Geordi's eyes

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Before he got his artificial eyes, when he took off his VISOR, his eyes were just blank white spheres, though if you look closely you can see the bump where the cornea is. We know that he was born blind, but even blind people have the basic structures of the eye - iris, lens, cornea, pupil, retina, optic nerve, etc; in blind people they just don't work. I don't know of any real life people like Geordi.

Now, in Insurrection, Geordi's eyes regrew. Then, they degenerated again. More strangeness.

Ideas?

[Sionnach Glic]

Presumably this is some sort of future illness where the affected areas of the body degenerate. This could explain the apparent lack of structures in the eye.

[Captain Seafort]

It was mentioned once (can't remember when) that Geordi isn't just blind - he was born without optic nerves (or cornea/pupil, obviously). That's why the Visor has to connect directly to his brain.

[Aaron]

Presumably this is some sort of future illness where the affected areas of the body degenerate. This could explain the apparent lack of structures in the eye.

He was born that way according to him. Perhaps his mother contracted something during pregnancy.

[Sionnach Glic]

Ah, problem solved.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

He would have had to had the VISOR from a very young age - past a certain point during infancy, if the brain hasn't received visual (or auditory) input, the sensory system in question will never function. This would explain also how he was able to adapt to such a radically different mode of vision (why in the 24th century he couldn't see in visible light as well as all the other stuff in there, that's another odd thing). But, then, when his eyes regrew in Insurrection, his brain shouldn't have been able to understand the novel input coming from his eyes.

[Mikey]

Probably some technobabble would explain that the VISOR somehow translates the full-band EM info into something that would mimic "normal" optical input as far as the brain could tell.

If his brain was wired to receive VISOR inputs, the regeneration from Insurrection might have been somehow directed to allow for the same type of input by having different (than normal) ratios of certain neurotransmitters, odd neuron clusters, etc.

[Captain Seafort]

Probably some technobabble would explain that the VISOR somehow translates the full-band EM info into something that would mimic "normal" optical input as far as the brain could tell.

We saw a Visor's-eye-view in "Heart of Glory" - it was effectively infrared, with a few oddities (a sort of halo around Data for example).

If his brain was wired to receive VISOR inputs, the regeneration from Insurrection might have been somehow directed to allow for the same type of input by having different (than normal) ratios of certain neurotransmitters, odd neuron clusters, etc.

I don't think so - Geordi's comments about seeing the sunrise strongly implies that it was the first time he'd seen one "normally", rather than in Visor-vision.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Seems like a bit of a stretch to explain Insurrection - but then stretching is a way of life when trying to explain Trek.

[Mikey]

I don't think so - Geordi's comments about seeing the sunrise strongly implies that it was the first time he'd seen one "normally", rather than in Visor-vision.

Exactly - I was trying (desperately) to find an explanation for why Geordi's brain would have been able to translate real optical signals after having been accustomed to VISOR-type signals. So even though he finally saw the sunrise "the same way you do," the visible-light-only signals his brain received were being sent in VISOR "code."

[kostmayer]

Didn't Riker give Geordie normal vision briefly then he was a Q?

Presumably Riker also rewired Geordies brain so that he was able to understand the input from his eyes - maybe Riker forgot to change it back.

[Mikey]

I'd imagine Q powers would cover all and sundry involved in a change like that.

[Teaos]

I would imagin the super healing crap in insurrection helped his brain rcover as well and process what he saw.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

It's a bit of a jump to healing tissues to rewiring the brain, and in a very specific way. It's hard to explain such a specific change with a general phenomenon like the whatsisname in the Briar Patch.

[Mikey]

So, we just say that since his brain architecture and chenistry already tended toward VISOR-friendly reception, that the regeneration naturally built structures with the same tendencies.

Sort of like preferential female differentiation in embryos.