Are Colors An Illusion?

maxx

let me put it this way. once we perceive colors, they are not an illusion to our senses. However, reality itself is an illusion in how we perceive it. @JulesKorngold

MayCaesar

No, color is a measurable property. You can measure the frequency of an electromagnetic wave and tell what color on the visible spectrum (if any) it corresponds to.

That "everything is composed of atoms" is untrue. Regular matter is composed of atoms, but regular matter does not encompass everything there is in the Universe.

maxx

measuring colors by assuming the color is there is not seeing it. we perceive color through our senses and no way else. You are simply using a tool that measures a wave length; and then use that wave length to the colors we would see with our senses. It is a concept outside of our senses. We measure things after the fact may; just like saying there are shoes sizes because we can measure it. In other words, we measure a wave, and simply label it as red, that wave is not red itself, now is it? @MayCaesar

MayCaesar

@maxx

I apologize, but this sounds completely absurd to me. It is like saying, "This thing I am sitting on is not a chair itself, I just label it as a chair". That is precisely how terminology works: we call things something to categorize them, and we call red color red to tell it apart from other colors (i.e. waves of different frequency ranges).

maxx

that wave length you measure has no color, correct? It is just a bunch of photons. no color to it. our vision absorbs that wave length and adds color to it. all we do when we measure that wave is putting a label upon it as how our vision works.You take away all life form that changes those waves into our perception of colors, then all you have left is protons. Yes colors exist may, but only because our senses create them. Your brain is lying to you — colour is all in your head, and other ‘colourful’ facts | Nature of Things (cbc.ca)  or if you prefer science;  Color – The Physics Hypertextbook   so yes color does exist, but only with-in our brains.   @MayCaesar

Barnardot

@JulesKorngold The photons given off reflect color from the light sauce.

Barnardot

@maxx ;our vision absorbs that wave length and adds color to it

Thats totally right and many people who have color blindness see green and red as the same color. We only see 3 colors which are red green and blue and they give us all the in between and complimentary colors like cyan yellow and magenta. The mantis shrimp have much better eyes and can see 12 colors including UV and infra red rays naturally which we cant see unless we wear expensive military goggles.

MayCaesar

@maxx

Everything is ultimately a product of our senses. We define such terms as "wavelength" and "color" to model the source of the precise sensory inputs we receive. Talking about the world full of atoms and with no electromagnetic makes no sense to me since atoms by their nature emit and transmit electromagnetic waves, and without those waves all the matter in the Universe would be completely unrecognizable.

Barnardot

@MayCaesar ;I apologize, but this sounds completely absurd to me. It is like saying, "This thing I am sitting on is not a chair itself, I just label it as a chair

@Maxx is totally right and the chair analergy doesnt way up at all. The color we see is not the chair it is photons from the light sauce that bounce off the chair and depending on the pigments in the chair the receptors in our eyes will register the colors.

A real good analergy I reckon is if say some one gets given a crapy cheap out of date laptop. If he is going to look at things simple mindedly then he is going to say derrr like it was free therefore derrr it was free end of story. But as we know it proberly ended up costing him twice as much as going out and buying a descent laptop in the first place. So when you analize the hole entirety of the situation it is not what it seams and every thing is not just a matter of black and white dont you reckon?

maxx

Well. The chair and other objects are there simply because they are at the same level we are at. If you were to shrink to a microscopic level while sitting on the chair, you would see a different view. Of course,  everything depends upon our senses. To tell you the truth,  i don't know what the world will look like if there were no life forms to perceive it. @MayCaesar