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I do think about perception a lot and have been even before this class.  I think my thoughts are more scattered though.  For example, colors.  I feel like it is obvious that we do not all see the same colors, however how different are they?  Are we referring to hue differences or really large differences?  Maybe my sky is the colors of your grass and visa versa, however due to the way we are raised we all call that hue of the sky blue.  Although we do know that we are not really seeing “real” colors, it’s just the way our brain interpret wavelengths.  Maybe this accounts for preferences and why we all answer that age old question “what’s your favorite color ?“differently.  Maybe these differences in interpretation in our nervous system account for preference.

When we first learned about reality and the little disappearing dot trick I though I would be more upset about the fact that my brain in making things up, or that I am not experiencing everything.  However, the more I think about it would be really horrible to be bombarded with all sorts of crazy signals if we all experienced this we would probably just throw up and go to sleep (since this is how our brains like to deal with things!)  I am really amazed that our brain is making up part of the story and I think it’s a mixture of awe and respect.  There is so much going on and under the control of the brain I am just amazed.

However in terms of the tree in the woods question, I do think that if no one hears the tree it doesn’t make a sounds, but this gets trick in other cases and makes me uneasy.  For example when I leave my dorm room in the morning when I close the door does my dorm room cease to exist because I no longer attend to it with my visual system?  I have a hard time believing this, I just do not know why.  Maybe it is because I perceive it with my mind.  When I am not with my friends they still exist even though I am not “seeing them” right…at least I think so!  This happens with people who have died technically they are not still here but we still are perceiving them and remembering them…what does this mean then?