VISUAL ILLUSIONS: HOW YOUR BRAIN CONSTRUCTS REALITY, Why Are We Surprised by Only Some of the Things That We See? | BINGE THINKING DC

Welcome to Binge Thinking. We invite professors and experts to give lectures in bars around Boston, NYC, and DC!In a world of AI slop, doomscrolling and brainrot, Binge Thinking brings real experts into real places for nights of learning, conversation, and community.Think Responsibly. TOPIC: Visual Illusions: How Your Brain Constructs Reality, Why Are We Surprised by Only Some of the Things That We See?SPEAKER: Dr. Arthur Shapiro, American University You trust your eyes every single day. You cross streets with them, read texts with them, judge outfits with them. But what if your eyes are only half the story, and your brain is quietly filling in the rest? Philosophers and scientists have been pointing out since the 1600s that what we see isn’t the same as what’s actually out there. The twist? Your brain isn’t just a camera recording the world. It’s more like a reality engine, pulling together signals from a bunch of behind-the-scenes processes and stitching them into the most convincing story it can. Most of the time, that story works. Sometimes, it goes hilariously off-script. In this talk, Dr. Arthur Shapiro brings his own award-winning interactive illusions into the bar, then breaks down exactly why your brain falls for them, and why it only surprises you some of the time. Topics include: Live, interactive illusions that will make you question your own eyeballs Why perception and reality were never really the same thing How your brain works as a “reality engine” building the best story from many moving parts How this framework explains, and can even help create, brand new illusions How the same ideas stretch beyond vision into other parts of everyday experience Come for the illusions, stay for the existential crisis (the fun kind). By the end of the night, you’ll never look at anything quite the same way again. Literally. About the Speaker Dr. Arthur “Art” Shapiro is an American vision scientist and creator of visual illusions. He is the co-editor of the Oxford Compendium of Visual Illusions and is currently a professor of psychology and computer science at American University in Washington, D.C., and Director of the Collaborative for Applied Perceptual Research and Innovation (CAPRI). He completed his undergraduate work in mathematics and psychology at UC San Diego, received his PhD in psychology from Columbia University, and did postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. His research focuses on color, motion, vision in low-light environments, and visual phenomena. He has been a top-ten finalist in the Best Illusion of the Year Contest twelve times and has taken first place twice. His work has been featured by The New York Times, NPR, National Geographic’s Brain Games, and in his analysis of #thedress for USA Today and NBC Washington. Agenda7:00 PM - Doors Open (Grab a seat and drinks!)7:30 PM - Lecture Begins8:10 PM - Audience Q&A8:30 PM - Drinks & Conversation9:00 PM - Event Ends Join us and grab a drink as we explore why your brain edits reality. What if you’ve never seen anything as it truly is?