3 ms·

What would it mean to see a new color?

36 points by fortran77 3mo ago

mitchbob 3mo ago
https://archive.ph/fi8Hy https://archive.ph/fi8Hy
redbell 3mo ago
A question I, sometimes, ask my friends and relatives when discussing the human brain and its limitations is: Imagine a color that you've never seen?
josefritzishere 3mo ago
I dislike the color hexadecimal code #00FFCC very much and it's not even the real Olo color.
xnx 3mo ago
Related: Stare at the dot here for ~1 minute: https://dynomight.net/img/colors/eclipse-(255,0,0)-(0,170,85)-700px-15s-70s-shrink.svg https://dynomight.net/img/colors/eclipse-(255,0,0)-(0,170,85... From: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44594808 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44594808
- aaroninsf 3mo ago
  That link is fantastic.
- hankbond 3mo ago
  that is quite the green.
- ProllyInfamous 3mo ago
  Many more such example on this wikipedia page: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color> My personal favorite is "Hyperbolic Red" – which is the brightest pink you'll never actually see in nature.
AIorNot 3mo ago
Neat, basically a real life version of Mary's Room https://youtu.be/mGYmiQkah4o?si=L8JKYQP5JqRjyFEt https://youtu.be/mGYmiQkah4o?si=L8JKYQP5JqRjyFEt
fortran77 3mo ago
I have a taste of this when I got IOLs last month (cataract surgery). I now see colors I haven't seen in years. And I suspect that the IOL passes more blue light than my natural lens ever did, even when I was young.
JohnBooty 3mo ago
I can see an extra shade of purple. I had essentially the same lens removal cataract surgery as Monet did. Like Monet, I can see slightly into the ultraviolet range, because the retina can react to some UV frequencies that the lens normally blocks! Unlike Monet, I'm not much of a painter. It really does defy words, for obvious reasons. The short answer is that it's "like purple... but even more purple" The slightly longer version is: imagine moving a color slider from red to purple and then keep going a little more.
Ferret7446 2mo ago
Required philosophical reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia

36 points by fortran77 3mo ago

https://archive.ph/fi8Hy https://archive.ph/fi8Hy

A question I, sometimes, ask my friends and relatives when discussing the human brain and its limitations is: Imagine a color that you've never seen?

josefritzishere 3mo ago

I dislike the color hexadecimal code #00FFCC very much and it's not even the real Olo color.

xnx 3mo ago

Related: Stare at the dot here for ~1 minute: https://dynomight.net/img/colors/eclipse-(255,0,0)-(0,170,85)-700px-15s-70s-shrink.svg https://dynomight.net/img/colors/eclipse-(255,0,0)-(0,170,85... From: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44594808 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44594808

aaroninsf 3mo ago
That link is fantastic.
hankbond 3mo ago
that is quite the green.
ProllyInfamous 3mo ago
Many more such example on this wikipedia page: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color> My personal favorite is "Hyperbolic Red" – which is the brightest pink you'll never actually see in nature.

AIorNot 3mo ago

Neat, basically a real life version of Mary's Room https://youtu.be/mGYmiQkah4o?si=L8JKYQP5JqRjyFEt https://youtu.be/mGYmiQkah4o?si=L8JKYQP5JqRjyFEt

fortran77 3mo ago

I have a taste of this when I got IOLs last month (cataract surgery). I now see colors I haven't seen in years. And I suspect that the IOL passes more blue light than my natural lens ever did, even when I was young.

JohnBooty 3mo ago

I can see an extra shade of purple. I had essentially the same lens removal cataract surgery as Monet did. Like Monet, I can see slightly into the ultraviolet range, because the retina can react to some UV frequencies that the lens normally blocks! Unlike Monet, I'm not much of a painter. It really does defy words, for obvious reasons. The short answer is that it's "like purple... but even more purple" The slightly longer version is: imagine moving a color slider from red to purple and then keep going a little more.

Ferret7446 2mo ago

Required philosophical reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia