Monday, March 12, 2007

Perpetuum mobile


The perpetuum mobile (eternal movement) has kept the minds of scholars busy for centuries. Now we think we know that every movement takes energy to be maintained and with the loss of energy the movement will slow down and eventually stop.

But we humans think that anything that can be thought, also can exist in "reality" (whatever that might be) so an innocent, ignorant human watching this picture can believe that it moves. He watches closer and keeps watching, and the more he watches, the more his idea is confirmed: it moves, and keeps moving!

I got this moving picture, that needs no video, from a colleague who couldn't remember from what website it has been taken.

2 comments:

Evie said...

Really cool image. It's disorienting if one looks at it too long.

Stephen said...

I used this image this morning as part of my power point presentation attached to my sermon. It's a great image and optical illusion.