Thoughts about colors in different cultures

[TheDustyZebra]

This is very interesting, and I thought it might come in handy for writing about aliens and such as well -- apparently there is a standard system by which various cultures throughout history have named and related to the color spectrum. I had no idea that some peoples only had/have three basic names for colors, some four, and so on up to the Pantone society we have now.

 

[DelActivisto]

Oh heck. I think about many species of animals on earth that can detect wavelengths of light we can't. How do we describe colors we can't even "see?" Our range of visible light is actually a very narrow part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Just think how much fun we could have describing colors that don't even exist!

"It's a terrible color, my slithering eel thing friend, I can barely describe it. It's even worse than that baby poop brown Toyota decided to use on some of its new trucks!"

 

[thaddeus6th]

Bit sleepy so I'll check the video when my brain is capable of science, but I do remember that the Greeks (and maybe in Welsh too) used to call the sky 'the bronze'. Also, I remember seeing at university (did some brain-stuff there occasionally) that the colour of photons is not necessarily inherent but context dependent (ie the same packet of light could look blue or yellow depending on what its surroundings are).

Not colour, but there were experiments done with cats in which they were raised in rooms that had only horizontal black and white stripes. When they left the rooms they were unable to see vertical things (chair legs, say). This is because we have specific cells that (normally) allow us to see horizontal, vertical, and the array of angles in between.

There's also blindsight, which is where people are unable to see, but if you throw a tennis ball at them they'll catch or dodge it (the blindness is psychological, not physiological).

 

[Cathbad]

It's even worse than that baby poop brown Toyota decided to use on some of its new trucks!

Oh gods! You reminded me of those old Mazda trucks of that color!! Friend had one. Ugh!

 

[Biskit]

It's even worse than that baby poop brown Toyota decided to use on some of its new trucks!

The first house I ever bought had a room decorated in shades of brown and off-yellow. It was known as 'vindaloo vomit'.

 

[goldhawk]

There's also blindsight, which is where people are unable to see, but if you throw a tennis ball at them they'll catch or dodge it (the blindness is psychological, not physiological).

No, they're seeing with their midbrain. Your midbrain has a limited ability to process things that might be a danger to you, like objects about to hit you. But their visual cortex is not working properly. Their disability is indeed physiological.

But back to the topic at hand; bees can see ultraviolet light. Since ultraviolet light penetrates clouds, they can navigate in all bit the darkest storms.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

The video is about how colors get grouped into small numbers of "lump" names -- and when a society uses only three basic names for colors, they are invariably ones that mean "dark", "light", and "red". The color group "red" always comes before the colors grouped as "blue", if a society develops any discernment for "blue". The speculation there is that red is much more prevalent in nature, but I wonder how they can overlook the sky. I suppose what immediately follows is "why is the sky blue".

 

[goldhawk]

The video is about how colors get grouped into small numbers of "lump" names -- and when a society uses only three basic names for colors, they are invariably ones that mean "dark", "light", and "red". The color group "red" always comes before the colors grouped as "blue", if a society develops any discernment for "blue". The speculation there is that red is much more prevalent in nature, but I wonder how they can overlook the sky. I suppose what immediately follows is "why is the sky blue".

They are not overlooking it. They call it light, "why is the sky light?"

 

[Mirannan]

No, they're seeing with their midbrain. Your midbrain has a limited ability to process things that might be a danger to you, like objects about to hit you. But their visual cortex is not working properly. Their disability is indeed physiological.

But back to the topic at hand; bees can see ultraviolet light. Since ultraviolet light penetrates clouds, they can navigate in all bit the darkest storms.

Bees can sense the polarisation of light, too. I wonder how that looks to them?

 

[thaddeus6th]

I stand corrected, goldhawk. It is a fascinating and strange condition, though.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Anyone interested in blindsight should read one of the true experts in it - the one and only Nicholas Humphrey.
I recommend A History Of The Mind, where he uses the phenomenon to elucidate much.

 

[goldhawk]

Bees can sense the polarisation of light, too. I wonder how that looks to them?

Something like this: Possibility of sunstones for orientation and navigation.

 

[HareBrain]

I wonder how they can overlook the sky

This was my first thought too. But I guess the colour of the sky and the sea don't really matter enough to impinge on awareness. It's just background.

Incidentally, I remember Colin Wilson making a thing out of the fact that Homer seemed to think the sea wine-coloured, believing that it showed the ancient Greeks had a consciousness too restricted to behold (not just name) a wide range of colours.

 

[Montero]

Regarding bees and UV - some flowers have markings that only show up under UV - a bee landing strip.

 

[Mirannan]

Regarding bees and UV - some flowers have markings that only show up under UV - a bee landing strip.

Also, some predatory birds have eyesight that stretches into the UV as well. This helps them, apparently, because their prey (small rodents) leave a trail visible in UV light but not in what is visible to humans. (Their urine contains strong UV absorbers.)