perception of perception
What is the world like if we don't percieve it? Is a tomato red if we don't see it? Does a roar of thunder make any sound if we don't hear it?
Of coz it does, right? Wrong. A red tomato simply reflects light of a certain wavelength off its surface. If it doesn't enter our eyes and interpreted by our brains, it is nothing more than electromagnetic radiation.
It is because that wavelength of light is absorbed by the red-sensitive cone receptors in our retina. Complicated specifics simplified, these receptors send neural signals to the brain which interpret it as red.
How would we know the red that people percieve is the same, even if its from light of the same wavelength? Maybe someone can distinguish between colours but sees what we see as red as what we see as blue but is taught that that colour he is seeing is red? So he sees green but calls it blue because he is taught to label is as blue, and see blue but calls it yellow or sth like tt?
If all our senses make sense because of how our brain interprets it, is a tomato actually just a bunch of certain signals sitting on a table, which is another bunch of signals?
What is the world, really? Or rather, what is the world like to something else? What if someone's brain doesn't interpret these signals the normal way? Or what if someone else receives different signals from the same object?
I think this adds a whole new meaning to the term "subjective". Do you think dogs see the world like we do? Nope, some animals see the world in black and white, maybe they see a tomato as blue? or some other colour that we have never even seen so we cannot even describe it? maybe they see things in 2D or they cannot detect form so they see things as a blur? some animals see in much greater detail coz they have more cone receptors in the eye to process fine detail. maybe they see things so detailed it's pixelated? or images are fragmented?
I finally made sense of the Matrix. If our brain does not interpret the signals sent to our eyes, all we will see are mathematical equations or numbers because all neural signals can be coded into mathematical equations. Or maybe that's the way some things see the world coz their brains convert things to numbers and they make sense of those numbers.
So if people do not see us, do we exist? Or do we simply exist in our heads. Maybe we are invisible to trees because they can't sense us? Maybe trees talk but we just can't hear it?
Maybe there are other things living in this same Earth but our paths do not cross because we sense the world completely differently. Maybe they are a bunch of signals we cannot detect so we think they are not there? maybe there are more than 5 senses?
This raises the question of whether there's such a thing as extra-sensory perception?
Confused? Maybe i are limited by my language (the Sapir Whorf theory of relativity), hence i am unable to express myself clearly due to the constraints of language. or maybe we never really understand another person because our thoughts are invisible to others.
Maybe i'll never know for sure since i function with what I have and what i have been taught (the constraints of ideology). It's quite crazy thoughts beyond our present knowledge of science and our present beliefs.
Don't worry, i'm not crazy and i'm not talking about ghosts and spirits and all that stuff.
Yes crazy, because i have gone crazy writing my Psychology assignment. I bitch abt it everyday to anyone who'll listen. haha. it's so out of this world maybe i'll hand in a blank paper and say that's my interpretation/perception of the answer or something out of this world which is why i cant describe in words.
Oh. one reason why the things we see may not actually be the thing. sometimes we see a face from a simple arrangements of blocks or fruits. Or the Necker Cube? or visual illusions. Tsk tsk, our visual system or brain can sometimes be unreliable. But enough for us to function within this society we have created.
Acknowledgement: Psycholgy by David G. Myers
Of coz it does, right? Wrong. A red tomato simply reflects light of a certain wavelength off its surface. If it doesn't enter our eyes and interpreted by our brains, it is nothing more than electromagnetic radiation.
It is because that wavelength of light is absorbed by the red-sensitive cone receptors in our retina. Complicated specifics simplified, these receptors send neural signals to the brain which interpret it as red.
How would we know the red that people percieve is the same, even if its from light of the same wavelength? Maybe someone can distinguish between colours but sees what we see as red as what we see as blue but is taught that that colour he is seeing is red? So he sees green but calls it blue because he is taught to label is as blue, and see blue but calls it yellow or sth like tt?
If all our senses make sense because of how our brain interprets it, is a tomato actually just a bunch of certain signals sitting on a table, which is another bunch of signals?
What is the world, really? Or rather, what is the world like to something else? What if someone's brain doesn't interpret these signals the normal way? Or what if someone else receives different signals from the same object?
I think this adds a whole new meaning to the term "subjective". Do you think dogs see the world like we do? Nope, some animals see the world in black and white, maybe they see a tomato as blue? or some other colour that we have never even seen so we cannot even describe it? maybe they see things in 2D or they cannot detect form so they see things as a blur? some animals see in much greater detail coz they have more cone receptors in the eye to process fine detail. maybe they see things so detailed it's pixelated? or images are fragmented?
I finally made sense of the Matrix. If our brain does not interpret the signals sent to our eyes, all we will see are mathematical equations or numbers because all neural signals can be coded into mathematical equations. Or maybe that's the way some things see the world coz their brains convert things to numbers and they make sense of those numbers.
So if people do not see us, do we exist? Or do we simply exist in our heads. Maybe we are invisible to trees because they can't sense us? Maybe trees talk but we just can't hear it?
Maybe there are other things living in this same Earth but our paths do not cross because we sense the world completely differently. Maybe they are a bunch of signals we cannot detect so we think they are not there? maybe there are more than 5 senses?
This raises the question of whether there's such a thing as extra-sensory perception?
Confused? Maybe i are limited by my language (the Sapir Whorf theory of relativity), hence i am unable to express myself clearly due to the constraints of language. or maybe we never really understand another person because our thoughts are invisible to others.
Maybe i'll never know for sure since i function with what I have and what i have been taught (the constraints of ideology). It's quite crazy thoughts beyond our present knowledge of science and our present beliefs.
Don't worry, i'm not crazy and i'm not talking about ghosts and spirits and all that stuff.
Yes crazy, because i have gone crazy writing my Psychology assignment. I bitch abt it everyday to anyone who'll listen. haha. it's so out of this world maybe i'll hand in a blank paper and say that's my interpretation/perception of the answer or something out of this world which is why i cant describe in words.
Oh. one reason why the things we see may not actually be the thing. sometimes we see a face from a simple arrangements of blocks or fruits. Or the Necker Cube? or visual illusions. Tsk tsk, our visual system or brain can sometimes be unreliable. But enough for us to function within this society we have created.
Acknowledgement: Psycholgy by David G. Myers
posted by aine at 5:46 AM
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