Colour is not real is it?

[rubberduck]

Heya

Was partially inspired the 'what colour is this thread' but have been doing some thinking... Our brains perception of colour is not a real thing is it? What I mean by this is that how our brains interpret colour is based on a response to an arbitary wavelength of electromagnetic radiation that falls within the spectrum of wavelengths we call visible light... For example, if our brains had evolved differently and we percieved the wavelength that corresponds to red light as being blue and likewise the wavelength of light corresponding to blue as being red it would be no more 'correct' or 'wrong' than how we currently 'see' things... For a more extreme example we could perceive radio waves which are obviously invisible (to us) as being a colour and it would be no more correct scientifically than interpreting the visible spectrum that way (as we do).... I understand from an evolutionary perspetive why are eyes have evolved to interpret the 'visible spectrum' in the way we do but basically there is no scientific justification for what we call colour right?

What do you reckon?

 

[rubberduck]

Sorry nothing to do with meds... colour only exists in our brains... Light photons have a wavelength and a frequency that is all. Our perception of (lets say) red does not exist beyond our brain.

 

[rubberduck]

No just having a good old think on a Friday night after a few beers.

 

[rubberduck]

Well it's a popular debate that ultimately leads nowhere as there is no proof. Your interpretation of red might be how I see blue. It's all arbitrary.

Which is exactly my point... While we know that no human can 'see' (lets say) microwaves there is no scientific reason that they are any more or less (let's say) yellow than the wavelength of light we interpret to be yellow. Right?

 

[rubberduck]

I could have been drinking with Rubberduck though.

Hopefully not in stoke as the taxi system is too complicated for my simple brain to comprehend... I would never get home !