When we see colors, are we really seeing the samething? How do you know one persons green isnt anothers blue?

Answer 1

Woah. At first I thought that was stupid, but when I stopped to think about it, what an amazing possibility! What if my eyes flip the colors around so what everyone else calls blue is what I perceive to be orange? All science aside (because who really wants a technical explanation), this is so intriguing. Whee I like reading scifi and fantasy and this just fits right in!

Answer 2

Because people's reactions are the same. For everyone, red is a color that gets noticed the most -- that's why it's used for red lights. Also, if you paint a room red, people will not want to stay there for a long period of time (that's why you'll often see company break rooms painted in red). Green is the color most soothing and easy on the eyes. Black pretty much means the same thing to everyone -- death, darkness, despair -- and same with white (light, purity, etc.)

Answer 3

There are these little purple flowers that grow along the highway near my house. They're a very delicate light purple color. My husband swears that the flowers are a shade of blue. HUH? They're not blue! They're purple.

Anyway, the point is that, yeah, I think you're right. Sometimes the perceptions of colors are different between different people. (And I'm not speaking of color blindness.)

BTW, my best friend agrees with me that the flowers are purple. My husband is wrong!

Answer 4

We are not all seeing the same colors. I am color blind and I may see something as green and it is blue to those who are not color blind. Just ask my sisters. My brothers and I (all color blind) are not allowed to pick colors for anything after my brother picked the color to paint his house. he was halfway done when my sister-in-law came home and he had to start over. She has this thing about living in an orange house. Go figure.

Answer 5

yes, we are seeing the same thing. Any object is of a particular colour, because it absorbs all other colours except that colour. For example, a red object appears red because it absorbs light of all other colurs except red. As we also know that colour is a function of wavelength, it is not likely that the red of one person is the green of another one because the light transmitted to both of their eyes will be of the same wavelength, unless of course, one of them happens to be colour blind.
I'd also like to add that although 2 persons may see the same colour, how they interpret them cannot be predicted.

Answer 6

we don't. however, colors are transmitted at different wavelengths, so the chances are high that we see them similarly, but that doesn't mean our brains assess those signals the same way.

Answer 7

the truth is we don't really know if something is blue or green.

Answer 8

Occam's razor.