dxu comments on Mind Projection Fallacy - Less Wrong

35 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 March 2008 12:29AM

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Comment author: adamzerner 27 February 2015 02:00:48AM *  4 points [-]

Optical illusions might be a good example of this. Ex. http://www.buzzfeed.com/catesish/help-am-i-going-insane-its-definitely-blue#.hfZoPkgjK

People are freaking out over what color the dress "really is". They're projecting the property of "true color" onto the real world, when in reality "true color" is only in their mind.

The way I think about it:

dress.trueColor = undefined;
dress.reflectedWavelength = someNumber;
dress.interpretedColor = function(reflectedWavelength, observer, context, lighting...) {}
Comment author: dxu 27 February 2015 05:37:31AM *  1 point [-]

I think it has more to do with the fact that optical illusions are generally human universals, i.e. all humans see the same thing. (Certain illusions may be susceptible to cultural influence, but I don't think that really applies here--Buzzfeed commenters are all generally from similar demographics.) Given this, it's really weird that some people are seeing one thing and other people are seeing something else.

Case in point: I see it as white-and-gold, and I've looked over it several times already, with no change. I am actually having difficulty imagining how anyone could perceive it as blue-and-black, despite being fairly certain that the people their claiming to see blue-and-black are not lying. What's strange isn't the illusion itself, but the extremely polarizing effect it has on people.

Comment author: adamzerner 27 February 2015 05:42:08AM *  1 point [-]

I definitely agree - it's a particularly curious illusion. Some researcher seems to think so as well.

“But I’ve studied individual differences in color vision for 30 years, and this is one of the biggest individual differences I’ve ever seen.” - http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

But the point remains that it can be explained by understanding the illusion, and that projecting "true color" onto the real world is a mistake.

Comment author: dxu 27 February 2015 05:59:02AM *  2 points [-]

Yes, I agree that projecting "true color" onto the real world is a mistake. I'm not sure those commenters are actually doing that, though. I think your interpretation of the Buzzfeed argument is something like this:

"It's white-and-gold!"

"No, it's blue-and-black! How can you think it's white-and-gold?!"

Whereas my interpretation, I feel, is slightly more charitable:

"I see white-and-gold!"

"No way, I see blue-and-black! Why are you seeing something different from what I'm seeing?"

In other words, I feel that the dicussion isn't quite as full of fallacious reasoning as you seem to be making it out to be (in that it could interpreted in a different way that makes it about something other than the mind projection fallacy). Of course, I could be wrong. What do you think?

Comment author: adamzerner 27 February 2015 06:19:26AM 2 points [-]

I actually trust your interpretation over mine. I haven't read through it too carefully and sense that my frustration has interfered with my interpretation a bit.

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