Possible to think of a non-existant color?

[Strife 455]

Well, yes, but since they aren't part of the visible spectrum, they're not colors. If the visible light spectrum were to expand, either artificially or naturally, then they'd be colors, but until that happens, they aren't.

 

Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist.

 

For example, just because someone doesn't know about the color Timberwolf (which is an actual color) doesn't make it nonexistent. It would be like a colorblind person claiming that colors don't exist simply because they can't see them.

[Verde Wub 52]

Some think we can see X-ray, UV, and all of those, but we use other colors to represent them, such as red for head vision. But no, each color is only a variation of the primary colors, and a new color would really only be one outside of our visibility which have somewhat been discovered already.

[98Twilight523 28]

Human eyes are actually kinda weka and I don't think we could comprehend anything outside of the visible spectrum. I'm sure if you really tried you could find a color that's not yet named, but it has at least been noticed, I'm sure.

Edited August 7, 2012 by 98Twilight523

[Evilshy 5,089]

Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist.

 

For example, just because someone doesn't know about the color Timberwolf (which is an actual color) doesn't make it nonexistent. It would be like a colorblind person claiming that colors don't exist simply because they can't see them.

 

Look, I'm not saying that wavelengths outside the visible spectrum don't exist. I'm saying that, by definition, they are not colors, because a color is a designation given to how we SEE a certain wavelength of light. Wavelengths that can't be seen cannot be described using a method based on visual observation.

[Strife 455]

Look, I'm not saying that wavelengths outside the visible spectrum don't exist. I'm saying that, by definition, they are not colors, because a color is a designation given to how we SEE a certain wavelength of light. Wavelengths that can't be seen cannot be described using a method based on visual observation.

 

This isn't all that hard to understand.

 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/color

 

Just because you cannot perceive it, doesn't make it any less so.

 

It is widely acknowledged that the average human eye can perceive 10 million different colors, but due to biodiversity within our species, that number is often higher or lower. There are even some colors within the visible light spectrum that many people cannot see due to them being on the fringe (high or low end), but a small group of people do have the visual acuity for it.

 

So I'll reiterate; just because they cannot be seen or commonly seen, doesn't not make them any less of a color. Simply a rare or currently unnamed / unidentified one.

[Evilshy 5,089]

This isn't all that hard to understand.

 

http://www.merriam-w...ictionary/color

 

Just because you cannot perceive it, doesn't make it any less so.

Yes it does. Even in the definitions you posted, colors are visual. If it cannot be seen with the eyes, it can not be described as a color.

EDIT: Okay, just because I PERSONALLY cannot see a color doesn't mean it doesn't exist, I'll agree with that. I'm only saying that things outside the visible spectrum can't be seen.

 

It is widely acknowledged that the average human eye can perceive 10 million different colors, but due to biodiversity within our species, that number is often higher or lower. There are even some colors within the visible light spectrum that many people cannot see due to them being on the fringe (high or low end), but a small group of people do have the visual acuity for it.

 

So I'll reiterate; just because they cannot be seen or commonly seen, doesn't not make them any less of a color. Simply a rare or currently unnamed / unidentified one.

 

This is true. I'm not denying that some can people see more or less colors than others can, but even people who can see more colors are still confined to seeing the visible spectrum. If a person can see the maximum possible amount of colors, then they might be seeing colors no other person has ever seen, but that would still be the visible spectrum. Gamma rays, UV light, or Radio Waves, or any other waves outside the visible spectrum, cannot be seen, and are therefore not colors.

Edited August 7, 2012 by Evilshy and His Own Ego

[Strife 455]

Yes it does. Even in the definitions you posted, colors are visual. If it cannot be seen with the eyes, it can not be described as a color.

EDIT: Okay, just because I PERSONALLY cannot see a color doesn't mean it doesn't exist, I'll agree with that. I'm only saying that things outside the visible spectrum can't be seen.

 

 

 

This is true. I'm not denying that some can people see more or less colors than others can, but even people who can see more colors are still confined to seeing the visible spectrum. If a person can see the maximum possible amount of colors, then they might be seeing colors no other person has ever seen, but that would still be the visible spectrum. Gamma rays, UV light, or Radio Waves, or any other waves outside the visible spectrum, cannot be seen, and are therefore not colors.

 

Actually yes, wavelengths outside the visible spectrum CAN be seen. Bees, for example, are only one species that have the ability to see wavelengths outside of our typical range.

 

The only reason it is called the 'visible spectrum' is because it is simply the range at which the human eye can detect. Other species have a much different visible spectrum, and in the future that may be true for humans as well.

[Evilshy 5,089]

Actually yes, wavelengths outside the visible spectrum CAN be seen. Bees, for example, are only one species that have the ability to see wavelengths outside of our typical range.

 

The only reason it is called the 'visible spectrum' is because it is simply the range at which the human eye can detect. Other species have a much different visible spectrum, and in the future that may be true for humans as well.

 

Obviously, wavelengths visible to non-humans are not included in the visible spectrum, or else UV rays, Infrared, and other wavelengths would be considered part of it. But, as you said yourself, they're not, because the visible spectrum only contains what humans can see. Bees do not have a concept of color, their brains are not advanced enough for that kind of thinking. And even if they did, why would a color seen and defined only by bees and other non-human creatures be named as a color to humans?

[One 498]

Well at the top of my head (im to lazy to look things up so i may be off) we can see about 10 million different colors, their are other colors like ultraviolets that we cant see, there are also "impossible colors" like a bluish yellow (not green) Also an item is only the color that it dosent reflect but absorbs, like if you see a yellow crayon it absorbs the yellow yet reflects the other colors that are in the visable spectrum, while if you see something like grass which is green, it absorbs yellow and blue, thus making it green (it reflects all other colors) Also white is all the colors and black is absence of colors. and a mirror is a little special, a 'perfect' mirror would be what ever color it reflects and not what it absorbs, yet there is no "perfect" mirror on earth and all mirrors absorb some of dat green, so mirrors are extremely lightly green, best examlpe is if you point a mirror at another mirror, soon it will loose light and become dark and greenish. Well im not scientest and know just as much as anyone else, and im not sure if everything I said was true because I was to lazy to confirm it... so there you go.. oh and if you didnt catch it the answer is yes (but what do I know?)

[碇 シンジン 27,427]

Human brain cannot come up with something that it has no references to or something that it is not able to construct from the information that is already available.

In short  you cannot visually imagine something that you have not seen or experienced in anyway anywhere ever

[Phosphor 11,522]

Probably not. Even if humans could get an upgrade to see the near infrared, UV or other spectrum, the brain would likely assign a false color for that light. My guess would be like what happens to a color camera when it's converted to see Near IR. Near IR swamps the color channels, which interferes with color balancing.

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

If you'd seen the chaotic mishmash I made of my last painting, you'd believe that new colors could exist, whether you wanted to or not.

I so need lessons.

[Vulcan 3,254]

I believe it's possible in a way,

When you think about it, Color is sort of an illusion, the output from which our brains perceive the different wave lengths of electromagnetic radiation. So I guess if you could imagine yourself having the ability to perceive light in it's truest form , as electromagnetic radiation instead of in it's visible form ,seeing it as "strings" or "waves" , It would technically count as being able to perceive colors outside the visible range...

Even thinking about the Wifi logo, with it's arching Signals, kind of technically counts as you thinking of non-existent color

Edited September 30, 2018 by White Blood Cell

[Here No Longer 5,270]

There exists an infinite amount of colors. There is no such thing as a non-existent color. There are just colors that our eyes cannot quite perceive.

[TBD 17,228]

I know there's many colors to mix and match, but I wouldn't know any "non existent" ones if it never introduced to me yet.

[Olly 1,008]

I'm not sure it's possible to think of one since all we've ever seen is the colors we can see. Anything you think of will be some combination of the colors we know, which are the "colors" that exist (for us), since they can be seen by us. Humans see wavelengths of light in the 350 and 750nm range, and have three cones in our eyes. Of course, some shrimp have as many as 35 cones, so they might well see colors we don't. If you want to see more colors, add more cones! 

[Midnight Solace 5,129]

I don't think so, there's only so much our pony eyes can see. And our brains can't think of another colour, as it already knows all the colours you have seen, and can't just create another one. It's hard to think of a colour that doesn't exist.

[Nsxile 25,669]

I don't think its possible to imagine another colour.

[CypherHoof 26,479]

On 8/7/2012 at 5:15 AM, Evilshy said:

Well, yes, but since they aren't part of the visible spectrum, they're not colors. If the visible light spectrum were to expand, either artificially or naturally, then they'd be colors, but until that happens, they aren't.

Which presumes everyone sees colour the same, of course.

At a basic level, we see colour in RGB - that is, we have cells that are most sensitive at three frequencies roughly corresponding to red, green and blue, but which can activate for light at frequencies to either side too, just not as strongly. here is a typical graph:

This leads to some intersting side effects. lets take an example of yellow; if you see a photon at the right frequency, then it will generate a "red" and a "green" signal from those two cones, and you will see "yellow". But what if you are *really* seeing one photon at 600nm and another at 700? well, if the brightness of those two photons are chosen correctly, we will be unable to tell the difference (visually) from the "yellow" we saw from a single photon earlier. TVs take advantage of this - by generating light at three frquencies (literally red, green and blue) and mixing and matching them, they can make us "see" any colour they like, because they are triggering the three different reception cones separately.

So, where am I going with this? well, there are an infinite number of combinations of two (or a dozen!) photons that will have the same effect as a given single photon "colour", but each is actually a distinct colour, that the average human eye (as in the graph above) can't distinguish.  But of course nobody HAS an "average human eye" - so it is possible to imagine two colours that you see as slightly different shades, and I can't distinguish, and equally, two that *I* can distinguish, but you see as identical.

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

Ooh, this is a very interesting topic.

I don’t know if it really is possible or not. It’s certainly impossible for me though. Like, I’ve literally sat and tried to rack my brain thinking of colors that don’t exist but I wound up getting a headache. 

 

[HeavenSunset 1,867]

No, i've tried it many times and because we have never seen any other colors then what we can see, we can't think of them

[Magpie 621]

What, you've never heard of nerlay?

 

Real answer is it depends. Some people can see more colors than most, in particular there's apparently a color that's kind of yellow and kind of blue but isn't green. That doesn't make it nonexistent though. As for thinking of a new one I don't think it is, since we're working with what we can comprehend.

[Stardust 640]

https://www.livescience.com/42797-mantis-shrimp-sees-color.html

Be like dis guy ha so many colours they can see

There was this optical illusion thing and it made u see a fake colour

[Fluttershutter 2,118]

I'm really interested in what makes something a color. When I was a kid cyan was just a shade of blue. Everybody's heard of ROY G BIV but apparently indigo ISN'T a color. MLP frequently features rainbows and they always follow the red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple spectrum I learned. 

(on an unrelated topic none of these emojis look confused. We need one.)

[Splashee 28,537]

It is not possible to think up a new color, just like it is not possible to see beyond 3 dimensions.

 

We are touching the limits of the physical world as we can perceive it. The more interesting part about it is that we might not even see the same colors as other human beings do, but we still have the same name for them.
You might see green, calling it red, and I might see blue, and calling it red. The color is therefore red!

 

Looking at the rainbow, how many reflections of the same color can you see until your eyes fail you? I can see at least 2 reds, maybe 3. It looks like the colors keep wrapping around. it might be an illusion.

 

But for the sake of it, I made a new color called gläh. It is not warm, nor cold, just disgusting somewhat. It has almost all colors mixed into it, but still not black. Can you imagine it? No? I thought so.