Is mysticism an alien concept?

[medic1]

Discovery Channel says yes.

 

[Benvolio]

Huh?

I must require sourcing.

Convince a plant of your hypothesis.

The eyes send impulses to the brain, which the brain converts to our mental images as a way for us to understand. Outside our brains, light consists not of brightness, but of electromagnetic waves of varying lengths. We only assume that the brightness and color are out there, just as we assume that the tree falling causes "sound" as we know it, and not merely vibrations in the air. Strangely the best explanations of the science I could find are Islamic sites, but the science is sound. See,e.g.http://www.designanduniverse.com/articles/existence_in_your_brains3.php

 

[medic1]

Then how do you explain people with colour-blindness? I mean cmon. As for brightness and light!!!
Then why bother with sunglasses?
Yes a daft post in response to your even dafter one.

 

[Benvolio]

It is easier to understand if you first understand that sound as we experience it is quite different from the mere vibrations in the air which stimulate the ear drum to send electric impulses to the brain. Sound as we experience it is created in the brain as a way for us to perceive and distinguish the vibrations. I don't think any scientist would suggest that sound as we experience it exists out there in the world.
By the same token, the eyes have receptors which are stimulated by various wavelengths of electromagnetic waves. The receptors send electric impulses to the brain. In order to enable us to use that information, the brain creates what we experience as light and color. "Light" thus has two meanings, 1. in the sense of electromagnetic waves and 2. the phenomenon of light as we experience it in our brains, bright vs dark, and in various colors. I used the word brightness to distinguish the two meanings. But the important thing is that, since we know that our experience of light results from mere electric impulses to the brain. there is no reason to believe that the brightness and color which our brain creates exist in the outside world.
Sunglasses protect our eyes from an excess of electromagnetic waves striking out retinas. reducing the excess.
Color blindness results from defects in the receptors in the eyes of some people which causes them to be unable to distinguish some wave lengths of color from others. It does illustrate the further point that people do not necessarily see the same color image. When one looks at the sky, his brain may create what someone else would perceive as green. There is no way of knowing.

 

[medic1]

Em! One sentence,stop reading out your text book,and engage all your senses,but there is no way of knowing.

 

[palbert]

Let there be [STRIKE]light[/STRIKE] electromagnetic waves, and there [STRIKE]was light[/STRIKE] were electromagnetic waves.

Not quite the same majesty.

 

[Benvolio]

[STRIKE][/STRIKE]

Em! One sentence,stop reading out your text book,and engage all your senses,but there is no way of knowing.

Thank you for the compliment, albeit unintended, of saying that I sound like a text book.

 

[Kulindahr]

The eyes send impulses to the brain, which the brain converts to our mental images as a way for us to understand. Outside our brains, light consists not of brightness, but of electromagnetic waves of varying lengths. We only assume that the brightness and color are out there, just as we assume that the tree falling causes "sound" as we know it, and not merely vibrations in the air. Strangely the best explanations of the science I could find are Islamic sites, but the science is sound. See,e.g.http://www.designanduniverse.com/articles/existence_in_your_brains3.php

I was enjoying that until the author said that "light is formed in our brains". That's ludicrous -- nothing is "formed in our brains" except an interpretation of incoming data. The light is what hits our eyes, triggering nerve impulses that go to the brain.

This is actually supported by the article you linked:

In the retina in the eye, there exist three groups of cone cells, each of which react to different wavelengths of light. The first of these groups is sensitive to red light, the second is sensitive to blue light and the third is sensitive to green light. Different levels of stimulus to each of the three sets of cone cells gives rise to our ability to see a world full of color in millions of different tones.

The light is out there, existing whether we perceive it or not -- otherwise, you couldn't have cells that are sensitive to different wavelengths -- or, as the article correctly says, "...to red light, ... to blue light, ... to green light".

 

[Benvolio]

I was enjoying that until the author said that "light is formed in our brains". That's ludicrous -- nothing is "formed in our brains" except an interpretation of incoming data. The light is what hits our eyes, triggering nerve impulses that go to the brain.

This is actually supported by the article you linked:



The light is out there, existing whether we perceive it or not -- otherwise, you couldn't have cells that are sensitive to different wavelengths -- or, as the article correctly says, "...to red light, ... to blue light, ... to green light".

The author should have said that "light, as we experience it, is formed by our brains".
Some wave lengths stimulate receptors in our eyes, sending impulses to the brain, causing our brains to create a perception which we call red. But what we experience as red is created in our brains. Outside are only electromagnetic waves. If I could see what apears as red in your mind, I might say, no, that is green to me. There is no reason to believe that our perceptions are the same.
In taste we know that what we experience is not always the same. Some really hate broccoli, for instance, others like it. Taste, as we experience it, like sound and color, is created in our minds.

 

[Kulindahr]

The author should have said that "light, as we experience it, is formed by our brains".
Some wave lengths stimulate receptors in our eyes, sending impulses to the brain, causing our brains to create a perception which we call red. But what we experience as red is created in our brains. Outside are only electromagnetic waves. If I could see what apears as red in your mind, I might say, no, that is green to me. There is no reason to believe that our perceptions are the same.
In taste we know that what we experience is not always the same. Some really hate broccoli, for instance, others like it. Taste, as we experience it, like sound and color, is created in our minds.

The interesting thing is that though we have no way of knowing if the interpretation of wavelengths by our brains is the same, we do know that in general humans have the same reaction to various combinations/juxtapositions of those wavelengths -- i.e., we tend to agree that certain colors go together and others don't (and we also ted to agree on what colors are pleasant and what aren't). But really the statement isn't strong enough: since every one of our brains wires itself without reference to any other brain, only to the basic structure, it isn't unreasonable to assert that what goes on in one human brain is seriously different from what goes on in another brain in response to a given stimulus. Another way of putting that is that each brain has its own internal language, almost certainly incomprehensible to any other brain (which, BTW, is why telepathy in terms of reading minds is impossible).

 

[Kulindahr]

BTW -- anyone who cites Berkeley in a supposedly scientific article can't be taken seriously, especially since Berkeley denied not just the existence of color but of matter and ultimately of energy as well.

 

[medic1]

[STRIKE][/STRIKE]

Thank you for the compliment, albeit unintended, of saying that I sound like a text book.

Oh my dear boy! methinks you have grasped the wrong end of the stick.