Neither do I feel like debating the definition of color.
What I am is disappointed. You brought up the "color constancy" phenomenon as an instance where "think like reality" is applicable, and then failed to follow through with an analysis of what is actually going on. You sound as if you are content to know that the phenomenon is in principle explicable; as if the post has done its job by demonstrating your commitment to "thinking like reality". I would prefer you had gone deeper into the object-level analysis and offered your own explanation of what is going on in this particular case.
This is a little bit like parents who lecture their children about the importance of being truthful, vs. parents who demonstrate being truthful - and being OK with confronting unpleasant truths.
EDIT: I didn't mean to sound sanctimonious (I realize I do sound sanctimonious). My main intent is to express a wish regarding what I'd like to see in future posts of this type.
What I am is disappointed. You brought up the "color constancy" phenomenon as an instance where "think like reality" is applicable, and then failed to follow through with an analysis of what is actually going on.
The point of this post is not to debate, discuss, or analyze color constancy. The point of the post is to talk about illusions and how we think of them as bizarre when we shouldn't.
I have not once debated color or the theories behind the illusion. All I did was use a word one way when other people use it another way. I am not...
Today I looked at the above illusion and thought, "Why do I keep thinking A and B are different colors? Obviously, something is wrong with how I am thinking about colors." I am being stupid when my I look at this illusion and I interpret the data in such a way to determine distinct colors. My expectations of reality and the information being transmitted and received are not lining up. If they were, the illusion wouldn't be an illusion.
The number 2 is prime; the number 6 is not. What about the number 1? Prime is defined as a natural number with exactly two divisors. 1 is an illusionary prime if you use a poor definition such as, "Prime is a number that is only divisible by itself and 1." Building on these bad assumptions could result in all sorts of weird results much like dividing by 0 can make it look like 2 = 1. What a tricky illusion!
An optical illusion is only bizarre if you are making a bad assumption about how your visual system is supposed to be working. It is a flaw in the Map, not the Territory. I should stop thinking that the visual system is reporting RGB style colors. It isn't. And, now that I know this, I am suddenly curious about what it is reporting. I have dropped a bad belief and am looking for a replacement. In this case, my visual system is distinguishing between something else entirely. Now that I have the right answer, this optical illusion should become as uninteresting as questioning whether 1 is prime. It should stop being weird, bizarre, and incredible. It merely highlights an obvious reality.
Addendum: This post was edited to fix a few problems and errors. If you are at all interested in more details behind the illusion presented here, there are a handful of excellent comments below.