[ExI] Mary passes the test.

Spencer Campbell lacertilian at gmail.com
Wed Feb 10 21:54:14 UTC 2010


Will Steinberg <steinberg.will at gmail.com>:
> The Scientists invent a fake color called "bread."  They teach Mary all
> there is to know about red and about bread.  When asked which one is the
> real color, Mary tells the scientists that it is obviously red, because her
> mind is able to, unexplainable but surely, delve deeper into the
> understanding of this.  My point is that there is, at least to me, something
> in the facts that will, however minutely, betray the idea of redness to her.

This is actually within the realm of possibility, surprisingly enough,
so your theory is subject to a certain degree of testing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_colors

Can you imagine bluish-yellow or greenish-red?

The latter is unusually easy for me, because I'm deuteranomalous.
Without giving more than a few minutes of effort to it, I'm willing to
say that I find the former completely inconceivable.



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