Color Interpretation

Here is a riddle: What do you see all around you every time you open your eyes yet cannot be described with words? The answer is color (colour). (Note- to avoid excessive use of parenthesis, I will alternate the two global spellings of colour (color)).

Our language gives us no way to describe color. We can state it as a wavelength of electromagnetic wave but it cannot be described in itself. Try to think of a way to describe your favorite (favourite) colour to someone who can only see in black and white. It is not possible.

Of course, we know that colors do not really exist outside of our interpretation. In the universe of inanimate matter and space, colour is essentially meaningless except as a wavelength of electromagnetic wave. So, here is my question: If we are unable to describe color by use of our language, then how do we know that we all experience the different colours in the same way?

The answer is that we don't. It is very likely that if you are with someone looking at something red in color, while you both agree that it is red, you might see it as the other person sees green and the other person may see it as you see blue. Possibly, each of you may see it in a way that the other does not see any colour at all.

Since color cannot be described with words, there is no way to know for sure. We do know that so many other sensory inputs are experienced by people differently and also that the spectrum of visible light is not the same for all persons. So why should we not think that we experience colours differently?

The interpretation of color is in the brain and not in the eye so transplanting eyes from one person to another will not shed any light on it. But someday in the future when transplanting parts of the brain becomes possible, we can expect that such a transplant will reveal that we experience colour differently.