Small people

Many years ago, I wrote to “The Last Word” in New Scientist magazine. It is a more intellectual version of the radio programme where people phone in with explanations of strange phenomena. In the case of NS, the theme is more technical because often the people who write the replies are experts in their field.

I used to have a very strange experience, it often happened when I was tired. I would be looking at a person sitting in a chair and then they would start to get smaller and smaller and smaller. But my field of view remained the same. I could even play around with the effect.

Anyway, I wrote to NS and they published my letter under the title “Small people”. A few weeks later, the magazine published one or two interesting replies. One described how the moon appears larger when it is near objects on the ground, but it definitely wasn’t that. One person expressed with relief that he had experienced the same thing. Sadly, I no longer have this experience. But it was quite fascinating, how the brain (because certainly it was not an optical effect) interprets what it sees. More about that on a different page.