Is white a color? From a physical perspective, no. A color is visible light that has a specific wavelength. White light contains the wavelengths of the entire light spectrum, making it not a color. Similarly, black is not technically a color, as it is simply the absence of visible light. But then. who really gives a crap? The white you see on your computer monitor isn’t really that, for example. It’s a simulation of that, performed by red green and blue light being emitted in a very small space simultaneously, tricking the red green and blue cones in your eyes to perceiving white. And from the perspective of design, there is no other way to classify these things. It has an HTML/Hexadecimal color code (#FFFFFF). I guess the only way to be wrong is to argue either side.
These are the weird thoughts that creep into my head when I’m trying to sleep and won’t shut up until I outlet them. Thank you, Meh. Good night. You’re beautiful.
@mhires Color is a type of sensation in your mind – it is usually linked to physical stimulation (which is quite handy really) but it is not dependent on these.
I think the argument about specific wavelengths, mixtures of them or their complete absence falls apart once you realise that these are neither necessary nor sufficient for a sensation of color.
Color is just one type of property things in your constructed representation of the world can have.
@qwesda That’s actually a lot farther away from defining what color is, rather than closer.
It’s a type of sensation your mind perceives, sure, but that’s about as vague as a description can get, as it applies to literally every single thing you’ve ever experienced.
It’s a property of things, yeah! But which property and why? From the perspective of the light spectrum, that property is which wavelengths of light are being reflected off of a surface and back into your eyes, stimulating your cone receptors which sends a signal to your brain. You lose me when implying that the perception of color isn’t dependent on physical stimulation, though.
Even if your cone receptors send an erroneous signal to your brain (like computer screen white being RGB, above), that’s a physical stimulation. If chemicals aren’t balanced up in your squishy computer and you see something that’s not really there, even if you perceive color, it’s not really there. That is also still a physical interaction. Because your brain’s chemistry is physical, and your perception is always dependent on physical interaction.
Anyway, I was just saying that we have different schools of thought applying the word color in different ways, and categorizing things differently based on the criteria in which they apply to themselves, neither being technically wrong from within their own perspective.
I think Irk missed the point of the question. How can something that stimulates the tastebuds using entirely human-synthesized organic compounds be called a flavor? In my mind, flavors are derived from nature, like the adjectives that aficionados use to describe wines and coffees. It’s only through consensual hallucination that we’ve agreed on a “flavor” called bubblegum. It’s not like there is an actual standard or anything that any piece of gum can be compared against. It’s the Worst kind of “artificial flavor”–one that isn’t simulating ANYTHING.
@curtw4 Seems to me that if we can taste it, synthetic or otherwise, it’s a flavor. But we invent flavors all the time, right? A Margarita has a flavor. Sure, it’s constituted from other identifiable ingredients, but that combination results in something that is distinctly a margarita. And other things like water-ice and candy have mimicked that “flavor”. Birthday cake is like that too.
@chacham I think we need a /pronounce command that takes a username as an argument and translates it to (or rather fails to translate it to) the international phonetic alphabet.
/giphy chicken gum yum yum
/image buffalo chicken bubblegum
Is white a color? From a physical perspective, no. A color is visible light that has a specific wavelength. White light contains the wavelengths of the entire light spectrum, making it not a color. Similarly, black is not technically a color, as it is simply the absence of visible light. But then. who really gives a crap? The white you see on your computer monitor isn’t really that, for example. It’s a simulation of that, performed by red green and blue light being emitted in a very small space simultaneously, tricking the red green and blue cones in your eyes to perceiving white. And from the perspective of design, there is no other way to classify these things. It has an HTML/Hexadecimal color code (#FFFFFF). I guess the only way to be wrong is to argue either side.
These are the weird thoughts that creep into my head when I’m trying to sleep and won’t shut up until I outlet them. Thank you, Meh. Good night. You’re beautiful.
@mhires Color is a type of sensation in your mind – it is usually linked to physical stimulation (which is quite handy really) but it is not dependent on these.
I think the argument about specific wavelengths, mixtures of them or their complete absence falls apart once you realise that these are neither necessary nor sufficient for a sensation of color.
Color is just one type of property things in your constructed representation of the world can have.
@qwesda That’s actually a lot farther away from defining what color is, rather than closer.
It’s a type of sensation your mind perceives, sure, but that’s about as vague as a description can get, as it applies to literally every single thing you’ve ever experienced.
It’s a property of things, yeah! But which property and why? From the perspective of the light spectrum, that property is which wavelengths of light are being reflected off of a surface and back into your eyes, stimulating your cone receptors which sends a signal to your brain. You lose me when implying that the perception of color isn’t dependent on physical stimulation, though.
Even if your cone receptors send an erroneous signal to your brain (like computer screen white being RGB, above), that’s a physical stimulation. If chemicals aren’t balanced up in your squishy computer and you see something that’s not really there, even if you perceive color, it’s not really there. That is also still a physical interaction. Because your brain’s chemistry is physical, and your perception is always dependent on physical interaction.
Anyway, I was just saying that we have different schools of thought applying the word color in different ways, and categorizing things differently based on the criteria in which they apply to themselves, neither being technically wrong from within their own perspective.
I think Irk missed the point of the question. How can something that stimulates the tastebuds using entirely human-synthesized organic compounds be called a flavor? In my mind, flavors are derived from nature, like the adjectives that aficionados use to describe wines and coffees. It’s only through consensual hallucination that we’ve agreed on a “flavor” called bubblegum. It’s not like there is an actual standard or anything that any piece of gum can be compared against. It’s the Worst kind of “artificial flavor”–one that isn’t simulating ANYTHING.
@curtw4 Seems to me that if we can taste it, synthetic or otherwise, it’s a flavor. But we invent flavors all the time, right? A Margarita has a flavor. Sure, it’s constituted from other identifiable ingredients, but that combination results in something that is distinctly a margarita. And other things like water-ice and candy have mimicked that “flavor”. Birthday cake is like that too.
And with that…
Yay! Irk answered my question! He also called me shazam or something. I don’t mind, that’s just irk for you.
FWIW, the question was inspired by this thread on perlmonks.
@chacham I think we need a /pronounce command that takes a username as an argument and translates it to (or rather fails to translate it to) the international phonetic alphabet.
Why should only irk have fun with mispronouncing!
I always thought it was a musical genre, but what do I know.
How often is bi-monthly? Biannually? Biennally? Semi-annually? Fortnightly?
@GaTechThomas Silly, it’s things like MVP that you buy monthly.
Buffalo chicken is a soda flavor so I assume you can make gum too.
/image buffalo chicken soda