It happens in an instant – your eyes register motion, your brain predicts what comes next and, in a split second, you think you understand what you are seeing. But what if that instinct is wrong?
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That happened when the world saw China’s most advanced warship, the Fujian, in action earlier this month.
When a video was released on November 8 showing the carrier’s electromagnetic catapult firing in an empty launch, viewers saw the catapult accelerate down the deck with blinding force and then stop dead.
So smooth was the motion and halt that many assumed the footage had been slowed down. Yet the flutter of flags in the background suggested otherwise.
The human brain, trained by evolution to anticipate motion, could not keep up. As MIT neuroscientist Kohitij Kar explains, our minds begin predicting movement within milliseconds of seeing an object in motion. But when technology operates outside the bounds of familiar physics, our intuition fails.
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This also highlights how, in the face of rapidly advancing military technology, conventional experience is increasingly inadequate and even seasoned military analysts could be misled.