I've said it before, but this time it seems things are different. There is a weird symmetry to things.
It seems that the exercise which is getting me over the top (reading in a careful, mindful way using both eyes) is very similar to one of the exercises mentioned in this blog at the beginning of my journey, nearly 12 years earlier (Columns exercise described by me here) which was explained to me by Heather, someone I got to know via Facebook Groups.
Weird.
I didn't do much VT over the late part of last week. But I had been doing quite a bit of reading the previous week due to the vagaries of my job. I was on-call, which involves a lot of waiting around. During that waiting time (and sometimes there are extended periods of it), I would spend that time reading. So... probably reading on average like six hours a day.
Well, that weekend a buddy came to visit me in Austin, TX. We ended up to Barton Springs. Went out to eat. Ended up walking around Whole Foods for a bit. When I was there, I was suddenly aware of how vivid things were, and how much more information my eyes were taking in. It's probably due to the way those types of stores are constructed to grab attention. It was like a sudden jump in improvement. I actually mentioned it to him (he knows about my condition).
It's kind of as though there was a delay in the change of the quality of my vision from all the work I had done the previous week to the change in vision that I have now. The reading + VR is definitely working. Holy carp, it is working. I can also tell from the objective markers (looking at myself in the mirror and seeing the distance of the double images), as well as getting to parity between the eyes. And then there's the subjective, which is much more powerful signal coming in from the right eye. So both have seen massive improvement. Very excited. I'm expecting lots of new exciting news in the weeks to come.
My vision has improved a lot in the past two weeks. As mentioned in previous entries, I think my *special* reading (read: reading correctly) has contributed a lot to the improvement I've seen in recent weeks.
Vision therapy these days consists of reading carefully with both eyes and VR (game called Pavlov VR--essentially Counterstrike, but in virtual reality).
Reading really helps send the signal to the brain to put the right eye to work, and really seems to be doing quite a lot in terms of getting the eyes close to parity with one another (in terms of accommodation and signal power). Then VR helps (I think) with integration through high-power binocular cues. It doesn't hurt that it's also fun as hell.
I try to read at least an hour per day. Then on the weekends, I basically spend every spare moment I have reading--so around six hours per day on the weekends. And as a consequence, I've seen quite a lot of improvement in reading as well as in normal everyday activity. As mentioned in previous entries, reading correctly is a bit effortful (though it's getting easier), particularly when switching to use the right eye (because it's not as strong as the left eye). So I linger on the right eye a bit, to really stretch it and get as much info as possible.
As a consequence of at least a month of this, this has gotten quite a bit easier (though there is still quite a lot to be gained). My reading speed has actually improved quite a bit as a consequence of having recruited another eye. It's freaking sweet. I'm now doing fewer awkward saccades. Yes, this is how normal people read. The habit has carried into everyday activity as well. The double images have come together quite a bit in the past few weeks, especially when I'm looking at collections of objects, on say, a countertop. I can now almost pay attention to both images simultaneously and get details about them and almost infer depth. It is definitely trippy. It is definitely exciting. The reading I do is still challenging, which tells me that there's still more to be gained by doing it. I'm going to ride it out and see where it takes me.
That's how well things are going. My vision has improved so much recently, that I'm wondering how my life will be different after I've gained stereopsis.
One thing I've been thinking about is that I will probably be less likely to engage in risky, dangerous behavior. This is because my nervous system will soon experience a massive upgrade, after 12 years of deliberate work. What if I went mountain biking, took a gnarly spill, got a head injury, and somehow lost my vision that I worked so hard for?
Heh, I recently bought one of those Onewheels, which apparently are pretty dangerous. I'm definitely going to take it easy.
I've always been a risktaker, especially when riding my e-bike... thing is freaking dangerous how easy it is to go fast on it. Thank god for mineral oil disc brakes. I think the worst thing a person can do is live a dull, boring, and uninspiring life. We're so lucky to be alive. I view it as a tragedy to not take risks and do interesting things with one's life: a terrible wasted opportunity.
Now, when I have massively upgraded hardware, I am undoubtedly going to much more highly value my body and brain. I am still going to take risks, and go for rides on the e-bike, and Onewheel. I'll be using the helmet, as always. But am I going to go as fast as I did pre-stereopsis? One wonders. Probably not.
It certainly feels like I'm very close to fusion. I think that last change I made (described in previous blog entries--essentially reading books in a particular way) made a huge difference.
The activities that are really doing the heavy lifting these days are playing in VR, and reading books.
I think they're both doing different things. Reading books in a very careful and deliberate way really seemed to improve the vision on the right eye--like, the text has gotten bigger, and sharper--the input has just gotten better when reading text with the right eye--and make no mistake--it is a workout, which tells you something. It's something that needed to be done. I'm not sure by exactly what mechanism it improved--whether it improved mechanically, or neurologically--probably both. But the improvement is indeed there. And interestingly, I've noticed I've taken this habit of reading in this way with me in other activities--not reading books, but reading text in general--even the text I'm reading now as I write this. That is, after all, what vision therapy is all about. If you do vision therapy exercises, and don't use the knowledge you've gained through them and apply them in the daily routine, then it's sort of all for nothing.
And indeed I did have a strange and unusual experience a few days ago when the right eye input was actually better than it was on the left eye. Man. The visual system is so weird. What a trip.
So I think the reading is really my brain yanking my right eye and telling it to get to work.
And then playing in virtual reality does another thing, which is integrating the input of both eyes. There's something about the input and high-power stereo cues one gets from playing in VR that really helps with integrating input from both eyes.
Anyway. I'm amazed at how much recent improvement I've seen. It's really.. I don't have fusion yet, but it's trippy because I can see objects from both angles now, and the double images are coming pretty close. Particularly notable is that this is true for objects even when I switch from one place to another--like, I have pretty good coordination. So... it's all very exciting. I mean, I'm excited.
Man. It's something about the reading exercises that I'm doing that feels like it's going to take me over the top and get me to fusion and stereopsis. Things are really different now. The vision feels different, and much improved, and the progress feels accelerated.
Whoa... this kind of knocked my socks off when listening to the conversation between Joe Rogan and Neal Brennan on Joe's podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience. He talks about it around 1 hour 20 minutes in episode #1823.
Neal Brennan, for those who don't know, is a famous comedian/writer, who's done a lot of writing for Dave Chappelle on Chappelle's Show.
You may recognize him if you're familiar with the comedy business. Significant exotropia aside, he's a pretty weird looking dude. It's a good argument for being funny if you want to be successful with the ladies.
I've always noticed this about him when looking at his pictures. I was like, 'yeah, that guy does not have 3d vision. No way.'. There are a lot of famous people who have this condition. I think he's maybe had it his entire life, because that's the only way I've ever seen him.
But in the podcast he began talking about it, and talking about doing vision exercises with an Oculus Rift, and doing exercises which involve picking fruit, and which force you to use both eyes. When he said that, I was like 'Crap! I know exactly what game he was talking about!'. I remember playing that game (along with a number of others) doing some QA work for Vision Vision. Crazy the reach those guys at Vivid Vision have. Famous amblyopes are using Vivid Vision. So interesting.
Neal talked about his experience of stereoblindness and thinking that everyone saw the way that he saw, but when his condition was described to him by an eye doctor he was like 'That's what I have!'. Same. Then he described the exercises, and how he's seen improvement already. He talked about how he's got like 1.5 eyes, and how his exercises are effectively turning on his lazy eye. Yup. And then he described that as he continues, the two images will eventually fuse. Yup. Just interesting seeing a famous public person talking about what I've been talking about in this blog for the past ten years.
Man. Vivid Vision. They were definitely pioneers. James Blaha invented virtual reality-based vision therapy. He's a great example of what Peter Thiel recommends about entrepreneurship in his book Zero to One: try to have a monopoly. Don't do what everyone is doing. Do something completely different, create a new arena, and then dominate that arena. I'm guessing James and Vivid Vision is now balling out of control. And if they're not, they're certainly poised to be.
