Now that’s a great word “anamorphic.” But what does it mean? Well, according to the all powerful Wikipedia – the great and final arbiter of all things NOT – “Anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point (or both) to reconstitute the image. The word “anamorphosis” is derived from the Greek prefix ana‑, meaning back or again, and the word morphe, meaning shape or form.” Wasn’t that helpful. NOT!

But you have seen these illusions. They are becoming popular as ads on the tile floors of shopping malls, where from the vantage point of standing up and looking down at them from human height they appear to be three-D structures. The important point is that you have the physicist’s domain of physical optics and the psychologist’s and physiologist’s domain of physiological optics. It is the latter that prevails in matters of perception. What we see – remember last year’s white vs. blue dress- is a matter of how our brains work. Our brains have an expectation of being in a 3D world and of how that world should look. This is, of course, an important point of both quantum mechanics and existential philosophy. Ultimately, you cannot separate the observer from the observed.

Boy that just got profound! But let’s just enjoy. The NBC Today Show this morning featured the latest anamorphic illusion, one that really explains it all, by the artist Brusspup, which has already has a half a million views on you tube.