Doug.chair; Jon.flames

[vishal@m2.csc.ti.com (Vishal Markandey)]

JROSSI@AAMRL.AF.MIL:

> all the people are mislead by their perceptions.  However, in the case
> of Doug's chair we have an independent system which can be used to
> coroborate the factness of red.  We can use any number of photo spectral
> analyzers to independently verify the nature of the radiations from
> Doug's chair.  

stewarte@sco.COM:

> in the first place?  Suppose that humans, like some animals, were all
> color-blind.  We'd have no concept of color.  Would it still exist as
> a phenomenon?  Would it matter whether it did or not?  Imagine the one
> person in the world who could see in color, trying to describe what he
> or she saw to those who only knew shapes & light...such a person would
> surely be described as mad.  

JROSSI@AAMRL.AF.MIL:

> the whole discuaaion would never come up.  It is highly unlikely that
> in a world devoid of color vision, color vision would be identified
> except as a scientific curiousity (i.e., like a paranormal phenomenon
> which is well identified under discriminative color trials).  Besides,
> who would really care.  The only truely defensible position is

Human color vision is nothing but the eye's sensitivity to a particular
part of the electromagnetic spectrum (the part that the sun's radiation
peaks in), and the ability to discriminate within this part at a certain
level of spectral resolution. If the sun's surface temperature was different 
from what it is, its radiation would peak in some other part of the spectrum 
and life might possibly have evolved with sensitivity to that part of the 
spectrum. Anyway, there is plenty of radiation being emitted and reflected 
from surfaces around us that lies outside the visible region. Just because
the human eye is insensitive to this radiation does not mean it does not
exist or cannot be used. An example is infra-red radiation. Useful in night
vision aids and computer vision applications to literally see in the "dark". 
And just like the visible region you can have spectral resolution within 
infra-red also (called color infra-red). Certain species of snakes have eyes 
sensitive to infra-red so they too can see in the "dark". What we call 
darkness is really our eye's blindness to radiation outside a narrow region of
the electromagnetic spectrum. 

I can't believe I just wrote that for Gaffa. Doug, is it possible to move
this discussion to some other group (comp.ai.vision comes to mind although
something else might be more appropriate). 

Recently received a batch of greeting cards from _Burning Airlines_ 
showing Kate on a *red chair* (see, there is a Kate connection after all :-)

---

	< Chris (of Chris'n'Vickie) flames Jon >

Jon seems to be getting a lot of flamage recently, doesn't he. So he is the
enfant terrible of the group and does put his foot in his mouth occassionally,
but IMHO overall he is quite a valuable presence on the net. I certainly look
forward to his piquant postings with anticipation. 

- Vishal