Look around the room right now. What do you see? Patterns of light resolve into objects—your screen, a cup, a book, a desk. You don’t think much about it because you don’t have to. That’s the point of perception: to distill the chaos of the world into something actionable. You don’t need to analyze every photon or angle of light. You just know there’s a cup, so you reach for it and drink. No surprises. But this act—seeing, understanding, and trusting the scene—relies on layers upon layers of ...