Why do we see/sense things the way we do ?

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by DNA100, Jul 29, 2010.

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  1. DNA100

    DNA100 Registered Senior Member

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    Why does red look like red and not like some other colour that we can't imagine?Why do rose smell exaxctly like the way it does and not like a lemon?

    I know colours are the result of wavelength of light reaching our eyes.And that odours are mainly because of the rate of molecular vibrations ,as interpreted by the nasal receptors.But my question is a bit deeper.

    Why do the "feeling" of colours or odours exist at all?Can we design new kind of senses and feelings if we advance in technology?They say some creatures can sense magnetic fields.What do magnetic fields feel like when you sense them?What is it our brain,our consciousness ,that makes us feel things in a particular way to begin with?HOw can we create new kind of feelings?
     
    DNA100, Jul 29, 2010
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  3. NO1

    NO1 I Am DARKNESS Registered Senior Member

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    Go into Space:

    http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/16jan_sts107/
     
    NO1, Jul 29, 2010
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  5. Dywyddyr

    Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    Is that an example of a "new sense" (or even a change in sense) or a reaction by the flower itself to the alteration of its environment?
    I suspect the latter, otherwise the scent wouldn't be "different" when used on Earth.
     
    Dywyddyr, Jul 29, 2010
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  7. Shadow1

    Shadow1 Valued Senior Member

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    i think it's a stupid quesion, because if we saw or sensed differently, we'll ask the same question, you should be more precise in the questioaning
     
    Shadow1, Jul 29, 2010
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  8. DNA100

    DNA100 Registered Senior Member

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    Well yes,I am not sure if I was able to make myself clear.
    What I mean is what are these sensations/perceptions to begin with?And what determines the nature of these perceptions?

    I mean red feels like red,blue feels like blue.But it is possible that a different creature sees red entirely differently.If we could share conscioussness with that creature ,we might be able to see colours that we have never experieced before.

    I mean ,what makes us experience red in the way we do.Why do we not feel like gravity reducing or a low pitched musical note when the frequency of red light enters our eyes.What is responsible for the nature of our experiences and can we ,with the help of technology,alter the nature of that experience?

    i am still not sure if I made myself clear.But to give a hint,it is related our conscioussness and consciouss sensory perceptions.
     
    DNA100, Jul 29, 2010
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  9. Shadow1

    Shadow1 Valued Senior Member

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    no problem, i understood what you mean.
    colours, first, what are colours, simple, coulours;, are what you think, colours are like signlas,or vibrations, each one have it's information, your eye with your mind, read that, and we see coulours, and every creature have it's own mind that read those informations differently, also, ever heard of colour blind? for example some people see the red ,blue, and etc...

    what makes us feel the way we do? aah, you mean, what are the causes or the recipiants in our body that causes that.
    for example, why we don't feel the gravity?
    we do feel the gravity, but since it's a normal thing to us, we are born on gravity, we are on gravity while we are in our mothers, so, it's a normal thing, don't you feel that you are stable on ground, while you're in the swimming pool you kinda feel flying, you feel the lower gravity, so we do feel it.
    colours, in chemical way, each colours have it's matures or ingridiants, if we had a very very develped scin and the sensory receptors, we may have the ability to feel the colours without looking at it.

    so, you say, why we don't see red as blue?
    the signals or the vibrants of red, are always the same, it's a universal language, the univerce language, and the nature language, and even our body language, is the vibrations, everything talks, and everything make vibrations, everything, vibrations, is the universal language, red, in light, have it's vibrations, that each mind, for us, read it in a way. anywya, i think you got what i mean, vibrations, are like the java codes or the programming code
     
    Shadow1, Jul 29, 2010
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  10. Fraggle Rocker

    Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    We have receptor cells in our retina that react to specific light frequencies, and we have synapses in our brains that translate those sensations into visual images. Our eyes and vision center evolved that way so we could use light to navigate, hunt, gather, and avoid predators. Some animals have a much greater number of light receptors and can see a wider spectrum. For example, many birds can see up into the ultraviolet. There are many species of birds that appear not to be dimorphic, so we always wondered how they can tell each other apart. It turns out that they have ultraviolet tints on their feathers that distinguish the males from females. Many flowers have ultraviolet tints that show their stage of development, and bees use that to know which ones have pollen. Bees and flowers evolved at the same time.

    BTW, no one knows if "red" looks the same to you as it does to me.
    Like vision, "smell" is not one single sense. Our nose has dozens of different types of receptors that each react to a different pheromone in the air. Each one stimulates a different synapse. The combination of synapses identifies a particular "odor" to us. Nonetheless, many pheromones stimulate receptors without triggering a conscious "smell." This is often the cause of sudden feelings whose origin we can't understand.
    Because the architecture of our brain has developed that way. Most of the time these attributes are there because they're a survival advantage, but some are just random mutations resulting from genetic drift or a genetic bottleneck.

    As I mentioned above, some "odors" do not trigger a conscious "feeling." Those pheromones act on us unconsciously and trigger a response that we don't understand because there appears to be no cause.
    We'd have to find some brain cells that are currently unused, and then determine whether stimulating them causes a conscious "feeling."
    It's difficult to describe sensations. How does your kinesthetic sense "feel"? When you close your eyes and nonetheless unerringly place your fingertip on your nose, knee or earlobe, how would you describe that "feeling"? Is it even a "feeling" at all?

    How does your sense of balance "feel"? When the sensors in your semicircular canals tell you that your body is tilting and is no longer vertical, what "feeling" is that?

    How about the "feeling" of hunger, a full bladder, an empty stomach, a need for more oxygen? If you're male, the "feeling" of a prostate in need of draining; if you're female, the "feeling" of an unused placenta decomposing?
    I think you're 50-100 years ahead of science and technology on this one.
     
    Fraggle Rocker, Aug 1, 2010
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