Ackart

That’s a lot of fox

  • He/Him

SomeEgrets
@SomeEgrets

"realistic" interfaces as we think of them are largely just based on existing visual paradigms designed to convey information quickly and efficiently to the human visual cortex (or in a way that can be efficiently learned)

things like radar scopes, tabular columnated data readouts, aircraft HUDs and so on

all that goes out the window when you're dealing with literally any other type of visual processing - whether it's other terrestrial species or actual aliens (and you should absolutely follow the rule of cool anyway!)

anyway this is all just a longwinded justification to ask, i wonder what a navigational interface would look like for one of the bird species that can directly sense magnetic fields


SomeEgrets
@SomeEgrets

oh i think i'm going to link the "magnetic field vision(???)" thing here too because it's actually really interesting

it's based on chemical processes that were previously thought impossible (earth's magnetic field too weak to be directly detectable by chemical reactions)

they had to devise an experiment to show the extremely magnetosensitive chemistry they were proposing was even physically possible!

it turned out that in the absence of other cues, you can confuse a bird's directional sense with just low level background RF noise!


quyksilver
@quyksilver

Foxes possibly have magnetoreception too and I've wondered before how ,y fursona would use it in hir life


SomeEgrets
@SomeEgrets

so, TIL about possible fox magnetoreception and now you can too


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in reply to @SomeEgrets's post:

probably doesn't even need the helmet! terrestrial birds that "see" magnetic fields (it is incredibly inconclusive how this even works, just that it seems to be coupled to visual processing) can detect the earth's magnetic field orientation, which was previously thought to be too weak to directly affect the outcome of chemical reactions

they had to devise a whole experiment to show what they were proposing was even physically possible!

you can confuse a bird with no other directional cues with just low level RF background noise!

it's actually very interesting, like, how often do you just discover a whole other type of perception

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-migrating-birds-use-quantum-effects-to-navigate/

Otoh, I can see why you would want a visual interface, both in-universe (among the species that can develop technological civilisation, a visual interface is probably the most widely interoperable) and out-of-universe (you might want the audience to be able to see the information being conveyed without a character explicitly telling them)

I agree with this but I will still never respect Star Trek for making everything a touch screen! Doctor who understands that I want an unorganized assortment of spinbobs, levers, doohickies, swingy screens, and other bullshit!!!

in reply to @SomeEgrets's post: