NationStates Jolt Archive

Two people see the colour blue. One person sees blue, the other red. They both call it “blue” because that colour has always been referred to as “blue”. Different sexes/races/coloured eyes seeing world differently?

Any thoughts?

Its a very basic philisophical question, and basically it doesn't matter, so long as both people agree that what they are looking at is "blue" then why does it matter what it actually is, we only call it "blue" because that's what we've been taught to call it, we could call it "Laundry" it would still be the same thing

I think physiology dictates that the way our eyes are set up, they recognize different colors as the same, and we see the same colors.

Why I am an Atheist - If you cannot prove something to exist or it is of no concequence, it doesn't matter, thus act as if it doesn't exist.

Gods, I am saying that a lot.

i like blue, blues cool. lets hear it for blue

Its a very basic philisophical question, and basically it doesn't matter, so long as both people agree that what they are looking at is "blue" then why does it matter what it actually is, we only call it "blue" because that's what we've been taught to call it, we could call it "Laundry" it would still be the same thing

In and of itself, no it doesn't matter. I was trying to think of a way to explain colour to someone who is blind (from birth). I don't think it's possible.

In and of itself, no it doesn't matter. I was trying to think of a way to explain colour to someone who is blind (from birth). I don't think it's possible.


colors just how light isreflective, absord, and bend and all that good. seeing that blind b/c have never seen "light" then how is it possible to describe colour then?

no its not possible, and not practical, why would a blind person need to understand colour??

colors just how light isreflective, absord, and bend and all that good. seeing that blind b/c have never seen "light" then how is it possible to describe colour then?

It's not, that's just my point.

Two people see the colour blue. One person sees blue, the other red. They both call it “blue” because that colour has always been referred to as “blue”. Different sexes/races/coloured eyes seeing world differently?

Any thoughts?


i really don't understand the question, but i know when i do i'm going to like it, are trying to ask if different b/c see the world as the "glass half empty or half full"

no its not possible, and not practical, why would a blind person need to understand colour??

Perhaps this is the key to understanding the 5th dimention; if we can explain colour to a blind person. Things don't need to be practical to be interesting. If I were blind, I think I'd enjoy a discussion about colour.

I mean, hell, our perception of light is all determined by our rods and cones and the chemical reaction that takes place in there. And, the chemical reaction is universal and identical. We really do all see blue the same way.

Two people see the colour blue. One person sees blue, the other red. They both call it “blue” because that colour has always been referred to as “blue”. Different sexes/races/coloured eyes seeing world differently?

Any thoughts?

Color is merely a particular wavelength or series of wavelengths in which a series of electromagnetic energy packets(quanta) enters your eye and the resulting electrochemical stimuli is interpreted by your brain. This stimuli is given an arbitrary name; Blue.

Assuming that two people are seeing approximately the same series of quanta, and they assign the same tag to the perception(blue), then they both see Blue.

I hope this helped. :D

*jumps in a bush*

i like blue, blues cool. lets hear it for blue

it, It, IT, IT

forget color, i want to know how sight is explained to people who are born blind...

we do see curten colours but there are other spectrums out there. the average person sees RGVB red, green, voilet, blue but there is other specturms thats y infaray and night vision is possible. a good question would be how would we describe the other specturms? we tend to see night vision as green and infaray as red but are they truely those colours?

Nerves in the retina send pretty much the same signals to the brain in everyone (except the color-blind). Any difference in color perception would be located in the brain's image processing. The ability to see is hard-wired into our brains before we are born. Seems like a pretty odd thing to have wired differently in each person by chance.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet!

i really don't understand the question, but i know when i do i'm going to like it, are trying to ask if different b/c see the world as the "glass half empty or half full"

Kind of. I have an opinion that the glass half full/empty is not a reflection of pessimism/optimism: The glass is half empty if it is being emptied (drunk) and is at 50% capacity, while the glass is half full if being filled up. Thus, it depends on circumstance. I guess this reflects me: Each circumstance in its own right.
Anyway, it's just, as Updates said, the basic philosophical question. I'm alluding to this unprovable difference which may be attributed to race, sex, or the colour of one's eyes to effect how people perceive things. Maybe this is why (one of the many reasons) that men are different from women, etc.

Now that you asked it...

Of European languages, Russian is different in the sense that there are two words for "blue", sinii, dark or royal blue, and goluboi, "gay" light blue. These are completely different colors language-wise, just like "orange" and "yellow".

(Pre-emptive strike against questions from those who read the location on left: in Finnish, there's only one word for blue, and even that is a loan (sininen). The word for "blueberry" actually means something like "little black thing", so go figure, did Finnish originally differentiate between black and blue at all?)

Chinese color terms are a mess. They see colors as if subjected to damaging levels of UV radiation.

Generally, you can't expect the "spectral" view of color. More common is naming colors after specific edible, dangerous or abundant things, such as "orange", "copper", "grass green" and so on.

Color is merely a particular wavelength or series of wavelengths in which a series of electromagnetic energy packets(quanta) enters your eye and the resulting electrochemical stimuli is interpreted by your brain. This stimuli is given an arbitrary name; Blue.

Assuming that two people are seeing approximately the same series of quanta, and they assign the same tag to the perception(blue), then they both see Blue.

I hope this helped. :D

*jumps in a bush*

I understand that what we are perceiving sends a fixed wavelength, but science can never prove that our interpretation of this is the same. (or at least not at this point in time). What if people have their spectrums inverted? We'd never know.

I understand that what we are perceiving sends a fixed wavelength, but science can never prove that our interpretation of this is the same. (or at least not at this point in time). What if people have their spectrums inverted? We'd never know.

Nor would it be relevant. :)

forget color, i want to know how sight is explained to people who are born blind...

So do I, believe me! :)

I should think the best way to go would be to use sound or physical sensation. Something on the same spectra of which visable light is only a small part.

we do see curten colours but there are other spectrums out there. the average person sees RGVB red, green, voilet, blue but there is other specturms thats y infaray and night vision is possible. a good question would be how would we describe the other specturms? we tend to see night vision as green and infaray as red but are they truely those colours?

It's tough to imagine but since our perception of color was entirely invented by our brains, there's no reason there couldn't be an entirely new color, even though it's tough to imagine such a thing. People on acid and other hallucinogenic drugs have claimed to see new colors past purple while on trips and they very well may have (though they probably just thought they did).

On he other hand, the range of colors that you can see varies from person to person. For example, in my chemistry class, I could see farther into the infrared end of the spectrum while some of my classmates could see more into the ultra-violet end.

I guess this might seem to contradict my post above, but it really doesn't. Pushing the boundaries and shifting colors are two different things.

Nor would it be relevant. :)

Like I said before, not in this case, but there are other implications. We can use this as a simple model for more advanced (and relevant) questions.

colors are only seen from light refraction. No light, no color. Everyone's eyes see differently, because the amount of light they can perceive.

There is no color only light in different wave lengths or the absence of a wavelength.

man this stuff is too advanced for me. haha
maybe it's cos im really tired...
so yeah, i'ma leave this thread and go to sleep.

Kind of. I have an opinion that the glass half full/empty is not a reflection of pessimism/optimism: The glass is half empty if it is being emptied (drunk) and is at 50% capacity, while the glass is half full if being filled up. Thus, it depends on circumstance. I guess this reflects me: Each circumstance in its own right.
Anyway, it's just, as Updates said, the basic philosophical question. I'm alluding to this unprovable difference which may be attributed to race, sex, or the colour of one's eyes to effect how people perceive things. Maybe this is why (one of the many reasons) that men are different from women, etc.

people react to different circumstance in different was b/c they think differently the others. give two brothers a problem both well have different soloution b/c even thou they both have the same upbring they both see things different. why is this? it might have to do with the race sex and colour of th eye but more likely it has to do with the way the preson interpets things, u might see a bad exprenice as a learning one or a punishment. The person who sees he learned something show the person to be more logical and down to earth, the one who think its a punishment most likely is spirtual and or is more lost in the clouds. yeaaaa makes no sense i know i haven't made any in a while

forget color, i want to know how sight is explained to people who are born blind...

Like this:

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20010901/bob14.asp

The brain doesn't care where signals come from. If they look like visual signals, then they are. They came through the tongue, who cares? Send them to the visual center.

colors just how light isreflective, absord, and bend and all that good. seeing that blind b/c have never seen "light" then how is it possible to describe colour then?

Imagine having to describe how seeing really works; it sounds like science fiction.

Like I said before, not in this case, but there are other implications. We can use this as a simple model for more advanced (and relevant) questions.

Wouldn't it be interesting if everybody had the same favorite color, but due to variations of perception, we assigned those colors to different wavelengths and the arbitrary names? For instance, I like green. You might like blue. Another person might like Chattreuse. But we are all actually perceiving the same hue.

Kooky, huh?

people react to different circumstance in different was b/c they think differently the others. give two brothers a problem both well have different soloution b/c even thou they both have the same upbring they both see things different. why is this? it might have to do with the race sex and colour of th eye but more likely it has to do with the way the preson interpets things, u might see a bad exprenice as a learning one or a punishment. The person who sees he learned something show the person to be more logical and down to earth, the one who think its a punishment most likely is spirtual and or is more lost in the clouds. yeaaaa makes no sense i know i haven't made any in a while

No, that makes perfect sense to me. I agree, there are many factors involved in the makeup of human beings. I'm just adding another one to list. :)

No, that makes perfect sense to me. I agree, there are many factors involved in the makeup of human beings. I'm just adding another one to list. :)


i think the differents comes either from the brain or DNA. good example twins one always seems to be the "good" one and the other seems to be the "bad" one why is this? the dna are a like but not a carbon copy. so where does the difference in think and behavor come from. (this shows up bring doesn't matter in some cases)

Wouldn't it be interesting if everybody had the same favorite color, but due to variations of perception, we assigned those colors to different wavelengths and the arbitrary names? For instance, I like green. You might like blue. Another person might like Chattreuse. But we are all actually perceiving the same hue.

Kooky, huh?

Ahhh... very interesting. May-be.

colors are only seen from light refraction. No light, no color. Everyone's eyes see differently, because the amount of light they can perceive.

There is no color only light in different wave lengths or the absence of a wavelength.

Not really. There are three kinds of receptors in the eye. Each perceives a different range of colors, with a peak at one wavelength. No single receptor can know what exact wavelength it receives. 700 or 650 nm, it's all the same for the red receptor. But, when we are "between colors", say red and green, both red and green receptors are activated, and we see this combination as "yellow". Neither receptor knows the exact wavelength, but when the intensities are compared, we see that it actives red and green equally strongly. Would be redder (orange), the red receptor would see the color brighter than the green receptor, and would it be greener (lime green) the green receptor would see a brighter light in turn

Thus, colors are artificial in the sense that in reality there are only intensities. Their ratio is the "color".

Wouldn't it be interesting if everybody had the same favorite color, but due to variations of perception, we assigned those colors to different wavelengths and the arbitrary names? For instance, I like green. You might like blue. Another person might like Chattreuse. But we are all actually perceiving the same hue.

Kooky, huh?

Total B.S., we actually perceive the same hue for the same response from the retina (barring some slight individual variations). Our eyes aren't astronomical frequency detectors. The raw data our brains get is quite "physical", that is, it tells the exact frequency quite well. It's a different story what our brains do with that data, and here's where the "favorite color" comes in, not any earlier.

Ancient Egyptians believed that light actually came from our eyes, and the world was dark. Now we can laugh at that, but notice how your theory is very similar.

Total B.S., we actually perceive the same hue for the same response from the retina (barring some slight individual variations). Our eyes aren't astronomical frequency detectors. The raw data our brains get is quite "physical", that is, it tells the exact frequency quite well. It's a different story what our brains do with that data, and here's where the "favorite color" comes in, not any earlier.

Ancient Egyptians believed that light actually came from our eyes, and the world was dark. Now we can laugh at that, but notice how your theory is very similar.
I believe this is something somewhat something similar to what he asked:
What if someone's brain tagged blue in the way that the stimulus for green would be tagged, and vice-versa? Nobody would be able to tell, as in education they'd learn to *call* them the correct things, as how they experience them has nothing to do with the names, and it's up in the data-processing part of the brain.
Wouldn't that be odd?

EDIT: Okay, it's nothing like what he asked. Whatever.

Total B.S., we actually perceive the same hue for the same response from the retina (barring some slight individual variations). Our eyes aren't astronomical frequency detectors. The raw data our brains get is quite "physical", that is, it tells the exact frequency quite well. It's a different story what our brains do with that data, and here's where the "favorite color" comes in, not any earlier.

Ancient Egyptians believed that light actually came from our eyes, and the world was dark. Now we can laugh at that, but notice how your theory is very similar.


we do all perceive the same colour but there are things that interfer with how we see the colour in the end, that y colour blind people see blue as green, or orange or some other colour

Now that you asked it...

Of European languages, Russian is different in the sense that there are two words for "blue", sinii, dark or royal blue, and goluboi, "gay" light blue. These are completely different colors language-wise, just like "orange" and "yellow".

(Pre-emptive strike against questions from those who read the location on left: in Finnish, there's only one word for blue, and even that is a loan (sininen). The word for "blueberry" actually means something like "little black thing", so go figure, did Finnish originally differentiate between black and blue at all?)

Chinese color terms are a mess. They see colors as if subjected to damaging levels of UV radiation.

Generally, you can't expect the "spectral" view of color. More common is naming colors after specific edible, dangerous or abundant things, such as "orange", "copper", "grass green" and so on.

:) My first reaction to the question was linguistic/cultural differences, as well.

Japanese divides green and blue at a different point in the spectrum from English. The result is that in traffic lights are "ao", or blue.

I seem to recall one of the South American indian cultures simply divided the spectrum into dark and light.

the question used colour for an example but, it had nothing to do with colour it was a methaphore.... so maybe we can get off the whole colour thing now and go back to the question..... i'm just saying u all seem so smart so i would love to hear wat u guys have to say about the question... but i'll find out tommower cuz i'm going to sleep GOOD NIGHT ALL :p

Ok.... :confused: I will probs have no idea WHAT I am talking about... But here goes! It doesn't exactly matter what you call a certain colour, we all see it the same (apart from colour-blind and blind people). Now we have an interesting topic. Do colour-blind people call "red" "red" even though they might see it as blue? I say yes, as they have learnt to call it that name. Our brains might be sensitive to different wavelengths of light, but nearly everyone sees it approximately the same, or the exact same as everyone else! This is way too advanced for me in the first place, so don't say things like: "No no! It's like THIS: A2+GG7-s3hh4= light!" Because my brain will explode. And there'll be mess everywhere. Just my opinion and stuff.

It's tough to imagine but since our perception of color was entirely invented by our brains, there's no reason there couldn't be an entirely new color, even though it's tough to imagine such a thing. People on acid and other hallucinogenic drugs have claimed to see new colors past purple while on trips and they very well may have (though they probably just thought they did).

On he other hand, the range of colors that you can see varies from person to person. For example, in my chemistry class, I could see farther into the infrared end of the spectrum while some of my classmates could see more into the ultra-violet end.

I guess this might seem to contradict my post above, but it really doesn't. Pushing the boundaries and shifting colors are two different things.

Yes, another colour. Can anybody imagine a colour they've never seen? Humans are powerful creatures. Surely we can! Maybe this is what Einstein was alluding to when he said that imagination was the true sign of intelligence?

Because my brain will explode. And there'll be mess everywhere.
Can I lick it off the ceiling if it does?
Pleeeeeeeease?

Yes, another colour. Can anybody imagine a colour they've never seen? Humans are powerful creatures. Surely we can! Maybe this is what Einstein was alluding to when he said that imagination was the true sign of intelligence?

What do blind people actually see? (They don't :D - okay, seriously) Is it what we see when we close our eyes aka, black; or is it something else entirely? Black is the absence of colour, after all. Has anyone gone blind, or know anyone who has gone blind (preferably having their eye completely removed to rule out something simply 'blocking' sight)?

Originally Posted by Neo-Anarchists
Can I lick it off the ceiling if it does? No. You mean APART from your strange mind? Anyway, personally, I agree with Meaning. Get back to the original question! Not some linguistic debate! Anyway. I'll have to go soon. Seedja round!

i think the differents comes either from the brain or DNA. good example twins one always seems to be the "good" one and the other seems to be the "bad" one why is this? the dna are a like but not a carbon copy. so where does the difference in think and behavor come from. (this shows up bring doesn't matter in some cases)

Hmmm... good point.

Go to paint store and you'll find "Blue red" and "Red blue" paint

Go to paint store and you'll find "Blue red" and "Red blue" paint

Gee, really? Hah!

What we see as 'blue' isn't actually blue. Any object that is lit by full-spectrum (white) light will absorb a certain given amount of light energy, and reflect the remainder. When we see that say, a rubber ball is blue, what it means is that the rubber ball is absorbing all the light radiation being hurled at it by the Sun with the exception of the blue part of the spectrum, which is being reflected off the surface of the rubber ball.

The actual colour is in fact opposite to the object's apparent colour. So, a light blue ball is, in fact, a dark orange ball - a dark purple ball is actually light yellow, and so on.

I'm raytracing right now...

LOL