Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman Ep115 "What is color? Part 1: Why hunters wear orange"
Aug 4, 2025
Discover why hunters wear orange and how color influences animal behavior. Explore the intriguing ways birds and bees select flowers based on color and the evolution of human color vision. Delve into the psychological aspects of color perception and its role in social interactions. Uncover the significance of color in warning signals and camouflage in nature. Learn about the unique color vision capabilities of women and the fascinating relationship between flowers and their pollinators.
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Color Is Brain's Creation
- Color is not an inherent property of light, but a construct of the brain interpreting wavelengths.
- Our perception of color is a brain-generated experience based on signals from the eyes' photoreceptors.
Opposing Color Pairs
- The brain encodes colors in opposing pairs which prevents simultaneous perception of certain color mixes.
- This explains why colors like reddish green or bluish yellow cannot be seen.
Subjective Color Experience
- Subjective experience of color is distinct from the physical facts and neural mechanisms behind it.
- The famous Mary's Room thought experiment highlights the gap between knowing facts and experiencing color.
