Remember when #TheDress tore this nation (the whole world, really) apart? Quick refresher: everyone from preteens to world leaders to pop stars weighed in on whether a dress featured in a Twitter photo was gold and white or black and blue, which launched us into a worldwide science lesson on how humans can perceive colors differently. (The happening even earned itself a Wikipedia page!)
Unfortunately for our feeds, that controversy now has a Round Two. Enter this innocuous-looking Twitter photo asking for help in deciding which nail polish color best match a pink shoe, and we’ve got ourselves an internet explosion and almost 7,000 retweets.
WHICH COLOR MATCHES THE SHOES THE BEST pic.twitter.com/Qv3mpOOf8w
— a (@totallymendes) July 8, 2015
As we learned from #TheDress, a color can look very different in different individuals’ minds, thus all the hubbub and debate. That’s what happens when people are absolutely, positively sure that what they’re seeing is objectively correct — and are wrong about it! For a more scientific explanation, Time reached out to Jason Silva, the host of National Geographic’s Brain Games, who summed it up best: “The largest takeaway is that color exists in your brain. It’s not an objective feature of reality.” So basically, if you’re in a pessimistic mood, you could maybe say that everything we see all day long is a lie. Sort of.
Which one do you think matches best? My vote goes to the polish on the right.
