: how are we sure that we all see the same colors ?

Question

I’m not sure how should I phrase it but lets give it a try.

How are we sure that the color I see as green, for exemple, is the same color as someone else’s green?

Is it possible that the color I call green is an other color for someone else’s eyes but we name it the same because we grew up with people naming this color “green”?
I really hope im being clear enough

In: 22483

Answer 1

We don’t. You’re talking about something known as qualia. We can’t know what someone else’s subjective experiences are.

We know that for the most part we all agree what red is, what blue is, etc but we can’t, and most likely never will, be able to know how other people experience that.

Now have fun when people come in and misinterpret your question and start talking about wavelengths of light, etc.

Edit:

Thank you everyone for the awards.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

There is a YouTube video about it from vsauce, greatly explained that you and I might see the color green and agree that it’s green.

But your brains converts your green it to something that would be my red.
And maybe my red, would be would your brain sees as green and so on.

So we agree it’s green, but what it looks like might be Vet different.

I guess the only thing the same I black and white as they cpintoin all color or none

Answer 4

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Answer 5

[Chris and Jack](https://youtu.be/f7q8f6KMcac) did a really funny sketch about body swapping that includes a great bit about this.

But, yeah, it’s all about subjective perceptions of reality. We can all look at a banana and agree that it’s yellow, but theoretically perceive it as completely different pigments than each other. I may see the banana as what you would call brown, and you’d see it as what I call purple, but we’d both say it’s yellow from our own personal perceptions.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Color wheel would make no sense if humans generally didn’t experience the same qualia for a specific instance of sight

How often do you see people complaining that it’s hard to perceive black text on a white background? Never, because no one’s black is perceived as something like a yellow

Answer 8

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Answer 9

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Answer 10

Counter question, Why would we not?

If our eyes are made of the same types of cells etc, and organized in the same manner. It should work the same way everytime, just like maths. Or like building an engine, the only problem would be mutations etc, like ”changes in the formula” .