Wow!.. While researching the various changes in Trackback Methologies and looking for comparisons on pingbacks, trackbacks, linkbacks and refbacks, I then went off on a tangent looking for a simple sonar or ‘ping’ animated gif. Well my search lead me to a simply amazing story.
The following Youtube video sequence is about a young man born with a potentially deadly and very aggressive form of eye cancer. His eyes where removed at a very young age in an attempt to save his life. From that moment on, he began to develop an amazing gift. He learned to see with sound.
The very idea of this is just amazing. Being a big science buff, I have always been fascinated at how the majority of our technologies often mimic those that mother nature has developed and fine-tuned over the course of our planetary evolution. Years before the first sonar boom was developed and deployed, whales, dolphins, bats, and some fish had already mastered the art. Before the Wright Brothers took their first flight, dinosaurs, birds, insects and some mammals were airborne. Only recently have we begun to harness the suns power through photovoltaics. Plants have been doing this through photosynthesis for milleniums.
It is quite astonishing to think of what we can learn from the natural world. We have made great strides in a relatively short time and behind it all is the human ability to adapt and learn. Our minds are the most powerful invention mother nature has ever created, and Ben, the boy who sees without eyes, is a perfect example of human will, adaptation, drive, and all things that make us special. On watching this story unfold, I can’t help but fathom what tehnologies and discoveries await us if we look closely at nature and have the mind-set to just try and do the unamaginable.
Unfortunately, as I made my way through the series of videos, I found the tragic end to an amazing young man. Ben’s cancer had resurfaced and took his life in Jan. 2009 at the age of 16. In just a little more than a decade, Ben gave so much to the world of science, technology and to all human kind.
1/5. In the 1st video, you’ll find an introduction to Ben and his equally amazing Mother and how he self learned the art of hearing with sound.
2/5. In the second video, testing and analysis. Does Ben have super-human ears? Capabilities and Limitations.
3/5. Day to Day Routines and being a blind teenager.
4/5. Others with echolocation. Advanced skills learning. Resisting the use of a cane. A little echolocation rap.
5/5. Ben plays a dangerous game, then begins to see how the use of a cane empowers him when used with his extraordinary gift.
Extraordinary People – The Boy Who Sees Without Eyes
