multifocal

I picked up my new glasses Tuesday on my way to a meeting after work, and it's taking me a little while to adjust. I think they will be an improvement over the old ones. The main difference is not having lines between different levels of magnification. In other words, I've gone from no glasses to bifocals to trifocals to multifocals with gradations of different refraction rather than bands from bottom to top.

In the beginning, people's eyes adjusted to see objects at varying distances. Some eyes adjusted more easily than others, and most eyes adjusted less as they aged. Anton von Leuwenhoek invented lenses that would magnify objects so people could see them better. Our relation to reality hasn't been the same since. We can look through lenses and see things far away as if they were close and see small things as if they were big. Increasing the power to observe the world has been nothing short of revolutionary. Inductive inquiry took on greater importance as people could see more things in greater detail for longer periods, especially older people who knew what to look for.

I don't think getting lineless "progressive" glasses will revolutionize my mind and attitude toward reality, but one can only hope. So far the biggest effect is the waves moving across the page, desktop, or whatever erstwhile flat surface is in front of me as I look from side to side. Whoa! The up-and-down movements are now incremental, rather than the abrupt changes with bifocals or trifocals.