• Benj96
    2.3k
    When you remove all the light in my field of vision I still see. I see black. It may not look anything different to when my eyes are shut but all the same i see black everywhere. I am aware my eyes are open and that I am observing black. The information I inherit from this experience is that I am in a place of total darkness. If the eye requires light to define contrasts what am I looking at when no light energy, when no visual information is coming into my eyes?

    Is my brain constructing an image of blackness? Is this a conscious default setting when deprived of stimuli? Can we call black a thing? Does it exist? How can something devoid of information exist? If no energy is going into my eye how can I say I am seeing?

    One possible theory is that all the information I obtain from "seeing black" is intrinsic to my awareness of prior knowledge and experience. I remember a state which was not black and therefore can extrapolate/ deduce what this experience of absence if light is despite the fact I am receiving no information from the environment. Obtaining information about a state from its opposite. Just as we see an object because we do not see what is behind the object.
  • InPitzotl
    880
    Is my brain constructing an image of blackness?Benj96
    Yes (see next).
    Is this a conscious default setting when deprived of stimuli?
    No [link: Tommy Edison Experience, Youtube].

    There's variation as well; see here [link: Damon Ross, BBC News article] for a case of visual tinnitus.

    It can get complex too: Charles Bonnet syndrome
    Can we call black a thing? Does it exist?Benj96
    I would suggest yes.
    How can something devoid of information exist? If no energy is going into my eye how can I say I am seeing?Benj96
    Well... it's a little more complex than this. When no light is hitting your eye, the photoreceptors in your eye go to a default state; but that default state is actually depolarized to about -40mV; this is the dark current (see also the section on advantages, which describes this a bit more). So no light hitting your eye = photoreceptor voltage potential, which has energy.
bold
italic
underline
strike
code
quote
ulist
image
url
mention
reveal
youtube
tweet
Add a Comment

Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!

Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.