Burning Man in Pictures XLII: True Reflections

In our last installment, our heroes had gone a little playa-crazy from their adventures in the land of test pattern.

Now, it was time for them to rest and reflect on what they had experienced.

But first, the nose car:

Nose car.
Nose car.

Our intrepid heroes encounter a strange tent, titled ‘True Reflections Palace’. An arched entranceway beckons them in…:

What awaits inside? (It's difficult to tell because the sign is itself reflective.)
What awaits inside? (It’s difficult to tell because the sign is itself reflective.)

A welcoming sign:

This is the coolest tape we'd seen outside of Japan.
This is the coolest tape we’d seen outside of Japan.

It turns out that ‘True Reflections’ are what happens when you reflect a person’s image in such a way that it looks to them like they look to other people:

This was really spooky.
This was really spooky.

Of course, there were tinker toys, distracting to builders such as our heroes:

Tinkers toy!
Tinkers toy!

Up?:

Up?
Up?

THE WHOLE TENT IS TINKER TOYS:

Aha! The truth revealed!
Aha! The truth revealed!

Some research on this topic:

Research!
Research!

This is they type of coverage that you may have seen of this before, how the two halves of of the face are seen very differently, and how swapping them can have huge effects, most often done to celebrities so that people will click the link:

Not even Bruce Willis is immune.
Not even Bruce Willis is immune.

Some interesting commentary on the psychology of changing how someone sees themselves, possibly similar to people hearing themselves speak:

How people respond to their 'true reflection'.
How people respond to their ‘true reflection’.

They can probably tell you more, more succinctly and correctly than I can, so I leave you with a blatant (but happy) plug[1]:

A blatant (but happy) plug.
A blatant (but happy) plug.

Next time, our heroes encounter a (friendly) match between El Pulpo Mechanico and his grasshopper friend, and visit the Serpent Mother. Stay tuned!

[1]They are really cool, though. I feel like I look totally different in the ‘true mirror’, like twice as attractive. I wonder if this would help people understand privilege better…

One thought on “Burning Man in Pictures XLII: True Reflections

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *