I appreciate this thoughtful and lucid exposition!
F. Frank LeFever, Ph.D.
New York Neuropsychology Group
In <19990718113519.04352.00002152 at ng-cf1.aol.com> orfnugen6 at aol.com
(ORFNUGEN6) writes:
>>"Ken Collins" <KPaulC at email.msn.com> wrote:
>> the 'color blue' is precisely defined in terms of it's
>> electromagnetic spectrum, and the correlated energy-flow.
>>Your problem is that you are confusing the cause
>with its effect.
>>EM is the common abbreviation for electromagnetic
>radiation.
>>Color is not a physical phenomenon. We all call EM
>of a certain frequency "blue," and we each know what
>we experience when we encounter EM of this frequency.
>But we may each be experiencing something different.
>What blacks perceive as red, Asians may perceive
>as blue, and another specie of animal might perceive
>as some color never before experienced by man.
>>Perceived colors naturally form a wheel. EM radiation
>is linear. The color violet has a considerable about of red
>in it. In our perception, violet is exactly halfway between
>between red and blue. Yet in terms of EM, violet is at the
>opposite end of the spectrum from red. In terms of EM
>radiation, green and yellow are all closer to red than violet
>is to red. Yet, we percieve violet as being closer to red than
>yellow and green. Colors are different from the wavelengths
>of light that produce them. All frequencies of light are
>inherently colorless.
>>You can be made to see color even when no EM is present.
>And you can be made to see blue when are shown light which
>you are used to calling red. You equate the color red with a
>specific wavelength of light because in your life these two
>phenomenon have a 100% correlation rate. In fact, a specific
>wavelength of light does CAUSE you to experience a specific
>color sensation. But there is a difference between the color
>you are sensing and the EM radiation that is producing that
>color in your brain.
>>The color blue only exists in the human brain. If Earth
>were invaded by aliens who sensed different frequencies
>of light as different sounds or other sensation we can't
>imagine, and all life forms on Earth were destroyed, colors
>such as red, blue and green would cease to exist in the
>universe, unless there were another species somewhere
>with brains nearly identical to ours.
>>Just because a computer is able to distinguish different
>frequencies of light doesn't mean the computer is seeing
>the colors red, blue and green. Green light is not green.
>It is our brain's interaction with green light that produces
>the color green in our brain.
>>And so this is with all our perceptions of taste, sound,
>feeling, self-awareness, and emotions. A computer can
>be made self-aware in the same way it can be made
>to see the color green. This is not true self-awareness.
>>This is not to say that computers will never be self-aware.
>But this self-awareness will require something that we
>don't quite understand how to generate at this point.
>Complex computers are no more conscious than a simple
>calculator. It is a fallacy to believe that complexity and
>intelligence will lead to consciousness.
>
