Submission + - Null Hypothesis | Magenta Ain't A Colour (null-hypothesis.co.uk) 1
jd writes: "Over on Null Hypothesis, there is a raging debate over whether magenta is (or is not) a colour. The article puts forward the view that as there is no such thing as monochromatic magenta, it is an optical illusion and not a colour at all. Needless to say, the geeks in the comments section being, well, geeks, virtually every point made in the piece is dissected, fried with garlic butter and in a few cases apparently fed to the trolls.
However, one thing does intrigue me about this whole argument. The eye has no way of seeing most colour directly — there are two or three (and in very rare cases four) distinct types of cone in the eye. Most of what we take as colour is simply the result of a bunch of numerical tricks in the brain as it tries to unscramble the limited data available to it.
My question is: If colour in a physical sense has no direct connection to the colour that we see, then does the colour that we see really exist at all?"
However, one thing does intrigue me about this whole argument. The eye has no way of seeing most colour directly — there are two or three (and in very rare cases four) distinct types of cone in the eye. Most of what we take as colour is simply the result of a bunch of numerical tricks in the brain as it tries to unscramble the limited data available to it.
My question is: If colour in a physical sense has no direct connection to the colour that we see, then does the colour that we see really exist at all?"
