First, let us make it clear that when you see red, your brain does not store pixels with high R-value in little RGB colour points.
I conjecture that the brain has some highly efficient storage formats for visuals, which is evident in the fact that people untrained in visual arts all have very symbol-centric expressive forms. You do not store a high fidelity vector-graphics image of a red sports car when you see one; you probably store the symbol car, the colour red, the feelings associated with the car-brand, some sense of ‘sleekness’ and many other paintbrush handles.
Absence of qualia in the paintbrush handles is evident in language; most people agree that the sky on a clear day is some shade of blue. “Blue” is universal, but blue certainly isn’t.
Whatever feelings and images the colour blue conjures up in your internal narrative is your personal experience of blue.
It all ties up to the broader concept of the way the brain works when we are empathic. Parts of the brain associated with the experience of colour (visual cortex? I am not good with neurology) can be lit up both by stimuli from the retinal nerve, AND by stimuli from imagination or conversation.
I have a lot of intuits on this that are hard to verbalize.
First, let us make it clear that when you see red, your brain does not store pixels with high R-value in little RGB colour points.
I conjecture that the brain has some highly efficient storage formats for visuals, which is evident in the fact that people untrained in visual arts all have very symbol-centric expressive forms. You do not store a high fidelity vector-graphics image of a red sports car when you see one; you probably store the symbol car, the colour red, the feelings associated with the car-brand, some sense of ‘sleekness’ and many other paintbrush handles.
Absence of qualia in the paintbrush handles is evident in language; most people agree that the sky on a clear day is some shade of blue. “Blue” is universal, but blue certainly isn’t. Whatever feelings and images the colour blue conjures up in your internal narrative is your personal experience of blue.
It all ties up to the broader concept of the way the brain works when we are empathic. Parts of the brain associated with the experience of colour (visual cortex? I am not good with neurology) can be lit up both by stimuli from the retinal nerve, AND by stimuli from imagination or conversation.
I have a lot of intuits on this that are hard to verbalize.