I am trying to interest people in taking up the mental model of “perspective shift”.  The fact of the matter is that, like metaphoric think, we use this mental model constantly.  As with most unconscious processes, we are better off knowing what is going on than we are not knowing.

Take this example.  I created two video productions using the AI-driven online tool, Lumen5.  The first one is a take on showing the audience how to shift perspective using Emily Delaney’s example from McSweeney’s. In a nutshell, imagine yourself as an “afternoon walk” and then carry that one step further in this prompt:  what does our afternoon walk think of us.

The second video is the first one plus a voiceover.  The voiceover is a different perspective layered on.  The first layer adds a voice to the beginning and was intended at first to be more like a “director’s cut” where I exposed how the video itself has lots of perspective shifts within it.  That was not to be because the timings were not set up to manage that.  I haven’t abandoned the idea of going back to do a director’s explication, but the constraints of the tool will require some extra preparation.

The second half of the voiceover (above) is my reading of Delaney’s monologue.  Using one’s voice changes the way we experience the world. Listening to one’s own voice is yet another way of adding perspective.

Suffice to say, this has inspired me to pay much closer attention to this concept, perspective shift, and how it is ubiquitous in all our lives. Much like metaphorical thinking, it is everywhere.  Getting a little woke to the concept increases the odds of recognizing it in our quotidien world and like finding four leaf clovers, you get better at it through practice. Yeah, I know. You get better at seeing the pattern by seeing the pattern.  Your brain makes the effort worthwhile.