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Comment by paraschopra | Hacker News Reader

Something that blows my mind: we can use our understanding of physics and math to predict the trajectory of a rocket to the moon without actually going there..

But we can’t predict what new color we’d get by mixing two colors. We just have to mix them to find out.

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> But we can’t predict what new color we’d get by mixing two colors.

Can you elaborate more on this point? Links as to why this is impossible would be appreciated. If paint absorbs certain wavelengths while reflecting others (which are the perceived color), wouldn't the mixture of two colors absorb two subsets of the spectrum, and reflect everything else? And if so, why can't it be simulated?

I guess OP refers to the fact that even full knowledge of the visible spectrum cannot tell you how you will perceive the color through your three-dimensional perception system and the brain processor.

That makes sense. But thinking about OP's analogy, the information of a simulated trajectory of a rocket to the moon would also need to be delivered through a 2D monitor with finite resolution/framerate.

Simulations will always be as good as our computing power gets, and the results will be "understood" as good as our perception gets. So, in some sense, both scenarios are the same.

? I think a lot of colour theorists would disagree with you on the latter.

Or are you referring to non-uniform perception of colour: colour blindness on one hand, tetrachromats on the other?

I'm pretty sure Mary could predict that

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