<p>Perhaps the question will seem strange and not clearly formulated, for which I apologize in advance. Are there estimates of how many stories the human mind can discern? For example, let each story be a picture or sequence of pictures. At the same time, each picture contains not something abstract and incomprehensible, but something understandable enough: how similar should two pictures or two stories be so that the human brain cannot distinguish them even in principle?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-13T15:31:39.323Z
Yes, I do think this needs to be more carefully defined. How do you measure similarity between pictures or stories? For images it may be easier to define, but in that case you're really talking about perceptual discrimination which is very context dependent and still not something you can put any one number on.
Bryan Krause
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2022-04-13T15:46:10.363Z
@BryanKrause I agree. The number not only cannot be determined, but it will definitely be just huge, googolplexes.
Арман Гаспарян
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2022-04-13T15:49:02.610Z
The number will be limited by the time available to view then recall them. There aren't that many people willing to spend their life purely being tested for the purpose of curiosity (or maybe *there are* in countries where life is considered cheap and information-technology offers such opportunities).
Jiminy Cricket.
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2022-04-13T16:09:03.597Z
@ARogueAnt. Of course, but if we consider an idealized experiment with the participation of an observer, whose time is not limited by anything?
Арман Гаспарян
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-13T16:15:28.623Z
@АрманГаспарян We don't know the results of idealized experiments that cannot be performed and are not even well-defined. If we knew the outcome of experiments why bother doing them?
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-13T16:21:33.520Z
@BryanKrause But an experiment with two very similar paintings is quite feasible, isn't it. So the question is: How similar should two paintings be so that a person cannot distinguish them even in principle, looking at them as closely as possible?
Арман Гаспарян
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-13T16:31:21.317Z
It would now I think be worthwhile editing the question to focus it now if possible, supporting the question with any research you can find on the topic to give context.
Jiminy Cricket.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-13T17:07:19.583Z
@АрманГаспарян Like I said, yes, that's a more testable thing, but that's **not what you asked**, and still depends on what parameter you make them different on. It's not even clear what the "right" answer is, as people would likely consider a painting in different lighting to be the same, yet of course the image is not, and it would also be possible to generate a painting that is exactly like another except it appears  that it is in different lighting (or with a separate object casting a shadow, different direction of light, etc), so... It's just a poorly framed question.
Bryan Krause
<perception><brain><theory-of-mind>
How many stories can the human brain discern?
Арман Гаспарян
# How many stories can the human brain discern?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-04-13)

Perhaps the question will seem strange and not clearly formulated, for which I apologize in advance. Are there estimates of how many stories the human mind can discern? For example, let each story be a picture or sequence of pictures. At the same time, each picture contains not something abstract and incomprehensible, but something understandable enough: how similar should two pictures or two stories be so that the human brain cannot distinguish them even in principle?

**Tags:** perception, brain, theory-of-mind

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Yes, I do think this needs to be more carefully defined. How do you measure similarity between pictures or stories? For images it may be easier to define, but in that case you're really talking about perceptual discrimination which is very context dependent and still not something you can put any one number on.  
> **username_0**: @BryanKrause I agree. The number not only cannot be determined, but it will definitely be just huge, googolplexes.  
> **username_2**: The number will be limited by the time available to view then recall them. There aren't that many people willing to spend their life purely being tested for the purpose of curiosity (or maybe *there are* in countries where life is considered cheap and information-technology offers such opportunities).  
> **username_0**: @ARogueAnt. Of course, but if we consider an idealized experiment with the participation of an observer, whose time is not limited by anything?  
> **username_1**: @АрманГаспарян We don't know the results of idealized experiments that cannot be performed and are not even well-defined. If we knew the outcome of experiments why bother doing them?  
> **username_0**: @BryanKrause But an experiment with two very similar paintings is quite feasible, isn't it. So the question is: How similar should two paintings be so that a person cannot distinguish them even in principle, looking at them as closely as possible?  
> **username_2**: It would now I think be worthwhile editing the question to focus it now if possible, supporting the question with any research you can find on the topic to give context.  
> **username_1**: @АрманГаспарян Like I said, yes, that's a more testable thing, but that's **not what you asked**, and still depends on what parameter you make them different on. It's not even clear what the "right" answer is, as people would likely consider a painting in different lighting to be the same, yet of course the image is not, and it would also be possible to generate a painting that is exactly like another except it appears  that it is in different lighting (or with a separate object casting a shadow, different direction of light, etc), so... It's just a poorly framed question.  

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