Static or Rotating? Optical Illusion of 'Moving' Cubes Has Bamboozled Even Elon Musk

Optical illusions are not an unknown phenomenon in physics. The optical illusion, first shared on Twitter by Japanese user @jagarikin, shows two cubes rotating in opposing directions while they are perfectly static in reality. The video was recently shared by Twitter user Steve Stewart-Williams, who wrote, “One of the most powerful motion illusions I've seen: The cubes appear to be rotating in opposite directions – but they're not actually moving at all…” One of the most powerful motion illusions I've seen: The cubes appear to be rotating in opposite directions – but they're not actually moving at all… 😮 Credit: @jagarikin pic.twitter.com/RgUFskZbZU— Steve Stewart-Williams August 15, 2020 The gif has received more than 18 thousand likes, attracting the attention of Elon Musk as well, who commented, "Wow". Wow— Elon Musk August 17, 2020 A user explained, "It’s because of the shading of the lines. Kinda dumb.— please go vote August 17, 2020 Let’s have a look at some of the reactions: The notion that the images are identical and unmoving, and by extension this is some optical illusion that only occurs in the mind, ignores that the shading is in-fact moving in different directions.— markgsheppard August 16, 2020 Extraordinary "our brain has a mind of its own" and if you pull away, you finnally see them stop rotating, just like in real life; many times you need to pull back and look at things from a distance to get the real picture.— NeuroVascular #DontBeTheOne #QuedateEnCasa#UsaMasc August 16, 2020 If you want to see them not moving, just turn your phone to the left and to the right fast.— eltangerino🔻 August 17, 2020 Yeah not moving.