Close the blinds.. I can see you masterbating.

 

You can only detect 3 distinct colors, one absence of color- black, and all three- white. You can then combine them based on reflectance (or refraction or the combination). All combinations are mental extrapolations (as are the initial 5 for that matter) of those detections along a continuum. You calibrate this continuum through social experience and multiple observations.

 

From wikipedia, here's a chart of response levels of the three types of cones in the retina to various light frequencies:

 

i believe its a topic in qualia in philosophy. some people may have reversed spectrums, which means that not everyone sees the same thing.

 

I would certinaly disagree from personal experience. If you've ever tried learning Cantonese and you are slightly tone deaf (like me) you would have found that you cannot hear the difference between words because they rely on tone. I cannot hear the difference between certain tones, the words sound the same to me, which is one of the reasons why I can't replicate them.

 

VERY interesting...

 

Note to self... take acid and then come back to this thread

 

When I was in high school our physics textbook contained a number of BC and Wizard of Id comic strips. In one BC comic two of the characters - say, BC and Peter - were discussing this very subject. The discussion followed along these lines:

BC: I wonder if people all see the same colors the same. I bet that they don't. I might see one color and you might see another, but we've both learned that the color we see is called "brown", so we would never know.

Peter: That's ridiculous!

BC: OK, I'll prove it to you. What color is that rock?

Peter: Gray.

BC: Wrong.

(And, for the record, the best color is green.)

 

best color is definitely green

 

Other than what everyone has mentioned about wavelight, color perception, etc. Would it also matter that we 'classify' almost everything we perceive.
Let's say a we have two red S2000's (car A and B) parked next to each other, and a Silverstone (car C); if a group of individuals were to compare the color 'red' on these cars, they would agree that the 'color' looks the same for car A and B, but not from car C.
So, we are classifying a color perception as red, because is perceived the same for both cars.

It is the same for saying "Silverstone", what is that? at the end of the day is just a variation of silver, or grey, or light black, so Honda called it Silverstone, and we all agree is not completely silver, but is not light black, and not pure grey, is an in between mixture.

Just my opinion.