Re:Four new DNA letters double life’s alphabet
by pdonis on Friday February 22, 2019 @02:28PM
(#19228325)
> How do you know for example that it is not the case that what I experience as "red" is what, if you experienced it the way I did, you would call "blue"?
Because the words "red" and "blue" can be calibrated by reference to external objects. You and I both call stop signs "red" and the sky on a clear sunny day "blue". So if, for example, somebody invented a device that could "translate" your experiences into my brain, and the device "translated" your experience of looking at a stop sign into something that my brain decoded as "blue", I wouldn't conclude that your experience of colors was different from mine: I would conclude that the translator device was broken.
Because the words "red" and "blue" can be calibrated by reference to external objects. You and I both call stop signs "red" and the sky on a clear sunny day "blue". So if, for example, somebody invented a device that could "translate" your experiences into my brain, and the device "translated" your experience of looking at a stop sign into something that my brain decoded as "blue", I wouldn't conclude that your experience of colors was different from mine: I would conclude that the translator device was broken.