How tech plays the game, making fake look the same!
Introduction: Welcome to the Matrix!
What’s your screen time today?
We’re living in an increasingly digital world, where nothing is truly continuous. Everything you see, hear, and experience digitally is an approximation, a clever lie designed to trick your senses. Let’s dive into the digital world, where reality is cut into tiny, discrete pieces to fit the rigid framework of 1s and 0s.
From how your computer adds numbers to how your favorite song streams, everything in the digital realm is a deception orchestrated to satisfy our limited human perception. Let’s dive into this fascinating world and uncover the tricks of the digital trade.
Examples of Everyday Digital Trickery
Lights, Camera, Illusion!
Let’s talk about videos. The smoothness of a video is an illusion created by displaying a sequence of still images (frames) rapidly. At 120 frames per second (fps), the video presents a sequence of still images so rapidly that your brain perceives them as smooth motion. Our eyes can’t detect the individual frames beyond a certain threshold, usually around 24–60 fps for most humans. However, your pet might not share this experience because animals like dogs and cats have higher flicker fusion thresholds, meaning they perceive the gaps between frames more easily and see the screen as flickering chaos.
But the illusion isn’t just about the fps of the video. Irrespective of whether you are watching a video or reading this page, the screen also has a refresh rate measured in hertz (Hz). This determines how many times per second the screen updates the displayed content. For example, a screen with a 60Hz refresh rate updates 60 times per second, while a 120Hz screen updates twice as fast. If the fps of the video exceeds the refresh rate of the screen, those extra frames are either skipped or blended, which might degrade the smoothness of motion. Conversely, if the screen’s refresh rate is higher than the fps of the video, it introduces smoother motion, but only up to the limitations of the video content.
In essence, fps is how the software delivers the frames, while refresh rate is how the hardware displays them. For the smoothest experience, they need to work in harmony.
Even a single frame in that video isn’t “continuous” like reality. What looks real to you is just an arrangement of tiny pixels. More pixels = higher resolution = sharper illusion. But zoom in on any pixel, and you realize it’s just a tiny blob of color, hardly the Mona Lisa!
Think of pixels like LEGO bricks. A low-res image is like using chunky blocks to build a castle. It gets the idea across but looks rough. A high-resolution image is like using tiny LEGO pieces for presenting subtle details. Either way, it’s still just LEGO!
Your Ears Are Just as Gullible
Did you know your favorite song is just numbers? Yep, digital audio records sound by taking snapshots of it, typically 44,000 times per second (44.1 kHz). Each snapshot is a single value, and when played back in sequence, it tricks your ears into hearing a smooth melody.
Here’s the twist: even at a live concert with analog instruments, the sound you hear isn’t entirely pure. For a large audience, microphones capture the sound waves, convert them into electrical signals, and loudspeakers recreate them. While the final sound mimics the real thing, it remains an interpretation—one step removed from nature’s true analog form.
The Math: When 1.1 + 2.2 ≠ 3.3
Let’s check with numbers. In the digital world, even basic math can be misleading. If you've ever tried to add 1.1 and 2.2 in Python (or any other programming language), you'll notice the result isn’t exactly 3.3.
1.1 + 2.2 == 3.3
Output:
False
The digital world relies on the IEEE 754 Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic, a method of representing fractions digitally. This system introduces rounding errors because computers can only store a finite number of decimal places. Think of it as trying to pour a gallon of water into a pint-sized jar.
Instead of dealing with precise values, computers approximate. The result? Slight inaccuracies like the one above. Computers use binary to represent numbers, and binary isn’t great at storing fractions exactly. So, what you’re seeing is the closest approximation.
Think of public transport, like a bus or train, with predetermined stops. Your destination might not match a stop exactly, so you get off at the nearest one and walk the rest of the way. Similarly, computers approximate numbers to the nearest value they can represent, just wish it’s a perfect match.
Impact on Machine Learning Techniques
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Are you curious to see the adverse effects on fundamental Data Science practices? Check out the full blog
Full Blog Link: https://www.supreethmv.com/blog/posts/discrete_digital_deception/
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