Programmer Dude wrote:
"Ricardo M. Forno" wrote:
I think the marrow of the subject is: How do I know that the sensation you have while looking at a red-colored thing is the same as mine?
We almost certainly don't (which is the main reason I think the idea of mental telepathy or brain downloads is bunk).
We have have is a culturally-attached "tag" on our different sensations that reads: RED.
Pretty much my picture of things. When two people look at a 23000K blackbody, and they both see it as blue, do they see the same blue or not? Doesn't matter, does it? Since the Universe, the world, and civilisation will tick over quite happily either way. They both see it as blue and that's all they can say to each other about the matter. The only things that can be communicated between people are by definition those things that are communicable. If something is noncommunicable, then it makes no difference if it's different from person to person or the same for all of them - they'll never be brought together for comparison. Unless and until then it's just the Turing Test all over again - except we can't expect any sensible answers to our questions. (That would require communication.) Before you site diagnosis of colour-blindness, may I first point out that colour-blindness can be described in terms of an inability to perceive certain bands of electromagnetic radiation; an objective measure (electromagnetic spectra) is available to provide common grounds over which to communicate: "I see an 8." "I see a 5." "I see diddly." - if those three people aren't looking at the same patterns of light when they said that, you can't determine that they have differing (and decreasing) ability to discern colour. (And I said "patterns of light" not "light patterns". Emphasis on "pattern", since that can be communicated: stored, displayed, transmitted, copied.... No two people can perceive the same photons.) Maybe at some point in the future it will become possible to communicate something that is currently noncommunicable; but only if and when that happens will it become an issue. And only if and when it does will we have the facilities to obtain any sort of sensible answer. Now I think I might be getting a new monitor; I've been complaining for a while that the gamma on this thing is shot (and beyond correction), but it wasn't until I sent some image files that were badly washed out and they complained and I pointed out that they "look fine on MY machine" and showed them that they started to get my point. Or maybe that's wishful thinking. Maybe I'll just get less image work to do. Morgan L. Owens "If I were you, I'd mention how curious it would be to preface some advice with 'If you were me, I'd...' but if you were me, would I suggest that you mention it?"