cultural colors

[George Haberberger]

At 01:32 PM 5/1/96 EDT, John A Richards wrote:
>Don Larsson sez:
>>Some have even suggested that the ability to distinguish the two is a 
>>relatively recent evolutionary development!
>
>There is a quick but good analysis of this very possibility in one of Cecil 
>Adams' "Straight Dope" books.  (Great pick-up reading--educational and funny,
>too.)  He points out that there is a glaring lack of color in any early epic 
>works, e.g., the Iliad and Odyssey, and suggests that perhaps people in these
>cultures were able to distinguish only two or three regions in the entire
>spectrum.

I'm a big Cecil-Zotti-phile. He was actually saying that they could
distinguish the same number of colors as we could, but only had names for 2
or 3, somewhat analagous to the difference between Red and R=255 G=0, B=0,
R=254 G=0, B=0, R=250 G=2 B=2, ...

George

ObPynchon: I've noticed an ad on cable advertising "Locate old college
roommates for only $39.95."  Let's each kick in 2 bucks and try to find TRP.
 

>
>John Richards
>johnrich at mit.edu
>
>
>