Re: virus: Extrocranial Memes

sodom (Sodom@ma.ultranet.com)
Fri, 07 Aug 1998 10:25:04 -0400


Excellent retort Wade - I have to agree. At the photon and frequency level,
thats all they are, colors are our brains representation of the frequency of
the photons. The two are not the same thing, that is why the same frequency of
light triggers different colors in the minds of different people.

I am kinda curious though, are their cases of people whose entire specrum is
shifted by a lot, not a little? For instance, seeing orange, when the frequency
looks red to everyone else? Also, are their cases of people being able to see a
little further into the spectrum, like a little bit of IR or UV? Or are such
adaptations simply out of the range of the tools we have to receive them (in
the eye I mean )?

Sodom
Bill Roh

Wade T.Smith wrote:

> >Color is also in the brain (where else dammit?), but one can still learn
> >more about it from a study of photons and wavelength than one can by using
> >fMRIs.
>
> Really? And what can we learn about the color _in the brain_ from a study
> of photons and wavelength?
>
> Dammit....
>
> Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging allows the study of the working
> brain.
>
> Color is of course an element of that reality that put us all here. Our
> perception of it is of course in the brain. But you must grant that what
> is color out there is not the perception of it. That truth is
> self-evident.
>
> And while a study of photons and wavelength provides us with some
> knowledge about how the eye itself works, only fMRI and its cousin
> techniques provide us with studies of the working brain.
>
> Is not the study of perception a core pursuit? From somewhere inside my
> slumber I think it is....
>
> *****************
> Wade T. Smith
> morbius@channel1.com | "There ain't nothin' you
> wade_smith@harvard.edu | shouldn't do to a god."
> ******* http://www.channel1.com/users/morbius/ *******