So you think you know which colours are which?

[Qualia]

Fascinating thread! And a nice example of qualia in action

Hume noted in 1738 that "sounds, colours, heat and cold...are not qualities in objects, but perceptions in the mind." That the seas and the skies are not really blue, nor are apples really red. That colours are not properties of objects, but made up by the brain.

What is interesting about this kind of thing is that if we assume that physiologically speaking our eyes work in a very similar fashion, and that the colours we see in that dress are not actual properties of that dress, then we can entertain the idea that observation cannot be simply a matter of mere perception, but rather of perception and interpretion. 

If this is so, then we can point out that Interpretation is a cognitive process, it is dependent on hypotheses and inferences. And because perceptions are interpretations, all observations must rest on some form of conceptual framework. That is, they are theory-laden.

If our observations are theory-laden, then what are we to say of facts? They cannot be neutral, for we've just said observations require interpretation, so facts must also be theory-dependent. And if this is so, then we cannot appeal to a body of 'facts' as an impartial tribunal that judges the Truth of some state of affairs.

As Hume realised with the disturbing insight that shock Kant from his slumber, empiricism as a source of knowledge of truth, must be false

Curiously, if I look at the dress immediately I see greyish-white and dirty-gold, but if I scroll the dress from the hem up, I see pale blue and washed out black.  

[Cath]

Try and describe a colour without reference to another colour.

[Psychobilly]

Well one things for certain the answer isn't a black or white one....

[ollypenrice]

Try and describe a colour without reference to another colour.

Try and describe a colour at all!

As for the weazel and the woodpecker, if that is genuine then I suspect that the passenger-carrying woodpecker, 'Does not so much fly,' quoting Python, 'as plummet.'

Olly

[JB80]

Interestingly (to me) I had only seen it as gold and white but by staring at both pics together i have managed to change the dress to blue and black. If I leave the page and go back to it  the gold and white dress changes colour immediately to blue and black.

I showed it to my wife and she saw white & gold, I then got the kids to take a look and they saw blue & black like me.

In retrospect showing the wife this was a bad move as then she was looking up a reason why and the age thing popped up. I could of done without that to be honest.

[glowingturnip]

i saw a thing on the news about the woodpecker and weasel - it is genuine - weasels will happily hunt and eat birds, and in this case must have taken on the woodpecker which then attempted to fly off with weasel attached.  They crash-landed near the photographer and his wife and were scuffling on the ground till the weasel got distracted by the humans and the bird escaped.  Cracking photo, and the bird's expression is great !

[RobertI]

I was at a party recently and showed the blue/black dress picture to the whole group - about 70% saw blue/black and 30% (including me) white/gold. One person saw Blue and Gold!

Oddly a couple of people started by seeing White/Gold then suddenly startd seeing Blue/Black. And it wasn't a slight change, it completely freaked out the individuals concerned.

There were two Orthoptists at the partyand neither could explain what was happening, although one ventured a theory that it was to do with different people having different colour perception under different lighting conditions (a chemical response). Further testing at the party revealed nothing apart from increased intoxication.

Interestingly I managed to see both colours on one version of the picture - by concentrating on the gold part of the dress and forcing myself to interperet it as an overexposed black, I could suddenyl see the whole dress as vivid blue and black.

Very strange.

Rob