I went to the eye doctor again today, for what is hopefully the last tweak on my contact lens prescription. We started with some that were definitely a little farsighted, and have been bringing them down in small jumps.
Spending a week being farsighted has me thinking about How Vision Works, and, more importantly, how Superman’s super vision could work.
I’ve arrived at a few theories:
- Higher resolution retina. According to Wikipedia, humans can make out things as small as .3 arc-minutes; if Superman has smaller sensor cells, then he could see much greater detail, at both distance and up close.
- Wider range of focus. If we assume super-strong eye muscles, and super-durable eyes, we can easily imagine Superman flexing his cornea much more than a human can, and spreading a smaller area of inerest out across his retina.
- Nicitating membranes that alter focus. He just looks mostly human.
These are not mutually-exclusive theories, of course! Any or all of these could be part of the reason his Kryptonian eyes are better than ours. We can also posit two solutions to the x-ray vision – either a set of receptors in super-eyes that are responsive to that portion of the spectrum, or another nicitating membrane that shifts the wavelength of incoming light down a fair ways, into whatever his visible spectrum is.
Anyway. I’ve been enjoying walking along with a relaxed focus distance that is actually useful; I can focus close to see nearby things, and am slowly learning how to focus out at a distance. It’s not something I’ve ever really done due to having an uncorrected maximum detailed distance of about one foot. Hopefully I will manage to get a decent amount of strength in, and control over, the muscles that alter the focus of my eyes soon!