I used to think about this too, when I was a kid. I.e., what if the color that I call red really appears to everyone else as what I would call blue, and vice versa?
But, from a practical perspective, it doesn't really matter how individual colors appear to each person, as long as the relationships between a given person's colors are isomorphic to everyone else's.
*smile* If I was given the chance I could ask a million questions. I have been told before that I ask too many, though, so for now I'll just settle with one or two every now and then. :)
True, Aaron. It might not really be important, just fun. :) Just as long as our perception of colors don't change in our lifetime, (i.e. stoplights!), then we can make it just fine. But if red turns into green, we're in big trouble.
OK Utenzi. Now you've done it. You know I'm going to ask how they are different scientifically. Does it have something to do with all those tiny rods and cones in our eyeballs?
Stacey the difference is no doubt subtle from person to person, unless like Thom mentions a person is color blind. Since color perception is subtly influenced by the color of the iris of our eye we tend to see color slightly differently. I don't know enough about the physiology of the eye to know if the pattern of rods and cones would have an effect also. What little I know I learned back in grad school when I was doing a master's thesis on Berkley's An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision. The faculty in general didn't receive my thesis well since I was maintaining that NTV was purely non-religious.
I've wondered in the past - and the thought has recently come back to me - do we see colors the same? I mean, is my green the same as your green?
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Oh Stacey, You are so delightfully philosophical.
[Revised]
I used to think about this too, when I was a kid. I.e., what if the color that I call red really appears to everyone else as what I would call blue, and vice versa?
But, from a practical perspective, it doesn't really matter how individual colors appear to each person, as long as the relationships between a given person's colors are isomorphic to everyone else's.
Beard,
*smile* If I was given the chance I could ask a million questions. I have been told before that I ask too many, though, so for now I'll just settle with one or two every now and then. :)
True, Aaron. It might not really be important, just fun. :) Just as long as our perception of colors don't change in our lifetime, (i.e. stoplights!), then we can make it just fine. But if red turns into green, we're in big trouble.
No, they're not the same but I'm answering scientifically and not philosopically.
OK Utenzi. Now you've done it. You know I'm going to ask how they are different scientifically. Does it have something to do with all those tiny rods and cones in our eyeballs?
My brother is color blind so the green that he sees is not the green I see. The important part is that we both agree what is green.
Stacey the difference is no doubt subtle from person to person, unless like Thom mentions a person is color blind. Since color perception is subtly influenced by the color of the iris of our eye we tend to see color slightly differently. I don't know enough about the physiology of the eye to know if the pattern of rods and cones would have an effect also. What little I know I learned back in grad school when I was doing a master's thesis on Berkley's An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision. The faculty in general didn't receive my thesis well since I was maintaining that NTV was purely non-religious.
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