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Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 3:25 am
by _ronzlo_

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 4:13 am
by dansci
Most mammals only see red and green(I think). Even most monkeys only see two colors.

Birds and some flying insects like bees see 4 colors. The 4th one extends into the uv range. Some flowes have patterns only visible in UV.

Fish can see Infrared. And some shrimp can see 14"colors"... Their eyes can visualize the visible spectrum, infrared, UV, polarity of light, and direction.

We're missing a shitload of colors.

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 4:20 am
by dickman69
^ really has nothing to do w/ the article but...

remember learning about 2 species of tilapia both found in lake malawi that looked identical but were separate species b/c they would not interbreed

it was only until you saw them under a blacklight that you could see they had wildly different patterns of uv light

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 4:33 am
by OGLemon
i wonder what jaden smith has to say on the subject?

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:07 am
by Phigure
the fact that the namibian tribesman had so much more sensitivity to green hues is pretty wild

cultural elements like language can affect us deep down on way more fundamental levels than we normally ever realize

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:20 am
by test_recordings
This relates to the (now disproved) Shapir-Whorf hypothesis which assumed humans can't perceive something they don't have a word for. 'Green' and 'blue' are commonly synonymous in languages, Japanese for example, but speakers can still tell the difference between the colours.

I know myself because I frequently hear my students say "The traffic light turned blue so I crossed the road." or some variation of that sentence so I show them a blue marker or something similar and ask "This colour?" and they say "No...". Japanese also has a word for just 'green' but it's only been since world war 2 that the country's educational materials have distinguished between the two colours, probably because of the US occupation. And, if you think it makes them sound dumb, Japan apparently used to have an exquisite dye industry too, English looks massively backwards in comparison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradition ... s_of_Japan
http://www.tofugu.com/2013/09/12/the-tr ... n-history/

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 7:58 am
by Muncey
dansci wrote:Most mammals only see red and green(I think). Even most monkeys only see two colors.

Birds and some flying insects like bees see 4 colors. The 4th one extends into the uv range. Some flowes have patterns only visible in UV.

Fish can see Infrared. And some shrimp can see 14"colors"... Their eyes can visualize the visible spectrum, infrared, UV, polarity of light, and direction.

We're missing a shitload of colors.
I presume that has to do with the cones in the eyes, most mammals have two I think. Humans have 3, birds have 4.

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:03 am
by mason666
I'm colour blind so I can only see black and white

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:28 am
by nousd
on mushies
all I see is green
so, drawing a long bow,
and theorizing that fungii need cloud and rain to reproduce,
the Mushroom Queen doesn't see blue, even now.

If you want avoid being shanghaied by The Fungal Network
watch the cloudless sky's big blue,
our defence against invasion.

no, really.

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:30 am
by leyenda
Certainly couldn't tell the different shade of green in that second circle

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 1:21 pm
by OGLemon
I remember going to a biology seminar in about 2008, and the professor brought a mantis shrimp. It's an amazing creature, you should look it up.

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 2:07 pm
by _ronzlo_
^ yep. How does nature come up with supercavitation? Crazy shit.

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 2:13 pm
by hubb
_ronzlo_ wrote:^ yep. How does nature come up with supercavitation? Crazy shit.
I do by means of fap.

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 2:14 pm
by hubb
Thread is about Wittgenstein btw

Not having a term available, means principally it doesn't exist, at least in his philosophy.

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 2:16 pm
by mason666
god works in mysterious ways

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 2:17 pm
by hubb
HE just sits on a cloud all fat

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 2:51 pm
by dickman69
whats the word for when you jump before you are supposed to so then you are just floating in the air while every1 else around u jumps at the right time

happens alot in basketball or frisbee


requires a word imo

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 3:43 pm
by hubb
fjump or flump ?

clump?

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 3:45 pm
by hubb
Same with thirsty and non thirsty.

Hydrated is too technical. We don't have one in danish until some student invented the word slunk. Pretty good imo.

Re: Humans couldn't "see" blue until modern times?

Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 3:47 pm
by hubb
just saying: I'm wet doesn't work either btw