Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Picture Problem: Mammography, Air Power, and the Limits of Looking” describes the problems that arise when “trusting a camera more than our own eyes”. Gladwell is referring to illusions, as well as wrong information that one deduces from believing a photograph as absolute truth. The three primary examples presented in this article were issues with images from mammograms, the LANTIRN navigation in the Gulf war, and the precision of bombs. In each of these cases Gladwell demonstrates flaws in the interpretation of images. In mammography, doctors rely on the contrast of color in x-rays to detect tumors but Gladwell explains that in dense tissue areas, it is impossible to see tumors because they are the same grayish white of healthy breast tissue. He argues that manually feeling the breast can be more effective than a photograph.
In the Gulf war, a 4 million dollar camera called LANTIRN was used to detect if “scud” missiles had hit their target. It was believed that what the camera picked up was truth, but in many cases, due to wrong positioning of the camera and darkness, false conclusions were reached. Many times decoy targets were hit and it was indistinguishable from the actual target in the photograph. Additionally, the precision of small bombs is effected by interpretation of photography because if one interprets the information ever so slightly wrong, the bomb will hit the wrong target and cause harm. Gladwell proves an important point that while photography is a helpful tool, it is not always greater than our own senses.
1 comment:
I'm glad that you brought up the point that the inaccuracy of the human eye can cause damage and harm to others. Whether it's the misguidance of a missile or the wrong reading of a mammogram, anywhere from one to a large number of people can get harmed. And not only in the physical sense. If someone's mammogram is read incorrectly by a doctor and told that they have a high risk of getting breast cancer when they actually have no risk at all, their mental state and emotions may change for a certain amount of time until another check is done. This misinterpretation would most likely not only affect that one individual, but also some of their friends and family as well, depending on if they spread the news or not. And when dealing with the guidance of a missile, if the pilot is wrong, then an innocent family or group of individuals may get their house shot down. There are many different consequences that can occur from the misleading information that the sense of sight can bring. And with so many people realizing this, why do we still have so much trust in our vision?
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