Is my blue your blue? (2024)

Perceptual Differences and Anecdotes

• Many describe recurring arguments (often with partners/family) over whether objects are blue vs green, turquoise vs blue, blue vs gray, etc.
• Some find the test result (e.g., “greener than 95%” or “bluer than 98%”) matches long‑standing disagreements in real life.
• Others say they cannot honestly label mid-range hues as either blue or green; they experience them as “teal/turquoise/cyan” and end up guessing or quitting.

Test Design and Methodology Critiques

• Core complaint: forced binary choice between blue and green with no “neither/both/unsure” option, especially when shown obvious cyan/teal.
• Several argue this measures linguistic classification, not raw color perception, and is “scientifically junky” as a single-item forced-choice instrument.
• Concerns about anchoring and binary search: prior colors bias later answers; repeated runs can yield different boundaries.
• Some suggest Likert-style “more blue vs more green,” multi-point sliders, randomization, context colors, or intermediate “palette cleansers” to reduce adaptation.

Devices, Calibration, and Environment

• Many note results vary significantly across monitors, phones, brightness levels, HDR/SDR, blue-light filters, Night Shift/f.lux, and ambient lighting.
• Some test across devices and see large shifts; others report factory-calibrated displays are often “good enough,” but cheap panels can be wildly off.

Biology and Individual Variation

• Reports of different color balance between left/right eyes, cataract implants, age-related yellowing of lenses, and mild color vision deficiencies.
• Red–green colorblind participants share results, sometimes surprisingly near the population median.
• Discussion touches on cone sensitivities, opponent color processing (blue–yellow, red–green), and how that yields “families” like cyan or magenta.

Language, Culture, and Color Categories

• Extended discussion of languages that group blue and green, or split blue into distinct basic terms, and how this shapes categorization.
• Examples include historical lack of distinct words for blue/green or orange, culturally specific terms (e.g., traffic lights called “blue”), and banknote colors.
• Some emphasize that “turquoise/cyan” may be a basic category for them, making the test’s framing feel wrong.

Philosophy of Perception (Qualia)

• Multiple comments revisit the classic “is my blue your blue?” and qualia/inverted spectrum questions.
• Some argue there may be no absolute inner color, only learned relations among stimuli; others highlight this as part of the “hard problem” of consciousness.