# Do we all see the same color "blue"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381 "2008-04-29T18:48:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/1 "2008-04-29T18:48:41Z")
Something we used to debate back in college while influenced by various substances. If I were to somehow go behind your eyes, would we both see blue as “blue”. Would your blue look red to me, but you’ve always called that shade blue, so never knew the difference? I have a very funny feeling that there’s a scientific answer about the way the eye works vs light frequencies that says everyone sees “blue” as blue (except colorblind, etc). Then I see the way some people dress and coordinate, and I have to wonder 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/2 "2008-04-29T18:54:35Z")
We don’t know. There is some indirect evidence that there may be differences in the way individual’s brains perceive color, but to what extent they might vary, we have no idea; presumably this is not possible to answer. Remember, the eyes don’t see color (or anything else), it’s the brain that does all that. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/3 "2008-04-29T19:02:01Z")
I read somewhere once that there are two types of receptor for red in the cone cells in the retina, which respond to slightly different frequency ranges. We all have either one type of red receptor or the other, depending on genetics. Conceivably one group of people sees red slightly differently from the other group, but nobody really knows. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/4 "2008-04-29T19:12:22Z")
I know I read somewhere that some rare individuals who happen to have two different forms of colorblindness actually end up color _reversed_ rather than color blind. As in, for example, if they have the right combination of colorblindnesses, it turns out they get a “red” signal when normal people would get a “green” signal and vice versa. Who can say for sure whether what they’re seeing when they look at red things is what “I would call” red or green, but it doesn’t seem crazy to think they really do see these two colors in reverse. I wish I could remember more details about this. Hopefully some knowledgable person can add to (or subtract from) what I just said. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/5 "2008-04-29T19:51:59Z")
This has been covered multiple times, a good search ought to find past threads on it. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/6 "2008-04-29T21:21:27Z")
This is an age old question, and has been discussed here a ton of times, but I can’t help to think of each color’s [luminosity](http://www.csulb.edu/~percept/color3.gif) value (ignoring actual hue). If I perceived my yellow as your violet, the luminosity for that color would be very dark, and would be noticeable (perhaps even directly testable) across our species. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/7 "2008-04-29T21:47:27Z")
[QUOTE=muttrox] This has been covered multiple times, a good search ought to find past threads on it. [/QUOTE] Indeed it has and it’s in my [unofficial GQ FAQ](http://www.seigle.net/gqfaq.html#colors). ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/8 "2008-04-29T22:09:29Z")
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas] Indeed it has and it’s in my [unofficial GQ FAQ](http://www.seigle.net/gqfaq.html#colors). [/QUOTE] Totally Radical, dude! You don’t have to add this question to the list. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/9 "2008-04-29T23:50:43Z")
In every culture, AFAIK, red is perceived as a “hot” color and blue as a “cool” color, and not just because the one is the color of fire and the other the color of water. Nobody ever would have made a fire-engine blue – screaming yellow-green, perhaps, but not blue. Read is a showoff, blue is laid back. Presumably everybody gets the same impressions, more or less. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/10 "2008-04-29T23:53:49Z")
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas] Indeed it has and it’s in my [unofficial GQ FAQ](http://www.seigle.net/gqfaq.html#colors). [/QUOTE] FYI, the Link: > [@](#): > > Are Colors the same for everyone? takes me to > [@](#): > > No Thread specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify… ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/11 "2008-04-30T00:42:05Z")
Sorry, that thread must have been dropped somehow. I couldn’t find it using a search. I removed it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/12 "2008-04-30T00:57:01Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] In every culture, AFAIK, red is perceived as a “hot” color and blue as a “cool” color, and not just because the one is the color of fire and the other the color of water. [/QUOTE] Why not because of that? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/13 "2008-04-30T01:12:50Z")
[QUOTE=cmyk] This is an age old question, and has been discussed here a ton of times, but I can’t help to think of each color’s [luminosity](http://www.csulb.edu/~percept/color3.gif) value (ignoring actual hue). If I perceived my yellow as your violet, the luminosity for that color would be very dark, and would be noticeable (perhaps even directly testable) across our species. [/QUOTE] The luminosities could be the same if I perceive your yellow as _light_ violet. There’s no way to tell even if we perceive colours, or objects, in _equivalent_ ways. Perhaps what I describe as seeing a blue cube is the same sensation, internally, as what you would call the experience of smelling a wet dog. As long as my set of perceptions is rich, consistent, and coherent enough to enable me to form a persistent, usable internal representation of the world, there’s no particular reason why that representation need resemble your version at all. I don’t think it’s particularly likely that we do perceive things in such an absurdly varied way, but there’s no way to independently check - we validate our perceptions by the same processes that created them. ---
**Author:** ![kdeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b487fb/32.png) [@kdeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kdeus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/14 "2008-04-30T01:47:14Z")
I am not color blind. That would medically disqualify from some things I like to do. However, when I was taking a color vision test some years ago (The \_\_\_\_ Lantern test?), my answers went like this: “Red. White. Blue. White. ummm… green? White.” So I don’t think I see the same green as you. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-all-see-the-same-color-blue/447381/15 "2008-04-30T11:09:54Z")
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas] Sorry, that thread must have been dropped somehow. I couldn’t find it using a search. I removed it. [/QUOTE] No need to apologize, I just thought you would want to know. A few of the other links were broken too - should I let you know?