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Zoe Fuller-Young's picture

Searching for Truth

Has anyone else been thinking about the movie The Matrix throughout this conversation on "reality?" I keep picturing the scene where Neo goes to see the Oracle and the little boy on the floor is bending the spoons saying "do not try and bend the spoon, that's impossible... instead only try to accept that there is no spoon." Anyway, after class I was thining about the I-function as a storyteller, and how it is interesting that although humans may grow up in very different environments and see different types of colors, there are many patterns to color association. What I mean is that although there are different words for blue accross language and perhaps culture, blue for example is often used to describe the sky or water. I wonder if there are multipe languages that also use blue to describe an emotional state like depression? If there is no "real" color, then is it incorrect to call people "color-blind?" It does seem true that they are color-blind in comparison to the way that most people see, because perhaps our I-function, as mentioned in class, has found the most useful way to see the world, and those who see it different do not necessarily loose out on "reality" but have a less useful reality.

Another thing I thought of from mkhilji's mention of racism, is the idea that someone from one race who has never seen anyone who looks different from themselves cannot recognize difference in another race (assuming that there is such  thing). I am not sure if it is true, but I have heard that, for instance, if someone from Japan is raised in relative isolation, i.e. no TV, limited contact with non-Japanese, then there is the possibility that that person will not be able to distinguish between (again, assuming there is a distinguishable category) white Europeans. What does this say about reality and vision?

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