They feel like different-but-related thing to me. I would say that colorblindness can be simply that you haven’t learned to differentiate some aspects of reality. A blindspot is not just something you can’t see but a way in which you’re actively hiding from yourself the fact that you can’t see it. That’s how I use the term “blindspot”, which is perhaps downstream of Val / Michael Smith’s “Metacognitive Blindspots” presentations (at eg the 2014 alumni reunion iirc, I forget where/when else). “Colorblindness” doesn’t cut it for that meaning, so it’s not the metaphor I want when I reach for “blindspot”.
Having said that, it’s a cool metaphor for this different thing, and I can see the temptation to stretch “blindspot” to cover it. Both look kinda similar from the outside if you try to give someone feedback about the thing they’re not seeing. I’d say that if someone just has a colorblindness and no blindspot, they would tend to respond more curiously and you’d be able to make some headway starting to point out the dimension and how things vary along it. If someone has a blindspot, trying to talk with them about the thing they’re not seeing will feel weird. You’ll keep saying things and the conversation will sort of circle around the thing you’re trying to point at, or it may feel hard to even put the thing into words while trying to translate it into the other person’s frame, or hard to even stay in touch with the thing yourself while talking with the other person.
If someone has a blindspot, trying to talk with them about the thing they’re not seeing will feel weird. You’ll keep saying things and the conversation will sort of circle around the thing you’re trying to point at, or it may feel hard to even put the thing into words while trying to translate it into the other person’s frame, or hard to even stay in touch with the thing yourself while talking with the other person.
This is exactly true of the colorblindness thing, though.
Like, I was with you up until the quoted lines; that’s what it’s like to e.g. try to explain “red” to someone who can’t perceive red, and didn’t even realize what red is. You keep pointing at red objects and they nod along, you have a hard time putting redness into words while trying to speak in terms they’ll understand, you find yourself maybe even being like “gosh, what is red, though, geez,” etc.
They feel like different-but-related thing to me. I would say that colorblindness can be simply that you haven’t learned to differentiate some aspects of reality. A blindspot is not just something you can’t see but a way in which you’re actively hiding from yourself the fact that you can’t see it. That’s how I use the term “blindspot”, which is perhaps downstream of Val / Michael Smith’s “Metacognitive Blindspots” presentations (at eg the 2014 alumni reunion iirc, I forget where/when else). “Colorblindness” doesn’t cut it for that meaning, so it’s not the metaphor I want when I reach for “blindspot”.
Having said that, it’s a cool metaphor for this different thing, and I can see the temptation to stretch “blindspot” to cover it. Both look kinda similar from the outside if you try to give someone feedback about the thing they’re not seeing. I’d say that if someone just has a colorblindness and no blindspot, they would tend to respond more curiously and you’d be able to make some headway starting to point out the dimension and how things vary along it. If someone has a blindspot, trying to talk with them about the thing they’re not seeing will feel weird. You’ll keep saying things and the conversation will sort of circle around the thing you’re trying to point at, or it may feel hard to even put the thing into words while trying to translate it into the other person’s frame, or hard to even stay in touch with the thing yourself while talking with the other person.
This is exactly true of the colorblindness thing, though.
Like, I was with you up until the quoted lines; that’s what it’s like to e.g. try to explain “red” to someone who can’t perceive red, and didn’t even realize what red is. You keep pointing at red objects and they nod along, you have a hard time putting redness into words while trying to speak in terms they’ll understand, you find yourself maybe even being like “gosh, what is red, though, geez,” etc.