bigjeff5 comments on Heat vs. Motion - Less Wrong

19 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 01 April 2008 03:55AM

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Comment author: Peter_de_Blanc 01 April 2008 12:06:35PM 3 points [-]

Ben Jones said:

Seriously though, taboo 'colour' from your question. Exactly which bit are you still waiting to have explained?

I think you're tabooing overzealously. If I have a bunch of red balls and a bunch of blue balls, and ask 5 people to partition the balls into two subsets based on color, I would expect the same result from all 5 people. How do they do it?

Comment author: bigjeff5 03 February 2011 04:03:19AM * -2 points [-]

In order to answer the question you need to first understand what color actually is.

Once you do, the answer to both your and Mitchell's questions are immediately obvious.

Comment author: Mitchell_Porter 03 February 2011 06:17:12AM 2 points [-]

So what is it?

Comment author: bigjeff5 comment score below threshold [+] (4 children)

Comment author: Mitchell_Porter 03 February 2011 07:38:57AM 3 points [-]

I'm guessing you don't mean the part where it says "complex and continuing philosophical dispute, see qualia".

Comment author: bigjeff5 03 February 2011 04:13:48PM * 6 points [-]

I'll be frank, I honestly do not understand where the philosophical dispute comes from. It seems incredibly silly to me.

The idea that a specific wavelength can trigger a specific electro-chemical response in a specific organ, which is then transmitted to a specific part of the brain which processes that response in a specific manner, but somehow the mental representation of such comes out of nowhere is nonsensical to me. Where would you even come up with such an idea?

Again I'm reminded of computer monitors. It's not magic by which they produce light of varying wavelengths and intensities on the screen, there is a real physical process going on. An electrical engineer could tell you all about in extensive detail.

Computers can distinguish between various colors very well, and can even process those colors without any light as input.

What do computers "see" when they see color?

Comment author: ArisKatsaris 03 February 2011 04:25:20PM * 10 points [-]

Downvoted for "I know something you don't know, but you'll one day learn, young grasshopper" attitude.

If you have an answer, and someone asks you for it, then if it's simple enough to answer, answer it. If you have no answer, don't pretend you do.

Comment author: bigjeff5 03 February 2011 04:48:48PM 7 points [-]

Voted up, because you're absolutely right.

bigjeff5 comments on Heat vs. Motion - Less Wrong

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