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Although somewhat old hat by now, I find Malcolm Gladwell's book "Blink" to be particularly relevant to our discussion concerning vision. The premise of his argument is centered around the idea of an intuitive reaction to a certain (visual) stimulus. He makes three solid examples: a curator or art historian views a statue and immediately recognizes the piece as a fake; a tennis coach witnesses a player toss up a ball and from this directly knows that the ball will hit the net; and finally the most astonishing, a behavorial expert is privy to a couple's brief interaction and from this encounter can determine if the couple will divorce eventually.

Gladwell contends, "The power of knowing, in the first two seconds, is not a gift magically given to a fortunate few. It is an ability we can all build for ourselves."

Evidently, the link between one's vision, mind, and resulting "judgment" (if one can even call it that; perhaps more accurately termed "reflex") is incredibly strong. This raises several interesting questions, namely, if one makes decisions and judgment calls without any real reflection, how does free thought and free will function in our consciousness? Can we do anything to exert more control over our mind's processes? Are we really in the so-called driver's seat? Or are we merely passengers?