What do we really see?

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Do you always believe what you see?

Yes
2
18%
No
9
82%
 
Total votes: 11

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Aesculapius
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What do we really see?

Postby Aesculapius » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:02 pm

I'm not sure if this topic really belongs here, but I'll go ahead with it anyway..

We believe what we see, but how do we know if what we see is what everyone else sees? How do we know if what we see is the truth?

For example, one person sees the colour red as red, but another person may see the colour green, but call it red as well because that is what the colour red is for them.

Has anyone else wondered about tihs? I understand that the exmaple I gave doesn't work for everything, because, after all, we still have our other senses to guide us.
But the possibility of the object of our sight not being what it really is sounds intriguing to me.

I'd like to hear other people's opinions, too.
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jotabe
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Postby jotabe » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:26 am

We don't perceive the "truth". Our perceptions are barely information about our environment processed by our brain to help us survive.

Does it really matter if, you see green where i see red and viceversa? What matters is that we can identify the identity of the electromagnetic wave around 700nm. And that we do not confuse it with other wavelengths (colors), as a daltonic does.

If we trust the quantum mechanics, the true nature of things would be their wavefunctions. Our senses, being the detector devices they are, can only measure certain bits of the wavefunction called "observables". But these observables (speed, momentum, energy levels -color is a composite way to measure these-) are not what the particle really is. The true nature of any particle, of the universe that surrounds us, can only be aprehended by our mind through purely mathematical representations.
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Postby Jeesh_girl15 » Fri May 01, 2009 4:30 pm

Oh yeah, I was the first one to vote!

I don't always believe what I see cause
1- I have to wear contacts or glasses(which I never use anymore) to see anything
2-If you beleive everything You see, you're an idiot
3-Even if you see something, you don't always have to believe it.
You musn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

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Postby Lusitania_Fleet » Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:19 pm

But you're Brain is just a machine. Unless you have a mental condition or are doping up on hallucinogens, your brain is recording and analyzing exactly what everyone else is. You're not as special as you would like to think. A brain is a brain, and an eye is an eye.

I don't really understand what the question you're trying to ask is. If I see a dog, of course i'm going to believe that I saw a dog. If I see a giant dinosaur for more than the split-second it takes for a brain to correct misperception, then I'm either going to assume that I'm sick or that Godzilla is here and I'm about to die.

And to the red-red- red-peuple arument- I think you should rethink that. Just because I call a tree a skwarr does not make it any less real or any less a tree.

What you seem to be gettign at, from my perspective, is more the question of truth. What is real and what is lies? Nietzche Said that there is no fact, only strong beleif. I think that seems like the argument you're tryign to make. Discuss.
Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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Postby Bean_wannabe » Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:21 pm

I used to worry about that, and even took it further - what if everyone hates the colour purple, except that what I see as purple is what you see as green, so we THINK we dislike different colours. This was when I was about 10, before I learnt about the EMS.

And about believing what you see - yes, but not your interpretations. I believe that something is projecting the light into my eye forming the image of a dinosaur, to use Fleet's example. However, I don't know what is causing it, so I must not trust my brain's attempts to give it a meaning without other evidence or context.

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Re: What do we really see?

Postby LiQingJao » Thu Jul 01, 2010 6:34 am

I'm not sure if this topic really belongs here, but I'll go ahead with it anyway..

We believe what we see, but how do we know if what we see is what everyone else sees? How do we know if what we see is the truth?

For example, one person sees the colour red as red, but another person may see the colour green, but call it red as well because that is what the colour red is for them.

Has anyone else wondered about tihs? I understand that the exmaple I gave doesn't work for everything, because, after all, we still have our other senses to guide us.
But the possibility of the object of our sight not being what it really is sounds intriguing to me.

I'd like to hear other people's opinions, too.
I've definitely thought the exact same thing. I'm not sure that it really does matter, because as has already been said, we can distinguish between different colors, etc. We all agree that grass is green, the sky is blue, and so on. However, I've always found it interesting that maybe everyone's interpretation is different. Something to think about for fun maybe, but not necessarily anything important.
“For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all”
--Aristotle


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