Comments on: Comments on 4511

Post number 4511

hobbes — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 16:54:19 -0800

Mutants with 4-colour vision! And you thought the magnetic kid was just the beginning...

By: owillis

owillis — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 17:14:29 -0800

This mutant menace must be stopped...

By: whatnotever

whatnotever — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 19:08:43 -0800

Oh crap, owillis! I took the quiz, and even though the website is broken, I answered "yes" to 12 out of the 13 questions! Do you think... Oh God... I... I gotta go.

By: harmful

harmful — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 19:49:34 -0800

Actually, someone I know may be a tetrachromat. (Identity withheld so Project Wideawake will leave her alone.) In addition to a heightened color sense, she has a phenomenal ability to remember color. She buys a lot of fabric, and can match exact shades from memory, which I understand to be very unusual.

By: Zool

Zool — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 19:58:19 -0800

Is it possible that in the years gone by genetic mutations in people have been stiffled by the mutant being killed for being an evil warlock or witch?

By: rebeccablood

rebeccablood — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 20:00:27 -0800

I wonder if perfect pitch is similarly a mutation? rcb

By: CrayDrygu

CrayDrygu — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 21:40:05 -0800

You know, I think the article brings up an interesting point nearer to the end (and briefly at the beginning)...sure, we can look for tetrachromats and devise tests that should be able to identify them. But those us with "normal" vision will never know what it's like to see through their eyes. And it's not like they can explain it to us, either, just like explaining the way you see to a colorblind person, or trying to describe music to a deaf man. I just find that fascinating, in an odd way.

By: pnevares

pnevares — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 21:55:29 -0800

rebecca: yeah, the hero's name would be PhonePhreakBoy. :) (hey, i my post on metafilter got linked by a post on metafilter. ~~how meta!~~)

By: th3ph17

th3ph17 — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 22:05:44 -0800

the whole definition of what is "normal" is only based on the level of detail that our technology can detect, so perhaps as technology gets better we will find that normal may not be what we think it is...and That is pretty damn cool.

By: lagado

lagado — Tue, 28 Nov 2000 23:20:41 -0800

CMYK, the only colors you'll ever need.

By: grimmelm

grimmelm — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 00:01:44 -0800

I hereby move that the additional color tetrachromats can see be named "octarine."

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 04:14:37 -0800

theoretically the only other colors there would be to see are ultraviolet and infrared. if they see colors beyond that, it's all in their head. I bet they hear dogs telling them to kill too.

By: straight

straight — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 06:36:58 -0800

Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infrared, How I hate the night.

By: beth

beth — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 06:59:34 -0800

What quiz? Where? I wanna take the quiz! Is it supposed to tell ya if you're likely to be a tetrachromat? I've always seen certain colors a little.... differently from other people, particularly those that are very very close to the line between blue and green. I've spent hours arguing with people that they're really on the green side of the line, but other folks see them on the blue side of the line (the same object). Hmmm.... I wanna be a tetrachromat! I wanna be special, not just a freak!!!!!!!! :) Who knows... I *am* a fabric geek, come to think of it... hmmmmmmmm, maybe that means something.

By: Aaaugh!

Aaaugh! — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 07:16:21 -0800

Beth: that would be the (broken) "Are you a mutant?" quiz on "Senator Kelly's" site. Straight: quoting Marvin is cool. =] Arthur: You mean you can see into my mind? Marvin: Yes. Arthur: And? Marvin: It amazes me how you manage to live in anything that small.

By: daveadams

daveadams — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 09:04:39 -0800

[lagado] CMYK, the only colors you'll ever need. Yeah, if you're a printer. [ZachsMind] theoretically the only other colors there would be to see are ultraviolet and infrared. if they see colors beyond that, it's all in their head. I bet they hear dogs telling them to kill too. Maybe they can't see any "new" colors, but they can see the standard spectrum of colors in higher detail and probably with higher resolution between different shades. [Craydrygu] But those us with "normal" vision will never know what it's like to see through their eyes. And it's not like they can explain it to us, either, just like explaining the way you see to a colorblind person Just like I, as a color-vision-deficient-person (I can see color, but not necessarily the same way you do ;), can't explain why I mix up some reds and greens, why blue looks gray sometimes and why gray looks green sometimes. Of course, it's you who has the weird vision.

By: riffola

riffola — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 09:10:40 -0800

Carnies: the original mutants, let's not forget them. Although I doubt that people would pay to see someone who can see more colours than them.

By: plinth

plinth — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 12:05:10 -0800

I want a set of cones that are hardwired to the pleasure centers of my brain so I go into ecstasy when I see just the right shade of irridescent puce.

By: Mars Saxman

Mars Saxman — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 13:03:22 -0800

CMYK, the only colors you'll ever need. hey now, don't diss hexachrome... -Mars

By: kindall

kindall — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 14:09:10 -0800

[ZachsMind] theoretically the only other colors there would be to see are ultraviolet and infrared. if they see colors beyond that, it's all in their head. This is incorrect. Normal human vision can't tell the difference between, for example, a pure yellow beam of light (i.e. one with a single wavelength characteristic of yellow), and a beam of light that is composed of red and green light mixed equally. But these are in fact markedly different situations and the fact that we see them the same way is just a quirk of evolution. A convenient one, to be sure, as it has allowed us to invent things like television and RGB computer displays, but still, it's just the way we see. There's no reason a mutant eyeball couldn't see things differently.

By: kindall

kindall — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 14:09:24 -0800
out, damn tag.

By: rodii

rodii — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 17:03:01 -0800
Octarine, hell. Gimme squant.

By: cCranium

cCranium — Wed, 29 Nov 2000 17:04:40 -0800
(closing tag)