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The front part of the eye which can allow light to enter is a bit curved, so shouldn't this cause us to see a curved distorted version of reality when it is really not there? Is there any way to quantify this?

If the question is not clear, suppose we stereographically project a plane onto a spherical surface, then clearly, what is straight on the plane is no longer straight on the sphere.. hence my doubt.

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    $\begingroup$ Analog camera lenses are also curved, yet photos are not distorted; this is because the curvature is used for focus. Even if that wasn't the case, our brain corrects for distortions - for example, aside from being curved, the image hits our retina upside down, but we don't notice this either. $\endgroup$
    – Arnon Weinberg ♦
    Commented May 22, 2022 at 16:20
  • $\begingroup$ I don't understand what you mean when you say curvature is used for focus. I agree that it is but isn't that talking about curvature in a different aspect than the question? $\endgroup$
    – Cathartic Encephalopathy
    Commented May 22, 2022 at 20:29
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    $\begingroup$ Anyone that wears glasses will have noticed barrel- or pincushion-distortion when they first got them. After a day or two the brain compensates for it and it's never a problem, or even noticed, after that. $\endgroup$
    – Ray Butterworth
    Commented May 23, 2022 at 0:57
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    $\begingroup$ If you think that what you see with your eyes is reality, you're delusional. Your eyes send signals to your brain, which in turn translates those signals into a very thin slice of reality: 2-dimensional with stereoscopic effect, only about one octave of the colour spectrum, etc. Picasso – WISDOM STORIES TO LIVE BY $\endgroup$
    – Ray Butterworth
    Commented May 23, 2022 at 1:02
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    $\begingroup$ Try this: have someone hang a newspaper at the end of the hall and then walk toward it until you can read the article headlines. Mark the spot on the floor. Now start near the newspaper and walk backward until you can no longer read those headlines. You'll almost certainly be well behind the first mark. Your brain was fooling you into thinking that your eyes could see those headlines even when you were too far back for that to be possible. $\endgroup$
    – Ray Butterworth
    Commented May 23, 2022 at 1:03

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