The skill of perception The newborn baby and the [blind man suddenly gifted with sight] do not have to learn to see. Sight is given to them. But they do have to learn to perceive. Perception is learnt and learnt slowly. Skill is required for perception as for speech. We are largely unaware of the skill we exercise. None of the things we have to learn to perceive are self-evident, or, apparently, instinctively evident. No doubt, however, we have an instinctive aptitude for this learning, and once we have learnt we cannot easily see as though we had not. As Ruskin says, one has to strive, if one is to see with the 'Innocent Eye'. David Pye, The Nature and Aesthetics of Design The innocence of the eyethe innocent i seeingperceptionlearninginstinct
Burglary's White Whale If all cities already contain the crimes that will occur there, then, taken to its logical conclusion, this suggests there might be a kind of Moby-Dick of crime, a White Whale of urban burglary: a town or city so badly designed that the entire place can be robbed in one go. Geoff Manaugh, A Burglar's Guide to the City Putting the streets to useInvisible Cities