Do you see what I see ?

How do you describe a color to a person who has been blind since his/her birth ? Its difficult isn’t it. You can’t tell them that blue is the color of the sky or that green is the color of lettuce because they have never seen either of those things. That’s the thing about our senses. All of them are based on relative definitions – They do not make sense in absolute terms ...

How do I know that I see the same color as you when we both look at the sky ? The simple answer is that I can never really know. We have both been taught since we were born that the color we see when we look at the sky is to be called blue. However, the color each of us sees when we look at the sky might be completely different, though we all call it by the same name.

Extending this theory, I would also venture to explain the idiosyncratic dress-color choices of otherwise-sober individuals .. Maybe they don’t see the same colors as the rest of us do. Maybe to them, a fluorescent green shirt and yellow pants seem the height of sobriety ! Maybe, their different perception of colors forces them into becoming unconventional, when all they are doing is wearing colors that they like !

This theory could be extended to smell – We cannot define the smell of a baking cake or blooming roses except by associating them with their origin.

What about hot and cold ? Do some people call cold water hot ?

Comments

Ideamani said…
Hi Su !
I agree, accepting our differences is the key to solving global conflict .. Is the solution, a globally coordinated educational system ?
Anonymous said…
This is referring to ur globally co-ordinated education system:
Why do u want make evverybody think alike?Thereby, do u mean to solve alll global conflict?But y?
Everybody has his/her justification in doing things and it would be wise if each one of us spend our time to think what we want to do in this world of varieties and various choices.Not that one shudn't know abt various things and comment them owing to thier understanding of the situation,but i feel one will not have much left to comment when one tries to understand the "perspective" of each person involved in the situation .Even after knowing that, if one chooses to comment, i dont think anybody should have any objections.I dont have any.
Ideamani said…
Anon
I totally agree with you - If we want to retain the diversity in the world, we cannot afford to centralize education - However, there is a price being paid for the diversity in the world in the form of wars due tto lack of communication and understanding.

So really, if the avoidance of war was the main criterion, thats the only case where I would support a globally coordinated education system.

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