one time with him and my best friend Craig, who I lived with later for obvious reasons. I desperately wish I could remember the subject of that conversation, but Will checked out and then checked back in with a bizarre statement: 'I can turn off my ability to read.' Craig and I exchanged looks as that made no sense. Once you learn how to read, you can't simply unlearn it. It is psychologically impossible.

00:01:43.300 This quote stayed with me for years, and I never understood it until 15 years later. By then, I had been working as a developer for about 10 to 12 years and began feeling burnt out, particularly since coding was my only creative outlet. So, I sought something else to do. I live in Durham, North Carolina, and I discovered the Durham Arts Council, which is a community center that offers courses in everything from ballet to digital photography and even improv comedy, which I did not take, to drawing. I loved drawing as a kid, so I thought I'd give it a try and signed up for an introductory drawing course.

00:02:30.070 I really enjoyed it and subsequently signed up for figure drawing and watercolor courses, all of which I liked. Over the last three years, I've been taking classes regularly, learning how to become a better artist. I have learned that there is a wide diversity of people who attend these classes from around the Triangle area. We had high schoolers, retirees, individuals from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, professionals, manual laborers who came straight from construction sites, as well as people with extensive drawing experience and those who were just beginning.

00:03:14.120 This last bit is particularly relevant because I noticed the mistakes I made while learning to draw were the same ones that others made too. You frequently see this in various instances. For example, very few people love to draw portraits; it tends to be difficult for many. There are many reasons for this, including some particularly egregious mistakes that are commonly made before understanding what's wrong. One is known as the 'short poll phenomenon.' When thinking of a face, we picture the features: eyes, nose, mouth, perhaps ears if they are pointed like Spock's. What often goes unnoticed is that there is as much head above our eyes as there is below.

00:04:03.290 If you simply go to draw a picture without considering this, you can end up cutting off the top of the head and then delicately placing the hair back on where the brain is exposed, creating a deeply unsettling and uncanny image. If you were to cover up the top, it wouldn't look that bad; it could certainly be improved, but the way it's presented is painful to look at. Here's another example: I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be David Tennant, but it might also resemble Conan O'Brien. Here we observe various issues like having 'football' eyes and monster teeth that look overly outlined, making them appear that he could seriously bite your arm off.

00:05:55.240 Additionally, you see the hair illustrated in a strange manner, too. We call it 'spaghetti hair,' where each strand looks meticulously detailed, but nobody's hair actually appears this way; it’s simply not true to life. This reflects the tendency to want to draw each tooth as distinct, even if we can't see them individually. When we draw hair, we recognize texture but don’t need to draw each strand distinctly. The issues arise when we allow what we know to interfere with what we are trying to represent through drawing.

00:06:55.510 Kids are particularly interesting to observe in this context of learning to draw. I have a 9-year-old and a 5-year-old. For instance, my 5-year-old had a well-defined algorithm for drawing a dragon. She starts with the body, draws the tail, then the wings, mouth, eyes, and, importantly, the eyelashes. However, this reflects her unique mental image of a dragon, which is different from conventional images that most of us share. My daughter’s representation is adorable, but it diverges from what most typically envision as a dragon.

00:08:10.480 In addition, children often draw stick figures without bodies, placing arms and legs directly on the head. As silly as it may seem, this becomes a fascinating insight into their mental models. If you closely observe their artwork, you may even see a child drawing 'too many fingers' on their stick figures. This discrepancy occurs because they are counting fingers in their heads without paying attention to how many they actually have. So, you can end up with situations like my daughter once drawing 27 fingers on one hand and 19 on the other.

00:09:27.030 But to be fair, this isn't just an issue exclusive to children. There are psychological experiments showing how adults draw bikes from memory. An Italian digital artist rediscovered this extraordinary insight after sketching bikes on the streets of Italy. The sketches looked cool yet revealed significant structural flaws when digitized, exposing issues such as balance and functionality—highlighting how our mental representations function.

00:10:31.380 We have mental representations of bicycles based on countless observations throughout our lives. The primary features we think are important get locked into our mental framework, possibly neglecting other critical components. For example, distinct sketches of bikes often fail to depict handles, frames, and pedals accurately, leading to the creation of an unconventional representation of what a bike looks like. Additionally, mistakes can occur in urban sketching when encountering lettering and words in the environment. When drawing in a city, we often overlook the shapes of letters, recognizing spelling as a secondary aspect while attempting to grasp the overall design. Poor perspective can make reading even more challenging.

00:11:25.080 When you go out into a city, you hardly ever see lettering in its simplest form; most lettering has depth and character and doesn't simply appear as outlines. Reading itself is a lossy process where we don't pay attention to every aspect of a word, creating issues when a person attempts to illustrate each letter individually. If you draw letters with volume or distinct contours, it can produce strange results. Seeing letters typically creates a mental image that translates to writing, while drawing letters can expose inconsistencies when our brains misalign with visual representation.

00:12:55.900 This disconnect can also occur with languages we're not fluent in. For example, if I ask you to read a language you don't know, the chances are you would improve significantly your ability to replicate it. You wouldn't associate semantic meaning with those characters, which would encourage you to focus more on their physical formation than their meaning. You could potentially produce better representations of unfamiliar words as opposed to familiar ones, where our preconceived notions can distort our interpretations. Deep metaphors, which take longer to comprehend, present connections between different areas that apply beyond surface-level understanding.

00:14:43.260 To confront what we think versus reality, we encounter challenges in various fields, including drawing. For instance, we often think we recognize a UNIX system inherently, but when faced with a co-worker's set up different plugins or configurations, we may struggle. Our problem-solving often encounters this cognitive dissonance when what we know about our environment doesn't shield us from the challenges posed by realistic situations.

00:15:16.310 We build these mental models and presume we know the solutions only to quickly find that is not the case. Drawing allows us to receive immediate feedback about our knowledge gaps. It shows our failures of perception through obvious discrepancies when comparing our drawings with real life. Unlike coding, this instant feedback loop in drawing enables faster recognition of what we perceive incorrectly. It urges us to adopt more proactive approaches in our work and creative practices.

00:16:36.500 A recent book called 'Technically Wrong' explores how preconceived notions of technologists impact technology and products. It highlights that while we can name issues in more advanced stages, foundational problems often arise from misconceptions about users and their needs. However, there is hope—through time, practice, and attention to details, we can accept that experience from our theories to more accurately represent reality. The goal is to develop our skills to the point where we can control our perception, choosing which elements of our mental models to apply when interpreting the world around us.

00:18:05.570 Being mindful of cognitive biases enables us to navigate through experiences as an artist or technologist better. Ultimately, the more we strive to refine our approaches, whether in coding or creative expression, the more profound our understanding will become of the interplay between perception and representation. This talk metaphorically represents how questioning our observations and choices can steer our practices toward greater creativity and effectiveness.

00:19:21.690 Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me during the break.