Eye Sim – The eyesight simulator

I had laser surgery nearly a decade ago. I spent top dollar and it's been by-far the best investment I've ever made. There is one specific thing I do miss, though, which was the ability to take my glasses off and disconnect into an abstract blur. It's not something I could have done while driving or while wandering along NYC sidewalks, but while at rest, it was an occasional relief.

I don't remember my prescription anymore, because having perfect vision is so natural that I almost immediately forgot what it was like to require corrective lenses. The blurriness of the demo is definitely familiar, but the most interesting bits aren't there; To fully immerse myself into a world made immediately foreign and more interesting due to incredibly poor eyesight, relying heavily on my other senses to figure out the world around me. It was meditative in ways that merely closing my eyes is not. Like stepping into a living abstract painting and feeling my way around.

I wouldn't give up my corrected vision, but there was certainly a personal benefit to it at the very few moments when I wasn't concerning myself with the inherent downsides.

Tried it with my own prescription (-3.75 and -3.25 dioptre) and I'd say the result is very exaggerated. Especially considering my actual eyesight is worse than my prescription.

How does it create a single image from two different eyes, anyway?

Note that walking around without glasses isn't as bad for most people as these images suggest. Depth perception still works fine at relatively high dioptre numbers, so you can usually avoid walking into stuff.

Testing against my wife (I don't wear glasses), and according to her the results are extremely exaggerated. If her eyesight were as bad as the simulator suggests, she wouldn't be able to live a normal life without glasses (which she is perfectly capable.)

I am nearsighted and it's not quite accurate. The optics is probably correct, however brain attempts to sharpen the image, so the perceived result is not just blurred. Especially the light sources - I see somewhat fuzzy spiky balls instead of evenly shaded blotches.

I built this about a year back (as a desktop app) as a part of a larger project. Never thought about releasing this by itself. Seeking advice from HN: How would this make money?

My friends like reading about every meal I eat on twitter! They'll LOVE the opportunity to see blurry things just like the blurry things I can see if I take my glasses off!