We got a magic eye book when I was maybe 6 - some time early elementary school. After learning how to do it, and also trying it by crossing my eyes to see an "inverted" image, I started doing it whenever I saw some repeating pattern IRL. It was most interesting when it was slightly uneven, for example a fence with sloppily applied vertical planks. Doing the magic eye would make it seem like some of them are closer to you than others. Eventually I tried the same on those "spot the difference" games since well it seemed kinda obvious to try, and I was blown away that it accidentally gave me that "superpower". I think that was pretty smart for a 6yo. Has only gone downhill ever since. ;-)
I wrote a paper about doing this using human eyes as the "repeating pattern" (either someone else's, or your own in a mirror): https://philpapers.org/archive/ALEDSK.pdf ...You can use this trick to make boring meetings or conversations mildly more amusing (but be careful not to look like a clown crossing your eyes).
If you're an expert at this, you can even do it to your own hands. Hold both hands in front of you but with one of them palm-away and one of them palm-toward you, so that they have the same shape, then cross- or parallel-view them to get an illusionary middle third hand. Walk around while focusing on the third hand and it's a seriously trippy effect.
Another "super power" application similar to OP: the ability to confirm whether or not two distant digital clocks' seconds-digits are perfectly in sync. Since they're distant, it takes time to shift one's gaze from one to the other, making it hard to confirm whether they're in sync. But cross your eyes so as to reduce the distance, and voila.
Yet another application: quickly assume the same head-tilt angle as your conversation partner. Suppose they tilt their head to the left by N degrees and you want to tilt yours the same way, how can you be sure you have the exact correct tilt? Easy: parallel-view their eyes (as described in the aforementioned paper). You will HAVE to tilt your head the same as them in order to see their "third eye" (and once you've locked on to their third eye, you can effortlessly adjust your head tilt as they do by using their third eye as the necessary guide)
Stereogramming your colleagues eyes during boring meetings.
Ha
Edit: I accidentally did something similar by imaging the crease on an N95 mask as a smile near their nose. It made them look like ducks and I had to bite my tongue so hard to not laugh. I could not unsee it.
If you're distant enough / the people are sitting close enough, you can stereogram two people's faces together. You usually only get fleeting moments of crispness when their heads are aligned correctly though.
Yep! If I knew someone IRL who was into this kind of stuff, I'd really love to experiment with this sort of thing and mirrors. Arrange so that you can stereogram your conversation partner's face with a mirror image of your own face (and that he can do the same with your face and a mirror image of his face). If anyone's in NYC and interested in these sorts of things, my email is in my HN profile "about".
When I read about Gauss basically inventing Arithmetic Progression at seven years old it gives me similar vibes. What led him to see a different way in adding the numbers 1 to 100? Surely he could have visualized it on his own in an abstract manner, but I tend to wonder if he had a similar enlightening experience like yours.
Ethan Suplee is a personal hero of mine. I've been watching him in movies since clerks, and felt bad as I saw him continue to get bigger. When he started his transformation some gym bros posted it to some forums we inhabit. He didn't want to be all public about it since he'd yoyo'd before, but we cheered him on online. When I saw he'd gone public I was so happy for him. His pic now hangs in my home gym with Arnold and Ronnie.
Wow I feel like I've never seen anyone talk about this. Doing it with fences can feel pretty magical, like the object is more "real" than other things.
