Our sensations aren’t the same. And… I think most of us know that some. But, it can be pretty dramatic and I believe we often don’t take that into consideration.
If you have ever been to a wine tasting and tried to compare notes with someone whose taste buds don’t match yours, you got a dose of awareness of that. That’s why it drives me crazy when the person pouring the wine tries to tell me what to expect. I will grant that there have been times when one of the really oddball descriptors have been shockingly accurate and it has bowled me over. “Leather? Tobacco? Really?” Yes. Really. Even though they aren’t words that one usually associates with wine.
Once upon a time, we got a Vanilla Chai Chocolate Bar. I had a piece first. My husband is a big fan of cardamom and I said “You are really going to like this. The cardamom is strong.” Later, when he finally had a piece, he said “I can barely taste the chai flavor because the vanilla is so strong.” I really like vanilla. So, this imbalance is incredibly unfair.
Later, I started making a lavender-vanilla simple syrup to make shrubs in the evening when I didn’t want something alcoholic during the cocktail hour. The recent crop of lavender kind of overpowers the vanilla and I told Chuck I think the next batch might just be all vanilla. He decided to try my concoction (he usually opts for ginger or mint syrup) and told me he could barely taste the lavender for the vanilla.
When I had been considering how our perceptions differ, I wondered out loud to a friend whether what we see isn’t actually the same. We label a certain wavelength “blue” and all call that wavelength by that name. But, there’s no real reason to believe that we are truly registering the same thing.
My friend was appalled. He insisted that if it’s the same wavelength, we must see the same thing. But, I still think that if our taste buds can register flavors differently, there’s no reason to believe our cones and rods don’t do the same thing. Clearly, that’s true for people who have various types of colorblindness.
I’m talking about something more extreme, though. I’m envisioning being able to slip my consciousness into your body and see that the sky is what this body sees as red and taste as lemon what this body perceives to be chocolate. We agree that a think* is pleasant because we like it. But, there’s no real reason to believe we are actually experiencing the same thing.
*Ha! Leaving the typo because it fits.
I am the Audience 