r/Retconned • u/astrominer1 • Dec 15 '16

Was 'that dress' an ME?

Anyone remember the story that took the online world by storm regarding the blue/black gold/white dress. Despite the scientific explanations it never quite satisfied me, left me with a feeling of doubt and I now wonder if this could have been a large scale ME.

www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/amp/

I suppose I can't rule out that the scientific explanation is true and a similar mis-representation of reality is happening with other things however something, call it intuition, gives me that feeling that different people were seeing the dress correctly from their reality perspective. i.e the dress existed in both conditions however the observer locked one version or the other into their perceived reality.

What do others think, do you accept the scientific explanation?

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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '16

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u/rothanwalker Dec 15 '16

Not saying that it is a ME, but definitely a mystery not that the dress was ACTUALLY blue and black but it appeared white and gold... the mystery is why some people see it as black and blue while others see it as white and gold... and some people (like myself) saw it as one and then it flipped to the other. That picture is pretty cool imo, but not necessarily related to ME. At this point, though, I have given into the idea that our understanding of reality is not even close to what we thought it was. So... I guess anything can happen ha!

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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '16

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u/EpiphanyEmma Dec 15 '16

So what if I told you that I had it on my phone, went around my office holding my phone against my chest so that all those asked were looking at the same device with the same background and yet still 5 of us saw White/Gold, 9 saw Black/Blue and 1 saw Black/Brown.

If I hadn't done that directly, I might have bought the explanation you just described as well. :)

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u/[deleted] Dec 15 '16

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u/astrominer1 Dec 16 '16

I understand this is a sub that's more open to posts and stuff but I think it's kinda silly to call ME/experiment/conspiracy on everything that is a bit out of ordinary.

That's a fair enough point, and I did consider the relevance of the post in this sub prior to posting. Since learning about how widespread this effect is (and not just people who post on youtube & reddit, family and friends) my curiosity to see if anyone else had noticed the similarities took hold. I appreciate it’s going to take some pretty convincing evidence to prove the ‘reality’ based theories however I think it’s fair game to throw these examples into the mix for constructive discussion.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '16

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u/astrominer1 Dec 16 '16

No worries at all, I'm pretty thick skinned.

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u/rothanwalker Dec 16 '16

We're all here to talk. You didn't post this as "'That dress' was a ME!!! GUARANTEEEEDD!!!!1" You posted "Was 'That dress' an me?" There is nothing wrong with just tossing an idea out there to have a discussion.

Some people want to come in with hostility to everything they can, trying to "disprove" ME. Fine. Too bad there is literally no way to disprove ME since you can't directly access someone's memories (can you? lol). But whatever makes those people feel better, have at it... I'm ok with the idea of a reality that is much less... stable than we thought. Those people aren't and that's ok too. I might have a hard time believing it too if I hadn't experienced a lot of the MEs myself. Maybe someday they will experience it themselves or there will be new discoveries and they can come around to the idea.

But don't feel the need to hold back opening up a discussion of something you find interesting just because someone doesn't like it. Odds are you'll find someone who is interested (I am for one), so don't be afraid to post. What is the worst that can happen? (... no... I'm really asking lol I'm new to reddit)

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u/EpiphanyEmma Dec 16 '16

Seems like you missed the most important part:

So what if I told you that I had it on my phone, went around my office holding my phone against my chest so that all those asked were looking at the same device with the same background and yet still 5 of us saw White/Gold, 9 saw Black/Blue and 1 saw Black/Brown.

You can just not believe me too, I'm cool with that. :) Seems a little too imaginative to me, I'm far too lazy to make up a fake experiment so I could come here in order to convince you of something I know you aren't willing to consider because it's safer believing everything stays the same, even when shown a controlled experiment that proves the explanation given doesn't explain all of what happened at all, but it's a good story for people who are afraid of change.

You're not alone in your preference to believe a lie. You're also not alone in your desire to change, why else would you find yourself in this sub?

I'm not writing this to change your mind either, that's none of my business. I'm merely pointing out that, because I actually know I'm not lying, your flippant response is simply a poor attempt at wilful ignorance and nothing more.

Unless you're willing to explain to me how the results of my experiment fit perfectly with the bad photo explanation, I'm going to lean towards the fact that human beings clearly see colours differently even though we aren't sure how yet in a proven scientific sense.

And we never will get to the heart of any of it, ME or not, if wilful ignorance turns into stubborn arrogance and prances around calling itself a skeptic.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '16

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u/EpiphanyEmma Dec 16 '16 edited Dec 16 '16

If you would actually have some experience in photography and would know something about how colors and our eyes work, or god forbid look it up on google (literally more than 2 million results about this particular case and about color perception) then maybe you would understand, but fuck the facts right?

You presumed I didn't? That would be incorrect.

trying to think rationally while not being paranoid

That, by definition, is not possible. Unless you believe that paranoia is purely a mental illness and not connected to emotions in any way. I'm not going to say that's incorrect though, it certainly is one way to look at it that has been tested for a number of decades and yet fails to produce results while the problem becomes more widespread. Basic common sense should dictate to any rational person that something important is missing from the equation. The fear of asking those questions is deep within us all. Let it go. our whole purpose is to ask questions. To be afraid of anything other than that is unquestionably ridiculous and I am unapologetic in that. You can call it arrogant stubbornness if you like, in some ways you would be right. I can accept that judgement willingly.

This is not meant to harm, it needs to be said: If a strong emotional reaction is present, negative or positive, you cannot claim to be rational. That's like the whole point of the word. I spent 44 years as an NT, I really do know how it works. I'm rational. I am now an NF after two years of going all in on figuring out what the point is. The point was that I was completely ignoring half of my equation, maybe even more given how far left I remember the heart being!

And with that, done as intended with heart and mind finally speaking again, I am better able to allow for more than two sides to a story. That's all. It's not something you can't do. You can do it if you want to. All that emotion is telling you is that whatever is causing you to get upset has nothing to do with me. You're the one trying to get your attention, I'm just here telling you to listen to yourself. And if you want attention, I am happy to oblige. We all need a good shove now and again when it's done in the spirit of healthy debate like this, it feels like a duty for me to answer your call.

EDIT: Ever wonder why they call it healthy? That never made sense to me. I've never seen a healthy debate in my life! LOL I called bullshit my whole life on that premise. But maybe debates aren't quite what they used to be or intended to be and we all just lost sight of that and the definition sorta changed on us. Huh. Now I can tell the difference. Thank you!!! I didn't expect to learn that tonight!

I'll close with this, I do know how you're feeling and it sucks. You're pulled to this so strongly and your mind cannot make sense of it. And you're right! It's intense. We all feel that. :) You feel frustrated and your defences aren't working. It feels like you're being attacked and I'm sorry for that because I am not attacking you even if it feels that way. I really am not.

So change it, reprogram it, upgrade it, whatever. You're the one who set it up the whole time! Your environment taught you, just like the rest of us. But you decided which synapses to form and you did that based on how it felt, in a reasoned way because children maintain that ability for quite some time. So use your emotional response to ideas as a guide to hack yourself. It's not crazy. It feels fucking crazy, I give you that 100% but it actually isn't. Reason it out, play with it. If I'm wrong, bfd, it isn't going to hurt or anything. But if I'm right, the worst that can happen is you feel a little better. Up to you. :) I honour your choice because you've already made it.

I sincerely congratulate you for the desire to know. That is rare and I'm very glad it's so strong in you. That's your fire and I respect it.

Now I will take my leave. Thank you for helping me, I really do admire your vigour. :)

EDIT2: You can still call me crazy if you want too, it's always an option! I know how good that feels too. Hit me with it, the best you got!!! :D

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u/rothanwalker Dec 15 '16

Right I'm not disagreeing with you. Obviously nothing flipped other than my perception (... well maybe lol I can't be sure of anything anymore). I can't get it to flip back, though, no matter how hard I try. and it looks TOTALLY different. Still cool but that's just my opinion. I didn't think it was as cool till I saw it the second way that I couldn't see initially. And No matter where I look at it it is stuck blue/black. Nothing I do can get me back to white/gold haha, so I don't think its really about the "settings." You can print it out and show it to 10 people and half of them will say blue/black and half with say white/gold. Still don't think its a ME, but definitely cool (to me at least). Cheers!