How do you describe colours to a blind person?

This reminds me of one of albert einstein anecdotes since it mentions the colour white and how he describes it to a blind person.

EINSTEIN was asked by his hostess at a social gathering to explain his theory of relativity. Said the great mathematician,
"Madam, I was once walking in the country on a hot day with a blind friend, and said that I would like a drink of milk."
"Milk?" said my friend, "Drink I know; but what is milk?"
"A white liquid," I replied.
"Liquid I know; but what is white?"
"The colour of a swan's feathers."
"Feathers I know; what is a swan?"
"A bird with a crooked neck."
"Neck I know; but what is this crooked?"
"Thereupon I lost patience. I seized his arm and straightened it. "That's straight," I said; and then I bent it at the elbow. "That's crooked."
"Ah!" said the blind man, "Now I know what you mean by milk!"EINSTEIN was asked by his hostess at a social gathering to explain his theory of relativity. Said the great mathematician,
"Madam, I was once walking in the country on a hot day with a blind friend, and said that I would like a drink of milk."
"Milk?" said my friend, "Drink I know; but what is milk?"
"A white liquid," I replied.
"Liquid I know; but what is white?"
"The colour of a swan's feathers."
"Feathers I know; what is a swan?"
"A bird with a crooked neck."
"Neck I know; but what is this crooked?"
"Thereupon I lost patience. I seized his arm and straightened it. "That's straight," I said; and then I bent it at the elbow. "That's crooked."
"Ah!" said the blind man, "Now I know what you mean by milk!"

Reply 41

lawrywild

Afaik it's impossible to describe colours, it's also not guaranteed that we all see the same colours. My green could be your red etc, it's just how your brain interprets the wavelengths of light hitting the cones. But if we tried to explain what we saw, it would be impossible, because everything 'blue' would be 'red' to someone else, if you get me.. :s-smilie:

Reply 42

swigger

lawrywild

Afaik it's impossible to describe colours, it's also not guaranteed that we all see the same colours. My green could be your red etc, it's just how your brain interprets the wavelengths of light hitting the cones. But if we tried to explain what we saw, it would be impossible, because everything 'blue' would be 'red' to someone else, if you get me.. :s-smilie:

our eyes are also more sensitive to some colours than others. this is due to the fact that we have different numbers of blue/red and green cone cells in our retinas, an interesting consequence of this is that car manufacturers provide red cars at lower prices than say black or blue. This is because our eyes are most sensitive to the red spectrum of visible light, and therefore reds effectively fade faster than other colours

Reply 43

Igloo_cone

I read an article on this. Apparently the only way is to give them a hot object to hold, and tell them this is red. And give them a very cold object (i.e ice cube) and tell them its blue. What you see is black. And go from there. Apparently their brain maybe able to map something out...

Reply 44

The Epicurean

17

Its like explaining what sound sounds like to death people. You can't describe/explain a sense to someone that has never had that sense.

I think blind people can see brightness and darkness (in their mind). Colours however, they cannot imagine it at all.

Reply 45

swigger

Igloo_cone

I read an article on this. Apparently the only way is to give them a hot object to hold, and tell them this is red. And give them a very cold object (i.e ice cube) and tell them its blue. What you see is black. And go from there. Apparently their brain maybe able to map something out...