Featured EyeWirer: @addieye
A behind the scenes look at the EyeWire community.
Meet the EyeWirers who are mapping the brain. Today’s featured EyeWirer is Addison, AKA @addieye.
So, tell the world a little about yourself.
Hello! My name is Addison, currently residing in Melbourne, Australia. I’m a Year 9 student, 15 years old, and discovering everything interesting about the universe that I can.
Why do you play EyeWire?
I play EyeWire to be a part of cutting edge neuroscience, and to contribute to a project that is (hopefully) going to revolutionize the way that science is done. I strongly believe that in the information age it is just as important to spread science into the public mind as it is to make new discoveries. EyeWire does both – sharing the wonder of neuroscience to over 130,000 people, as well as making real contributions to our knowledge of the brain. If the potential of citizen science is fully realized, the benefits will be unimaginable.
I also play EyeWire for personal reasons. The gameplay itself is excellent, and correcting/tracing neurons -finding the order in the insane complexity that is the brain- is a very fulfilling experience. I’m also a very visual thinker (I can’t really think about anything without it becoming an object in my head) so EyeWire is attractive for this reason. The translation of a neuron from a 2D to 3D object is something that is quite enjoyable for me. Tracing also gives me time to just listen to podcasts, music and just relax.
How did you discover EyeWire?
I had heard about EyeWire a couple times before I joined it. One day I was on Youtube watching some old Vsauce videos when it was mentioned, and I thought I should perhaps check it out. That very day I was hooked, and now I play it whenever I’m able to take some time out.
Share a short story that helps the world get to know you.
Last year I was in a redundant maths class when I asked the teacher a question about irrational numbers. The conversation went on for a while, wherein my teacher asserted that numbers were purely concepts created by humans. At the time it seemed completely ridiculous to me that numbers did not exist objectively. The inevitable debate lasted about 3 days. After we had agreed to disagree, I thought I may as well do some more research on the topic.This is what made me become completely obsessed with philosophy – from metaphysics to ethics. I’d felt the same about physics for many years, but teaching myself about philosophy as well has changed my life profoundly. Learning more led me to the realisation that numbers cannot be a property of objects themselves, so I guess my teacher had a point in the end :). I guess this shows just how incredibly lucky I am to be living in the information age, with humanity’s cummulative knowledge available at command.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Trace on – For Science!
Would you like to be a featured EyeWirer? Submit your own responses here Featured EyeWirer Questionnaire