How do we know that what other people see is real?

[Deleted]

When I look at my car it is blue. But just because other people say it is blue as well how do we know that they are seeing it the same way? What if they aren't even real at all and we're just lead to believe that they exist due to our senses fooling us? People hallucinate when put under intense stress so how do we know that we aren't alone in this world but we build the illusion of others around us to keep us from loneliness?

[Deleted]

That's enough weed for you today.

Fun fact though, my blue is probably not the same as your blue.

Your blue might be my green, yellow or red.

[Zaithor]

I've always wondered the same. Blue to you is blue to me. But are both blues the same color?

[Pool of the Dead]

What about sounds?

What if how we hear words is actually completely different to how others hear them. but the actual audible noise makes us recognize it and associate it to the word.

Because if someone who has always been deaf reads this post and understands English, what sound does the word make when they think it in their head?

[Dendrek]

Fun fact though, my blue is probably not the same as your blue.

Your blue might be my green, yellow or red.

You have a strange definition of the word "fact".

[Pool of the Dead]

You have a strange definition of the word "fact".

Well I guess it is one of those "prove him wrong" situations.

[Smokinya]

What about sounds?

What if how we hear words is actually completely different to how others hear them. but the actual audible noise makes us recognize it and associate it to the word.

Because if someone who has always been deaf reads this post and understands English, what sound does the word make when they think it in their head?

Fuck you.... You broke my brain!

OT: The simple answer is that we don't know. When you close your eyes how do you know the world is still there or how do you know that the bed behind your head is actually there. You can't know it's all in your head. You guys could literally all be fake and I'm just arguing with myself right now. It's fun to think about though.

[Visor]

Topic starter. I can share a horrible truth to you. Your own eye watching differently. You can find difference in color gradation in your eyes if make some experiments. Also ppl usually see same things as you. BUT their brain understand it completely different than yours. They have another associations and perceive it pretty different way. All your feeling just a electronic impulses. It can be provided by your own receptors (eyes,nose etc) or just some kind of chemistry. In fact to feel something you not need to contact with anything. You just need your electronic impulses. And humanity know many ways to put it in your brain.

[Vercigentorix]

Imagine having Synesthesia and trying to describe to someone a touch, taste,shape, color, smell etc. Maybe they have it correct, and we perceive things incorrectly. Kaboom, that's your mind being blown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

[Dendrek]

In order for the existence of all others to be an illusion, the existence of the outside world, and therefore of our senses as well, would have to be an illusion.

Try to imagine a hypothetical person who you have never met before. Give this person exact features: How tall are there? How much do they weigh? What color are their eyes, hair, skin? Give them a believable history: Where were they born? Who were their parents? Who were all of their friends, teachers, enemies, aquintences growing up? Where do they work? Who are they married to? Who did they talk to at 5:00 PM? 5:12 PM? 8:30 PM? And every time before and after? Can you create a person with so much detail in your mind? With all the possible details that describes that person's existence? Let's say you can: Now do it for 6 billion people. If you can't, then it's impossible for your mind to create the infinitely complex environment in which you imagine yourself, where every imaginary person you see every day is actually a very detailed hallucination in your head. Because, for those people that you see, watch on TV, etc to be as dynamic, different, and complex as they are, they need all the history and backstory that made them who they are. So unless you're in a seemingly infinitely complex computer simulation (like the matrix), there is no way everything around you is unreal.

[Pennoyer]

You can only confirm as real what your own senses are able to detect (assuming 'real' just means whatever you experience). For example, am I a mindless drone writing this post to amuse you? You don't know for sure that I 'think' and 'feel' like you do. I could very well be a puppet that God or whoever created for some purpose that is unknown to you in your 'life'.

Of course, I know that to be false to the extent that I understand my own conscience, but you have no way of confirming that :^)

[Kasierith]

We can't firmly confirm that we're all even participants in the same reality... or even what that reality. In the grand scheme of philisophical thought, "what color do we perceive" is kind of an intro to contemplating reality and existence, especially in terms of perception and the concept of "us" and "other."

[Dendrek]

Well I guess it is one of those "prove him wrong" situations.

Violet light has wavelength 400 nm; Blue has 475 nm; Green has 510 nm; Yellow is 570 nm; Orange has 590 nm; Red has 650 nm.

It's these wavelengths our eyes interpret as the colors we see. These colors also have intensity (violet is the least intense and red is the most). It's not possible for a person's eye to mistake violet as the most intense color. It's not possible for a person's eye to confuse or interpret 570 nm as actually being 400 nm. It is possible for a person to not (or barely) be able to see certain wavelengths. But that's a different issue entirely. You can never see Yellow where I see Blue.

[Kasierith]

Violet light has wavelength 400 nm; Blue has 475 nm; Green has 510 nm; Yellow is 570 nm; Orange has 590 nm; Red has 650 nm.

It's these wavelengths our eyes interpret as the colors we see. These colors also have intensity (violet is the least intense and red is the most). It's not possible for a person's eye to mistake violet as the most intense color. It's not possible for a person's eye to confuse or interpret 570 nm as actually being 400 nm. It is possible for a person to not (or barely) be able to see certain wavelengths. But that's a different issue entirely. You can never see Yellow where I see Blue.

Well... there are some mutations that cause alterations in color perception. Color blindness being the most evident (though not applicable to this), but there are other, rarer forms that essentially have to do with oddities in perception of colors.

We also know that other animals, like the mantis shrimp, can see "more" colors than we can.... and other animals, like dogs, see less.

[Dendrek]

Well... there are some mutations that cause alterations in color perception. Color blindness being the most evident (though not applicable to this), but there are other, rarer forms that essentially have to do with oddities in perception of colors.

We also know that other animals, like the mantis shrimp, can see "more" colors than we can.... and other animals, like dogs, see less.

I did bring that up in my third to last sentence :P

[Kasierith]

I did bring that up in my third to last sentence :P

I was referring to people seeing certain colors as other ones; so, say, your blue will show up as yellow for them. Has to do with improper neuronal connections, essentially; similar to synesthesia, but vision-->vision instead of cross sensory.

[Dendrek]

I was referring to people seeing certain colors as other ones; so, say, your blue will show up as yellow for them. Has to do with improper neuronal connections, essentially; similar to synesthesia, but vision-->vision instead of cross sensory.

If, hypothetically, you were looking at a composite color that is blue blue-green, and you were unable to see the blue wavelength or the green wavelength very clearly, you might see a yellowish color (likely a very murky yellow, with a purplish hue) but you would almost certainly not mistake that for a saturated yellow. In this case, we're not talking about mistaking one color for another: we're talking about being able to interpret the wavelengths you can see and masking or diluting the ones you can't.

[Kasierith]

If, hypothetically, you were looking at a composite color that is blue blue-green, and you were unable to see the blue wavelength or the green wavelength very clearly, you might see a yellowish color (likely a very murky yellow, with a purplish hue) but you would almost certainly not mistake that for a saturated yellow. In this case, we're not talking about mistaking one color for another: we're talking about being able to interpret the wavelengths you can see and masking or diluting the ones you can't.

You're talking about problems with perception; I'm talking about problems with comprehension. Different breakdowns in what is typical for human sight. Problems in perception are more common, but problems in the central nervous system's capacity to identify said colors do exist.

[apepi]

Of course you guys are wrong. Why? Because I don't believe you exist, all you guys are figments of my imagination.

I have a real fucked up imagination.

[Kasierith]

Of course you guys are wrong. Why? Because I don't believe you exist, all you guys are figments of my imagination.

I have a real fucked up imagination.

Nonsense. You're a projection of my dream designed to serve as an aid to trigger my self-realization. In fact, prior to making that post, you didn't even exist; all of your memories of events prior to this are false memories, designed to give the context necessary to participate in a discussion so that I may reach true enlightenment.