The neural physics of light: The perception of light is a neural simulation. Light and colors do not actually exist.
There is no actual light or colors in the universe, light and color, are neural simulations formulated from invisible electromagnetic energy. We see because the human eye is a biochemical antenna; photoreceptive cells turn invisible electromagnetic energy into electrochemical impulses. Each eye has about 120 million rods, and about 6 million cones. Activated photoreceptive cells repeatedly fire impulses in milliseconds, sending trillions of electrochemical impulses per second through the optical nerves to the brain.
These electrochemical impulses go to specific neurons in our brain. Each neuron assigns a value/perception to that particular impulse. Neurons receptive to a wavelength of 475nm, generates the sensation we perceive as blue. A wavelength of 650nm generates the sensation of red. Each neuron in our brain that processes optical stimulus assigns specific values/perceptions for every level of electromagnetic energy state that our photoreceptive cells are designed to detect. We call this detectible electromagnetic energy the 'visible spectra'.
If our eyes (photoreceptive cells/eye neurons) were receptive to X-rays (a wavelength of 10nm to .01nm,) we would see X-ray emissions from stars and other hot sources, the universe would look quite different to us. Electromagnetic energy is invisible, just as radio waves are invisible. A radio antenna absorbs invisible electromagnetic energy in a wavelength of 10km to 100km (AM wavelength,) and converts it to electrostatic energy, and then processed through electronics, creates kinetic energy (vibration) -- which we hear as sound. Wavelengths that our eyes transform into electrochemical impulses are interpreted by neurons into the sensations we perceive as light and colors. Something like what a computer does when it assigns false coloring to artificially image invisible energy or gas formations of nebula.
Many people believe that light travels along the optic nerves to the brain, and that we see the light inside our brain like a projection, but that is not what is happening. Light only makes it to our photochemical cells (retina) in the back of our eyes, and then is transformed into electrochemical impulses that travel the optic nerves to our brain. Put a flame under your finger and it burns, but the flame and heat does not travel up your arm into your brain, only electrochemical impulses travel to your brain/neurons; it is the neurons that generate the perception/simulation/sensation of pain. Electrochemical impulses do not transport light or heat; they are neurons that stimulate other neurons in a chain reaction along a nerve pathway. Light and heat just stimulated the first neuron, from that point on; it is neurons chemically kicking the next neuron along a pathway of nerve fibers, such as the optical nerves.
Electromagnetic energy is invisible in the same way that ultraviolet or infrared wavelengths are invisible. Stars emit particles and electromagnetic waves/photons that have no actual light or color. However, electromagnetic energy can be transform into mechanical or biophysical energy when absorbed; producing, heat, photochemistry, electrostatics, sound, light and color. Every second, trillions of different electromagnetic energy waves/photons envelop us. Only a small fraction of electromagnetic energy, called the visible spectrum, is absorbed or detected by our photoreceptive cells, generating the neural impulses that formulate into the sensations of light and color, the rest are undetectable to us.
We are bathed in invisible electromagnetic energy that our eyes and brain use to formulate a pictorial simulation of the world about us. What we think we see as the visible world, is an illusion or simulation that our brain generates from electrochemical impulses. We take for granted that light and colors exist, but they do not, our brains generate the sensation or simulation of vision. Light and color are only neural impressions, a product of our brain; just like a dream.
Since electromagnetic energy is invisible, in the absence of actual illumination, light, color, translucence, and perspective, the universe is in reality opaque black. The reality is that we spend our lives immersed within blackness; filled with black objects that are colliding, reflecting, absorbing, and emitting invisible energy waves/photons. The only light that actually exists is a simulated neural image (an illusion or hallucination,) no more real than the light and colors in a dream. Light is a simulated illusion within the mind, constructed solely from electrochemical impulses. Our brains generate a simulation of light to define a pictorial image to navigate the environment.
In reality, the universe is black in all respects; but simulated light and color allow us to differentiate one object from another. Nature developed this sensation of light to formulate an image, as a mental map/picture that we can use to negotiate obstacles. Many creatures use, sound, touch, taste, smell, or ultraviolet or infrared wavelengths, to formulate a visual sensation of obstacles around them. Vision is a neural process of interpreting sensory data into a pictorial sensation of the world about us. Most animals use ocular sensory to generate a pictorial image. As you can see, vision is a useful tool to negotiate the environment surrounding us.
In conclusion, light and colors are just a neurological simulation; they do not exist in the real world. The light and colors that we think we see only exist in our minds; vision is a neural hallucination of the world about us, no more real than the light and colors in a dream. The universe is actually black in all respects... only our brains add light and color to the darkness at large.
Additional data on 'Light and Colors' can be found in topics, The nature of "Time," and, The nature of "Dreams." As well, there is an enormous amount of data on the Internet with different perspectives. Research and learn about what it is to be human, and why we 'believe and behave' as we do. All you have to lose is ignorance.
A question never asked is worth nothing,
An answer never given is worth even less...
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