Is it possible to imagine a color you've never seen?
142 replies, posted
I was just thinking about this and I could Only really think of colors I've physically seen. Can anyone think of a color or shade of color that You've never seen?
[url=http://www.facepunch.com/forumdisplay.php?f=60]It's not possible[/url]
No, and fast threads is only a few sections below.
Its impossible.
no
I had much trouble with "The Colour out of Space" by Lovecraft, so i think you cant.. Its about a undescribeable colour that came with a comet, making people mad and killing them..
[QUOTE=onforty;24438396]I had much trouble with "The Colour out of Space" by Lovecraft, so i think you cant.. Its about a undescribeable colour that came with a comet, making people mad and killing them..[/QUOTE]
Sounds stupid.
There's a guy who had the lenses in his eyes replaced with artificial ones. His new lenses didn't block UV, so he could see it.
He said that it does look different to other colours, he was going to try to describe it, but realised that it was impossible.
You have to see it to understand it.
[QUOTE=onforty;24438396]I had much trouble with "The Colour out of Space" by Lovecraft, so i think you cant.. Its about a undescribeable colour that came with a comet, making people mad and killing them..[/QUOTE]
Maybe it wasn't really the colour that made them unable to describe it, and it emitted some kinda hazardous psychic radiation that broke people's minds before they could describe the colour. Kind of like a "lightless light" that could only be seen with the mind.
[QUOTE=st0rmforce;24438471]There's a guy who had the lenses in his eyes replaced with artificial ones. His new lenses didn't block UV, so he could see it.
He said that it does look different to other colours, he was going to try to describe it, but realised that it was impossible.
You have to see it to understand it.[/QUOTE]
That's pretty awesome.
[QUOTE=st0rmforce;24438471]There's a guy who had the lenses in his eyes replaced with artificial ones. His new lenses didn't block UV, so he could see it.
He said that it does look different to other colours, he was going to try to describe it, but realised that it was impossible.
You have to see it to understand it.[/QUOTE]
wow thats very interesting
Case closed
Your technically already seeing the color if you just imagined it.
I would think you can, but it's hard to describe.
Or say, a person born blind. They wouldn't know what red is. They might be able to imagine what they think is red, but no one will ever know if it really is red. Since it's hard to describe colors, especially when you're blind, I doubt anyone would ever know what they really saw.
It's a weird thing to think about.
[QUOTE=FreezingStorm;24438552]Your technically already seeing the color if you just imagined it.[/QUOTE]
You can't imagine a color you haven't seen because you have absolutely no idea what it looks like. Imagine imagining blue if you are blind or see in gray scale, you just can't do it.
That's actually rather interesting. I doubt the strange colour would drive the man mad, although his eyes might get a bit more damaged from the UV exposure. I'm guessing that the indescribable colour that the artificial lenses guy spoke about would be similar to purple in a way, since it's in the same direction along the EM spectrum relative to the midpoint of our normal Visible band.
Also, seeing through another person's mind or with another person's eyes might yield a different perspective. For all I know, I could be seeing one colour and perceiving it differently to another person. It's a bit too hard for me to describe.
But such color doesn't exist. As far as I know we see all colors. These ultra and infra colors that we don't see are still red or purple but we just don't see them. So how can you imagine a color that doesn't exist?
Try imagining colors beyond the RGB mixtures. You can't see them and will never see them, thus you can't imagine them because you have no clue what kind of color they will be.
In short, no.
[QUOTE=ironman17;24438637]For all I know, I could be seeing one colour and perceiving it differently to another person. It's a bit too hard for me to describe.[/QUOTE]
This is not an uncommon idea, actually, but iirc there's really no way to know.
[QUOTE=ironman17;24438637]That's actually rather interesting. I doubt the strange colour would drive the man mad, although his eyes might get a bit more damaged from the UV exposure. I'm guessing that the indescribable colour that the artificial lenses guy spoke about would be similar to purple in a way, since it's in the same direction along the EM spectrum relative to the midpoint of our normal Visible band.
Also, seeing through another person's mind or with another person's eyes might yield a different perspective. For all I know, I could be seeing one colour and perceiving it differently to another person. It's a bit too hard for me to describe.[/QUOTE]
You can't see UV, ever, your eyes can't see it, therefore the lenses story is fake.
[QUOTE=ironman17;24438637]Also, seeing through another person's mind or with another person's eyes might yield a different perspective. For all I know, I could be seeing one colour and perceiving it differently to another person. It's a bit too hard for me to describe.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia[/url]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_spectrum[/url]
[QUOTE=st0rmforce;24438471]There's a guy who had the lenses in his eyes replaced with artificial ones. His new lenses didn't block UV, so he could see it.
He said that it does look different to other colours, he was going to try to describe it, but realised that it was impossible.
You have to see it to understand it.[/QUOTE]
The problem with this story is that the eye cannot perceive UV light. UV light enters the eye, but our retina cannot convert it due to the frequency.
There are also no lenses that can convert UV light to visible light.
If you could see UV light, it'd be nothing special. It would look like different hues of violet.
256, 256, 256
[QUOTE=st0rmforce;24438471]There's a guy who had the lenses in his eyes replaced with artificial ones. His new lenses didn't block UV, so he could see it.
He said that it does look different to other colours, he was going to try to describe it, but realised that it was impossible.
You have to see it to understand it.[/QUOTE]
Your eyes don't block UV, they just can't register it. I doubt such lenses exist.
[editline]time[/editline]
Even if such lenses exist, it wouldn't work because the devices that actually register the light, or color, are at the back of the inside of your eye's, and not in the lenses.
Its impossible
[QUOTE=Laserbeams;24438962]256, 256, 256[/QUOTE]
No, that's white
yes, it's impossible. i'm fully colorblind and i don't know what these colours look like at all, and it's nearly impossible to describe without using terms like 'redness'
[QUOTE=johan_sm;24439011]No, that's white[/QUOTE]
White is 255,255,255.
256,256,256 is greater than white. It is a common misconception.
You can't describe color with words.
I heard about this one sea animal that can see 19 more colours than humans before
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.