The Geometry of Experience - by Tommy Blanchard

Can you describe the redness of red?

I have a vivid memory of standing in line in grade 10 drama class and overhearing a student claim you can’t describe red. All colors are ineffable. You can’t describe a color, you can only experience it. I think this student was mistaking description with simulation. We can describe colors, it’s just that descriptions don’t necessarily allow us to simulate seeing it. This echoes a popular thought experiment in philosophy of mind, where Mary the color scientist is locked in a colorless room from birth. She learns everything there is to know about color, without seeing it. Then when she comes…

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• Siddhartha Srivastava

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