How can you describe color to a blind person?

How about this...

You all know the story about how we all have three cones in the back of our eyes and colorblind people have two. There are some types of apes that only have two cones. Scientists are trying to implant the third one. The thing is, there are some birds that have four cones. If scientists can perfect the cone implant...







New colors.

 

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If a person who isn't blind looks into the sun with their eyes closed, they'll see red, orange, or yellow (usually red). So you could give them an idea that way. Also, when you close your eyes and gently press on them, after a few seconds swirls of colors will begin to appear.

 

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This relates to an unresolved discussion I had a long time ago.

All who are not color blind agree on the colors they see. What I call red, you would also call red. Similarly for other colors.

However, are you sure that the internal perception you have is the same as mine?

Perhaps the grass looks red to me, but I call it green because that is the word I was taught to use for that bright red color.

Perhaps if your perceptual images could be translated into images in my brain, I would be astonished to see that the grass looks blue instead of red, and the sky looks green.

Several of us decided that we could not be sure that our internal perception of colors agreed with those of others. We decided that our perceptions of shape agreed, but not color.

When I saw this post, I decided that no way could I describe my color perceptions to a blind person. Hell, I cannot even explain them to a sighted person who agrees with me of the names of the colors I see.

 

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