Colour is not real is it?

Why isn't colour real? The human eyeball is a limited light spectrum range, so we can only see a small portion of the spectrum compared to other animals. We cannot see infrared, but animals like snakes have evolved to be able to see IR.

Besides we know "colour" exists because computers show us the evidence for it existing. If I slap the colorimeter to my monitor and run a scan, it will tell me the output value of every colour it reads. This confirms colours are real.
 
mrk said:
Besides we know "colour" exists because computers show us the evidence for it existing. If I slap the colorimeter to my monitor and run a scan, it will tell me the output value of every colour it reads. This confirms colours are real.
Click to expand...

Your colorimeter merely measures the wavelength of the colour. The colour you actually experience is something different.

I don't like the distinction that is been drawn between this being "real" or "not real". Your experiences are real, just as much as anything outside your head is.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
Didn't I hear on an Attenborough documentary that compared to a lot of animals we have crap eyesight and colour recognition?
I could have been drinking with Rubberduck though.
Click to expand...

Human eyesight is actually quite a bit above average. A lot of other animals cannot see colour either. Or can't see certain colours (e.g. rodents can't see red light).
 
Nasher said:
Human eyesight is actually quite a bit above average. A lot of other animals cannot see colour either. Or can't see certain colours (e.g. rodents can't see red light).
Click to expand...


Really? I' have thought red would be one they used a lot being dawn/dusk acrive
 
Mr Jack said:
Look at something black on your screen. It is emitting photons. Is it black? Why, or why not? Your screen probably also has a black surround, that surround is likely reflecting less photons than the black regions of your screen are emitting, is it black? Why, or why not?

The idea of a perfectly black object that emits, and reflects, no photons is a theoretical physics notion that has never actually been observed.
Click to expand...

Absolutely true, as photons are governed by the quantum world and it's very weird. All blacks aren't true black and are instead just an incredibly dark shade of grey.
 
4K8KW10 said:
Wanna respond to these particular parts of the comments:


It is because Nature thinks females are more precious and gives females sometimes superior qualities. Another example is that females get more kidneys.



This topic is really interesting. It is like asking if the Universe and our lives are real or only fruit of our souls' imaginations.
Imagine the Universe as super bright, full of energy, 'place'.

At least, God gave us the opportunity to see the visible light only, and not radiowaves, etc, it would have been a very ugly world.
Click to expand...
A rubberduck thread with input from 4K8WK10 = best thread (no joke)
 
OP tell me....

How can mirrors be real if our eyes aren't real?

4K8KW10 said:
Wanna respond to these particular parts of the comments:





It is because Nature thinks females are more precious and gives females sometimes superior qualities. Another example is that females get more kidneys.



This topic is really interesting. It is like asking if the Universe and our lives are real or only fruit of our souls' imaginations.
Imagine the Universe as super bright, full of energy, 'place'.

At least, God gave us the opportunity to see the visible light only, and not radiowaves, etc, it would have been a very ugly world.
Click to expand...

jsn0mrq.jpg
 
Mr Jack said:
Look at something black on your screen. It is emitting photons. Is it black? Why, or why not? Your screen probably also has a black surround, that surround is likely reflecting less photons than the black regions of your screen are emitting, is it black? Why, or why not?

The idea of a perfectly black object that emits, and reflects, no photons is a theoretical physics notion that has never actually been observed.
Click to expand...

Actually havent they got a coating now that's pretty much perfect black, they had pics of it on tin foil that had been scrunched up and you cant see the creases.
 
Just to throw a spanner in the works to your concepts of reality

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2017/01/holographic-universe.page

Yes, what we see as 3d may actually just be a hologram of a 2d image :confused:

Reality is merely a translation our brains make of data we're presented, the data is always constant but our brains could have subtle quirks which translate the data slightly different from person to person so what one person sees may not necessarily be identical to what another sees, unfortunately though we cannot see through another persons eyes to experience their reality so it's all purely philosophical
 
It's probably 99% the same things that all people see around them. And 1% being reserved for what an individual wants to see.

steve45 said:
I've always found it intriguing that colour is a matter if perception. What i also have found incredibly interesting was when a friend of mind who took certain psycho-active drug described to me that he seeing new colours... I mean seriously i've never tryed it but can you imagine what it would feel like to see colours that dont exist?
Click to expand...

It might not be colours which don't exist - we have limited vision and these drugs might widen it.
Some say that after taking such psycho-active substances, they begin to see different dimensions - like different shapes of the objects, more curves on places where there should be lines, etc.

Does it happen often to you to walk and suddenly hit (or step on) something (an object that is normally next to the path) and be surprised because you didn't notice it?! It's like there are curves in space which we don't see.
 
Ryan-3 said:
It's an absence of photon emission. This is why black things heat up far faster in sunlight, as they absorb the energy, but transmit far less back (certainly for true for our visible region). White objects being the opposite.
Click to expand...

yeah i know that, but the chances of me ever having been in an environment with zero photons (in the 400-730nm visible light range) is essentially zero.
 
Colour exists in the sense that we can detect different wavelengths of light, whether we all perceive it the same is a question best left to philosophy.

Nasher said:
Human eyesight is actually quite a bit above average. A lot of other animals cannot see colour either. Or can't see certain colours (e.g. rodents can't see red light).
Click to expand...

Primates have good colour vision, most mammals only see green/blue. Primates have a duplicated and mutated gene that gives red vision. Primates can tell the difference between unripe and ripe fruit which must have been a big advantage to our ancestors. Your dog/cat can not.

Other animals have higher resolution vision.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom