Colour is a figment of our imagination...

Good afternoon fellow forumers, psychonauts and last but not least shills.

An american research fellow has moved into my house temporarily as he is visiting the university I work at. Anyway, last night he was talking about colour, and how colour doesn't even exist outside of our brains.

Every colour we have ever seen is a figment of our brilliant imagination. At first I was kind of shocked, almost didn't believe him but he spoke about with such confidence I couldn't help researching it that very same night.

I came across an awesome optical illusion which supports this notion:

You will see a very colorful image with a black dot in the middle.

Stare directly at the black dot and only at the black dot.

After about 30 seconds, the colors of the image will change. Don't stop looking at the black dot when the colors change.

A few seconds after the colors change, go ahead and look elsewhere on the screen.

If you get the intended effect, it is a perfect demonstration of how subjective color perception is and how color is really only in our heads



You really do learn something quite amazing every single day, whether you consciously realise it or not.

Peace!!

Following your argumentation, speech does not exist either because it's only inside your brain that sound waves are translated into meaningful patterns.

I can not follow this logic. This is a philosophical matter. Try looking up Emanuel Kant.

I've just made a cupboard for my kids. I've painted it cream. It will always be cream yes?

If i'd have bought a tin that had a red colour on the front, the cupboard would always be red, yes?

Does that mean my brain only interprets the cupboard as cream? Could someone elses brain see it as a different colour then?

I struggle with this one to be honest. Cool vid though and an interesting theory.

CX.

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
Following your argumentation, speech does not exist either because it's only inside your brain that sound waves are translated into meaningful patterns.

I can not follow this logic. This is a philosophical matter. Try looking up Emanuel Kant.

Yeah I know what you mean, the brain translates vibrations into meanings and feelings.

Originally posted by CX

I struggle with this one to be honest. Cool vid though and an interesting theory.

CX.

Its a toughie.. but thanks.

Ahhh the amount of rubbish floating around these days eh?

reply to post by Kluute


How can they be real and a figment of our imagination? That leads wonder to what else from our imagination could be real.

reply to post by Kluute


How can they be real and a figment of our imagination? That leads wonder to what else from our imagination could be real.

I have an idea. I believe that colorblind persons may help to prove this as well. Just an idea, but it seems colorblind persons just lack the ability to associate colors correctly. After all, color is only our interpretation of the reflection of light.

reply to post by georgiaboy


Color is the physical manifestation of that light's vibrational frequency.

Originally posted by Kluute
An american research fellow has moved into my house temporarily as he is visiting the university I work at. Anyway, last night he was talking about colour, and how colour doesn't even exist outside of our brains.

The sun is real and so is everything it's rays reflect upon. I'm guessing there are more things which don't exist in our brains yet because our brains have not yet been able to translate properly. Kind of like having a certain stimuli in the outside world but not within because the brain doesn't have sensors for it to receive it in the first place and because of that has not grown anything to translate those stimuli with. Which keeps me wondering how or why the first lifeforms grew the senses without 'knowing' there would be any stimuli.

I guess the brain does add to whatever is seen to the observer after a while out of boredom. The mind is always active, force it to do something which doesn't require much activity and it will imagine things. I think this is why Zen buddhists stare at empty walls during meditation hoping to gain enlightenment and might also have something to do with European mystics how they would look at the surface of water in a bowl or the gazing into a crystal ball.

reply to post by Kluute


This entire reality is a figment of your imagination bro.

My 1st year psychology undergrad spent a whole lesson on this one, here's what I was told: While we all perceive the sky as the colour 'blue', for example, you may see what we know as blue, but your friend next to you might see the shade that you would consider to be 'red'; however, because he had always seen that particular shade as 'blue' and was told it was 'blue' from a young age, neither of you would know that you are in fact processing different colours, because the sky is always 'blue'. while the wavelength of light is constant, the processing within the brain isn't between people, hence the discrepancy.

reply to post by RebelWithoutASoul


Interesting ideas!

I tried that video experiment several times and if I was supposed to see a color photo when it went to black and white, then I failed. Then again, maybe I am not really able to focus on something as small as that black dot to the exclusion of the rest of the image. I've trained for years to see everything within my field of vision equally (a survival skill that I needed for a while - long story) and while it's very useful for driving and whatever, it's harder to pinpoint my vision for any real length of time.

As far as color being 100% human perception, the fact that a humming bird is attracted to red flowers suggests that color does exist and is part of the survival suite that all of nature employs. Then, there is the fact that I can replicate 0, 255, 0, blue accurately every single time I try, and anyone else can too if given the proper recipe. This definitely suggests that your philosophical house guest is toying with you, and using freshman year material to do so.

There are philosophical conundrums that exist, but the "is color real or the product of perception" question isn't one of them. The question of whether my blue is the same as your blue, and whether that can ever be determined is not the same question of whether blue itself actually exists. Blue does exist. We've even stabilized it as a definitive base color and established a hue gradient for it. That means that, yes, it does exist regardless of what you perceive it to be.

reply to post by NorEaster


Excellent point you've made about the hummingbird sir!

I never took this into consideration, however, perhaps color is the imagination of both animals and humans?

Thanks for the response!