“Total color blindness” does not mean “sees only in black and white”
Edit -
The reason I say this is that the phrase “only sees in black & white” in the title could easily be taken literally, making it sound like a simple black-and-white picture. While it’s the most common and helpful analogy, colorblindness is more nuanced than that. I suggest a slight change in the title to offer more clarity:
TIL that due to a genetic bottle neck, 10% of the population of the pacific atoll of Pingelap has achromatopsia, i.e. total color blindness, like seeing in “black & white”
~Rant about people’s reactions in this comment thread~
spoiler
This concept is clearly difficult to convey, I get that. However, I am disappointed that some reactions focused on criticism of my articulation rather than seeking clarification or offering alternative explanations. I tried an analogy using NULL to illustrate the conceptual difference, but that was also met with criticism focused on its imperfections rather than the concept I was trying to convey.
I have a range of close, personal experiences with colorblind people, and the conversation of colorblindness has come up frequently. I have also confirmed my understanding of the deeper nuances with optometrists and a neuro-ophthalmologist. My intention was simply to share my information, which I believed was the purpose of this community. It is disheartening to feel that my attempts to communicate were met with such negativity.
I have no idea what you’re saying, but their receptors work in 1D instead of 3D color space. Dimensionality of black-white/brightness is 1D so the analogy is correct, they see in the same number of dimensions as black-white vision. We do not know how their brain actually interprets though.
Actually, you’ve pretty much nailed what I’ve been trying to say.
That’s a good way of rephrasing my point. Calling it “black and white” is an analogy and not explicitly what they see. While we don’t know how the brain interprets vision without comes from our perspective (“is my blue your blue?”), it’s not “black and white” in the way we know it.
The title just states it as if they explicitly see only “black and white” and I was just trying to point out the difference. It spreads bad information phrased like that.
“Total color blindness” does not mean “sees only in black and white”
Edit -
The reason I say this is that the phrase “only sees in black & white” in the title could easily be taken literally, making it sound like a simple black-and-white picture. While it’s the most common and helpful analogy, colorblindness is more nuanced than that. I suggest a slight change in the title to offer more clarity:
~Rant about people’s reactions in this comment thread~
spoiler
This concept is clearly difficult to convey, I get that. However, I am disappointed that some reactions focused on criticism of my articulation rather than seeking clarification or offering alternative explanations. I tried an analogy using NULL to illustrate the conceptual difference, but that was also met with criticism focused on its imperfections rather than the concept I was trying to convey.
I have a range of close, personal experiences with colorblind people, and the conversation of colorblindness has come up frequently. I have also confirmed my understanding of the deeper nuances with optometrists and a neuro-ophthalmologist. My intention was simply to share my information, which I believed was the purpose of this community. It is disheartening to feel that my attempts to communicate were met with such negativity.
I have no idea what you’re saying, but their receptors work in 1D instead of 3D color space. Dimensionality of black-white/brightness is 1D so the analogy is correct, they see in the same number of dimensions as black-white vision. We do not know how their brain actually interprets though.
Actually, you’ve pretty much nailed what I’ve been trying to say.
That’s a good way of rephrasing my point. Calling it “black and white” is an analogy and not explicitly what they see. While we don’t know how the brain interprets vision without comes from our perspective (“is my blue your blue?”), it’s not “black and white” in the way we know it.
The title just states it as if they explicitly see only “black and white” and I was just trying to point out the difference. It spreads bad information phrased like that.