Thread with 6 posts
jump to expanded post
oh, the mouse cursor is an extension of the human body so far as the brain cares, right? i hold onto the mouse, the mouse is part of the body now, and the cursor is attached to the mouse. i think that's how the brain works
something funny just happened to me: i looked at a cursor on the screen and tried to use the mouse to click it. but the mouse was connected to another computer with another display on the same desk!
made me think about the chain of subconscious assumptions: if i'm holding a mouse and see a cursor, it must be controlled by my hand right now…
i am serious with the “mouse cursor is an extension of the human body” thing btw. have you ever clicked a button in a piece of software, but it didn't visually respond at all: no depression, nothing? did you “feel” something? i think i do when that happens, but not fully
i've owned a few apple products with fake buttons that use haptics to simulate a click: the home button on newer iphones and the touchpad on newer macbooks don't physically depress, they sense pressure and subtly vibrate to make it feel like you pressed them, surprisingly well
it works so well actually that it has a funny consequence: when the device is turned off, you get surprised by how the button no longer “presses” and feels just like hard unmoving metal, even though that's what it always was! well, unresponsive software buttons feel like that