Thread: You can see black

Can you see black?
I believe that you see black, I have heard people say that since black means no light, it means that you can not see it. I believe otherwise. The ones i have spoken to, that means it is not possible to see black say you can not see black, since the cells in the eye does not get any signals that there are any light there, therefore you do not see black. They proceed by saying that it means you "see" that there is no light, and that is black. But as I marked out they use the verb, "see".

I mean that since your cells are analog and not digital it means that you see black, you get the signal that there is no light, just as you get the signal that there is light, or that it is yellow or blue.

I want your opinion. I am prepared to be proved wrong.

Originally Posted by Namreh

I believe otherwise.

Why?
We can - generally - see things we call black (black-painted surfaces etc) but they aren't actually black but true black we can't see: example.

Originally Posted by Namreh

Can you see black?
I believe that you see black, I have heard people say that since black means no light, it means that you can not see it. I believe otherwise. The ones i have spoken to, that means it is not possible to see black say you can not see black, since the cells in the eye does not get any signals that there are any light there, therefore you do not see black. They proceed by saying that it means you "see" that there is no light, and that is black. But as I marked out they use the verb, "see".

I mean that since your cells are analog and not digital it means that you see black, you get the signal that there is no light, just as you get the signal that there is light, or that it is yellow or blue.

I want your opinion. I am prepared to be proved wrong.

You can certainly perceive black, just as you can perceive that there is nothing inside a box. Does that mean that there really IS something inside the box that you are perceiving? Nope. You are just looking at it and recognizing the absence of anything.

True black is the same. You are perceiving the lack of light.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

Originally Posted by Namreh

I believe otherwise.

Why?
We can - generally - see things we call black (black-painted surfaces etc) but they aren't actually black but true black we can't see: example.

In this case, I was thinking of an absolute black. You do see the black, you see that there is no light there AKA black.

When you see something, you see different variations of colors with different wave lenghts, it mean when you get the signal that there is no light, your brain knows it is black, just as if you get the signals for red you know it is red. Black just has the signal of none.

Originally Posted by billvon

Originally Posted by Namreh

Can you see black?
I believe that you see black, I have heard people say that since black means no light, it means that you can not see it. I believe otherwise. The ones i have spoken to, that means it is not possible to see black say you can not see black, since the cells in the eye does not get any signals that there are any light there, therefore you do not see black. They proceed by saying that it means you "see" that there is no light, and that is black. But as I marked out they use the verb, "see".

I mean that since your cells are analog and not digital it means that you see black, you get the signal that there is no light, just as you get the signal that there is light, or that it is yellow or blue.

I want your opinion. I am prepared to be proved wrong.

You can certainly perceive black, just as you can perceive that there is nothing inside a box. Does that mean that there really IS something inside the box that you are perceiving? Nope. You are just looking at it and recognizing the absence of anything.

True black is the same. You are perceiving the lack of light.

Excactly, you are seeing the lack of light wich is the definition of black

I found this definition online

Black

Adjective

• 1.
  of the very darkest colour owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light

Originally Posted by Namreh

In this case, I was thinking of an absolute black. You do see the black, you see that there is no light there AKA black.

If there is no light then there is also the absence of photons. And photons are the medium by which we see.
Ergo we don't see black - we merely see the absence of light.

When you see something, you see different variations of colors with different wave lenghts, it mean when you get the signal that there is no light, your brain knows it is black, just as if you get the signals for red you know it is red. Black just has the signal of none.

If there's no signal then you aren't seeing anything.
Watch the video that I linked to: the face that appears on the Vantablack square is entirely invisible until the rotation takes it into the light where we discern it only by virtue of the "cut out" of the background.

Originally Posted by Namreh

Originally Posted by billvon

Originally Posted by Namreh

Can you see black?
I believe that you see black, I have heard people say that since black means no light, it means that you can not see it. I believe otherwise. The ones i have spoken to, that means it is not possible to see black say you can not see black, since the cells in the eye does not get any signals that there are any light there, therefore you do not see black. They proceed by saying that it means you "see" that there is no light, and that is black. But as I marked out they use the verb, "see".

I mean that since your cells are analog and not digital it means that you see black, you get the signal that there is no light, just as you get the signal that there is light, or that it is yellow or blue.

I want your opinion. I am prepared to be proved wrong.

You can certainly perceive black, just as you can perceive that there is nothing inside a box. Does that mean that there really IS something inside the box that you are perceiving? Nope. You are just looking at it and recognizing the absence of anything.

True black is the same. You are perceiving the lack of light.

Excactly, you are seeing the lack of light wich is the definition of black

I found this definition online

Black

Adjective

• 1.
  of the very darkest colour owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light

So as already been pointed out to you true black is a complete absence of light reflection i.e what we perceive as colour. With true black our brains would fill in the void with what we associate as colourless i.e black so we "see" black but in reality we are actually seeing nothing. For example any instrument designed to detect light emissions would yield a zero result.

So again the answer is we don't "see" anything, our brains tell us that there is no light by creating the impression of black in our minds.