Forums → WEPR → How would you describe color?

There wouldn't ordinarily be any use describing color to a blind man, so I would simply give the simplest definition I could:

"Color is the term for our perception of waves from a certain part of the electromagnetic spectrum. A different wavelength registers differently in our eye, though the circuitry of our eye is such that the information it receives is adjusted before and during its course through the brain."

(Having studied some neurology I could go on for hours but I know this isn't what you're looking for.)

To describe it in a 'meaningful' way would require experiential knowledge- thus this is the subject of a popular paradox.

You use those special glasses that let him see sound, he'll see green, you'll tell him thats what grass looks like.

Its as good as it gets, bud.

Wow, I didn't know there were glasses that could do that armed blade

They dun work, the brain is so shocked from seeing they usually faint.

Even I know that, Strop, but that wouldn't work. After all, I'm sure the Blind man would think that your speaking science, not colors.

A meaningful way would be hard.

To a man that isn't blind, you don't need to describe colors in general, you can go all indepth and science with pigments and our eye.

I know eh!

Still, it'd be interesting to see if anybody here can make headway on this. Philosophers have been trying to make headway for decades, if not millenia.

Well i kinda wasn't thinking about describing it in the scientific way, but describing it in the way that we commonly think of colors...Do you think it is possible to describe colors (not scientifically) to a blind man?

See, there should be something to put in a blind mans head where the eye's receptors connect, and from there start images. Therefor, you don't need the eye, you've got an HD-DVD set built in your head.

[As meaningful as it gets. I'm gone from this thread xP]

Noo, armed, come back, you don't realise what you just said!

Bionics is working its way up in that we are gaining understanding of how the various systems in the brain work. In particular, we've managed to create a function bionic limb, which connects directly to the motor cortex, because we understand how it maps.

With furthe understanding of how neurocircuitry forms and changes, we could possibly develop bionic anything (well, nearly anything). What you said actually makes some sense- in that it may be possible to give vision to blind people (depending right now on whether the fault is in the eye or in the neurocircuitry itself), and maybe even to enhance vision in seeing people.

Still a coulpa decades off, that, but it's definitely on the cards!

Well, it's pretty clear that orange is very smooslish, while green is much more clanduct. Of course, everyone know that red is just plain giggidy. Some colors do have a touch of glantor, though.

...

Moe, i don't get it...are you saying that trying to describe color to a blind man would be like speaking gibberish? I'm saying this because none of those words you used to describe the colors is in the dictionary

ROFFLECOPTER

That was mean, Moe, hahahaha. Mean and very awesome.

Just wait a dindle while I break out the Chomsky...

I think describing color to anyone would be like speaking gibberish. Honestly describing any mental state or perception just totally breaks down, in my opinion. But I'm one of those crazy clowns who still reads Wittgenstein.

Whatever that is. Also, Strop, I'mma shoot your ROFFLECOPTER wif my IndestructoCopter. :P

I think words come with sensations for blind people. I mean, if your other senses are how you "view" the world, then maybe it isn't illogical to think that with a better perspective on blindness, a seeing person could describe green by using a series of words that have a particular feeling to them, or sentiment, or texture. The only problem is, we the seeing have no concept of word texture (not in the same way the blind do, unless you have synaesthesia :P) Oh, wait, yeah. Just get synaesthetics to describe green to the blind; some of them experience color through other senses anyway.

One of my classmates is a pianist with synaesthesia, and he says certain notes are connected to certain visions, be they color or image or some combination. Pretty cool.

Can someone please explain why we would be explaining colour to a blind person in the first place? If they were born blind, then they wouldn't even know that colour existed unless told about it, and I doubt they would ask since they would never see it. If they were blinded later in their life, most likely they had working eyes before they went blind and saw the colourful world around them. :O
For describing colour though, I don't know all these technical words everyone's using, but i'd probably describe the colours to what they would normally relate to, red would be a warm colour, or angry, blue would be cool and such, and so on. No doubt they'd get a good idea of what it would generally 'look' like, or it's presence would have an effect of to someone like in a painting, not general use.