What Would Happen if the World Had No Colors?

[debeng]

what if the world was everything black and white and grey? no any colours?

 

[Pengwuino]

Well since white is a combonation of all the visible spectrum... I'm not sure how that's possible.

 

[Dmstifik8ion]

Well since white is a combonation of all the visible spectrum... I'm not sure how that's possible.

Well put! I just examined a white area of my colored monitor with a magnifier and I saw red, green and blue segments; (none of these where white).

 

[Pengwuino]

my magnifier isn't good enough to pick them up :P

 

[Lisa!]

I think it would be possible if there's a defect in one's brain or eye!(not sure but I think some animals see the world in black and white.)

Color.

 

[Dmstifik8ion]

my magnifier isn't good enough to pick them up :P

If there is an old color tv around that might be easier to see.

 

[Mk]

Well since white is a combonation of all the visible spectrum... I'm not sure how that's possible.

White is a combination of all colors, and black means no color.

 

[Gale]

Dogs see in black and white only, well and shades of gray. plus their are plenty of people who're color blind, though from whati understand, most people aren't entirely color blind, they just can't distinguish colors easily. Besides something's color is just one distinguishing characteristic of the things its made up of. its not necessary that we be able to distinguish colors, but it makes it easier to identify objects. but we could do that either way.

 

[matthyaouw]

Firstly I'd say "What the f**k happened to my cone cells?", and if it turned out they were fine i'd worry about what had happened to the rest of the EM spectrum. That wouldn't last long though, as I'd get run over at the next pedestrian crossing.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Oliver Sacks treated a guy who lost all color vision after a freak bump on the head in just the right spot in a car accident.

Everything was shades of grey for him which made many things repulsive, especially food.

 

[moose]

Well since white is a combonation of all the visible spectrum... I'm not sure how that's possible.

What if your brain could only "show" you black and white? Some people have messed up cones or whatever and have that problem too...

 

[Math Is Hard]

Oliver Sacks treated a guy who lost all color vision after a freak bump on the head in just the right spot in a car accident.
Everything was shades of grey for him which made many things repulsive, especially food.

Funny, that's the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread. Here's a synopsis I found for those who haven't read it:
http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=bkrev/sacks-anthropologist

Sacks begins with a portrait of Mr. I., a visual artist who, due to brain damage, can no longer perceive color. Mr. I.'s extreme case of cerebral achromatopsia, or color-blindness, is a result of seeing with wavelength-sensitive cells only, and not the brain's more sophisticated mechanism for perceiving color. As Sacks describes, the artist sees a “prechromatic” world that fluctuates as light changes.
In each of Sacks' portraits, an individual's loss becomes a story of transformation. After one year without color perception, Mr. I. moves into a productive period of black-and-white paintings. Those who do not know about his loss see this phase as a reflection of creative renewal and artistic development. When presented with the possibility of having at least some of his color vision restored, Mr. I. rejects the idea. The world he perceives is too solidly re-constructed—in Sacks words, too "coherent and complete"—to alter. Color, on the other hand, no longer holds its previous associations and, in this way, no longer makes sense to him. The idea of substituting his "prechromatic world" with the lost world of color becomes just as unimaginable for Mr. I. as a colorless world might seem to those who have never experienced it.

I wish I still had the book. I remember being fascinated that it wasn't the cone cells in his eyes that were damaged, but part of the brain involved in processing the color information. He suffered a whack on the back of the noggin, I guess? I can't remember the details. I found the following information about the disorder:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3265459&dopt=Abstract

To the patient, the sudden onset of cerebral achromatopsia is like switching to black and white on a color TV. As a rule, the defect arises due to bilateral ischemic infarction in the inferior occipitotemporal region. Bilateral upper homonymous quadrantanopsias usually leave the macula more or less unimpaired, so that visual acuity is largely preserved. Prosopagnosia and loss of topographic memory are often associated with central achromatopsia. Investigations of color vision must include color-naming procedures and largefield tests in addition to the conventional methods. Color-naming tasks are indispensable in differentiating cerebral achromatopsia from the aphasic and disconnective types of color anomia.

I have no idea what a "bilateral ischemic infarction" is. Or "Bilateral upper homonymous quadrantanopsias" either.

 

[scott1]

What if your brain could only "show" you black and white? Some people have messed up cones or whatever and have that problem too...

It cololerd blind.Sometimes people who color blind can't see any color's but they can tell the differnce it's kind of like when your watching TV from the 60's you when the just had black tv back then,you couldn't see any color's but you could kind of tell which were which

 

[zoobyshoe]

I have no idea what a "bilateral ischemic infarction" is. Or "Bilateral upper homonymous quadrantanopsias" either.

Good quotes you found there.
---
Main Entry: bi·lat·er·al
Pronunciation: (")bI-'la-t(&-)r&l
Function: adjective
1 : having two sides
2 : affecting reciprocally two nations or parties <a bilateral treaty> <a bilateral trade agreement>
3 a : of, relating to, or affecting the right and left sides of the body or the right and left members of paired organs <bilateral nephrectomy> b : having bilateral symmetry
- bi·lat·er·al·ism /-t(&-)r&-"li-z&m/ noun
- bi·lat·er·al·ly adverb
------------
Main Entry: is·che·mia
Pronunciation: is-'kE-mE-&
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin ischaemia, from ischaemus styptic, from Greek ischaimos, from ischein to restrain (akin to Greek echein to hold) + haima blood -- more at SCHEME
: localized tissue anemia due to obstruction of the inflow of arterial blood
- is·che·mic /-mik/ adjective
------------------------------
Main Entry: in·farct
Pronunciation: 'in-"färkt, in-'
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin infarctus, past participle of infarcire to stuff, from in- + farcire to stuff
: an area of necrosis in a tissue or organ resulting from obstruction of the local circulation by a thrombus or embolus
- in·farct·ed /in-'färk-t&d/ adjective
- in·farc·tion /in-'färk-sh&n/ noun
------------------------------
So, a "bilateral ischemic infarction" is a situation where the same area of both hemispheres has been killed because the arterial blood feeding them was blocked by a blood clot or lump of cholesterol

 

[debeng]

then what does grey mean?

White is a combination of all colors, and black means no color.

if white means all coulour and black means none? what would grey mean?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

if white means all coulour and black means none? what would grey mean?

I think that it would be like dimming of the light. A white surface is reflecting all the visible colours of light in the spectrum. A black surface is absorbing all the visible colours of light in the spectrum. By combining the effect of the white with the effect of the black you more or less "dim" the reflected light. There is no grey in the spectrum of colours of light.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Here's an illustration of the relative sensitivity of the cones to the rods. Rods, which are all that are left in total color blindness are only sensitive in a narrow range.
http://sky.bsd.uchicago.edu/lcy_ref/synap/conesensitivity.gif