Mary's Room: A philosophical thought experiment - Eleanor Nelsen

Imagine a neuroscientist who has only ever seen black and white things, but she is an expert in color vision and knows everything about its physics and biology. If, one day, she sees color, does she learn anything new? Is there anything about perceiving color that wasn’t captured in her knowledge? Eleanor Nelsen explains what this thought experiment can teach us about experience.

Lesson by Eleanor Nelsen, animation by Maxime Dupuy.

[bearfangmedia]

I think a lot of this actually comes down to the weaknesses of language, both scientific and traditional. Nothing can be perfectly described. Hearing about an experience is very different from experiencing it

[gjinkalla]

Isn’t it funny how Jackson probably spent a lifetime to come to conclusions and compare them to form the final question, while we are presented into the topic through a 3 min video..
Internet itself it’s such a privilege, big thanks to Ted education

[lxtunaxl]

Reminds me of the quote
“Experience is knowledge. Everything else is just information”

[TheTJW]

Kinda reminds me of how I studied grief and loss from both a psychological and physical perspective but didn’t truly understand it until I lost my dad nothing could ever prepare you until you actually feel it for yourself, nothing will ever top personal experience

[PapaBear]

why don't they start teaching philosophy at a younger grade level. seems to me that this shit is important.

[mallitkim]

Mary's room is simmalair to traveling. You can read and maybe know all about it. But experience it, is a whole other thing.

[ant]

On seeing colour, Mary's retinal cones would be stimulated for the first time, producing changes in her physiology.

[adamfowler]

I love hearing that he reversed his own position on the thought. According to Kierkegaard, arriving at a paradoxical thought, to ones original position, is the highest point one can attain in philosophizing.

[birb]

Next time someone asks me how I am, I will say that my pain is qualia

[JoshuaBegin]

I completely agree with the counterargument that language is to blame. If there was a way in which we could describe what seeing felt like to a blind person than perhaps they wouldn't "learn" anything if they suddenly started seeing. Since our speech is limited when it comes to describing experiences and emotions, we can't do this. Mary knew everything about vision except what it felt like, and that's important. Someone else in the comment section summarized it perfectly, knowledge does not equal understanding.

[brandongoss]

If Mary was shown a red and a blue Apple at the same time and she had never seen color before, could she say which color was which? If so then she learned nothing new because she knows enough to tell them apart. If she can not determine which color is which then her seeing color for the first time mean she is learning something

[lucyshaltry]

Mary did not know what color looked like because that cannot be explained in words. Imagine if she had never felt pain. It would definitely be a new learning experience. She did not know, then she did. She learned.

[Panda_Steph]

I think I fall in the "her knowledge wasn't complete to begin with" group.

She may have known the wavelengths of colors, what causes them etc. but I dont think she would've fully understand what the colors are supposed to look like exactly.

I don't think you can describe a color to someone without referencing another color or object.

She probably wouldve had an idea but not an exact one

That's just my thought tho

[mocktheturtle]

Mary wouldn't know the pleasure of seeing beautiful vibrant colors just by learning about them. She would have a new kind of appreciation and fascination upon seeing the colorful red apple. There is a first time for every emotion and feeling your brain and body feels. That would be a first for her.

[oliviaandrade]

i didn’t ask for an existential crisis caused by a freaking apple

[sophiawessel]

This is something I've thought about with my schizophrenia. When I'm talking to doctors about it that have studied it for a long time theres still a huge barrier. No matter how much I've been talking about my experiences and feelings, there has never been a satisfying outlet for me to communicate them. And even now that I'm a lot better I can still feel that in my chest that I've been alone in my experience.

[joshuamild]

I thought of this as trying to comprehend the 4th dimension, we can explain what it is and how it works, but our brains can't comprehend it.

[Dilly]

That last part is a good point. What Mary learned was the feeling of seeing red. Which does boil down to a very specific neurological chain of events and chemical release in the brain.

[TheVampireviolet]

I think I know the answer. Mary WOULD learn something: her own reaction to seeing red, or what red feels like for her.

[a.d]

"Mary had a little lam-"
"NO"
"𝙈𝘼𝙍𝙔 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝘼 𝙉𝙀𝙐𝙍𝙊𝙎𝘾𝙄𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙄𝙎𝙏"