diario de navegacao

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Preto e Branco

Everything is painted in black and white or shades of grey, including the young woman who sits at the desk. She wears black gloves, black shoes, opaque black stockings, and a white lab coat. The image on the TV screen is monochrome. (...) That's Frank Jackson's Mary, the colour scientist. The idea is that she's been borned and raised and educated in a totally monochrome environment. She knows everything there is to know about colour in scientific terms - for example, the various wavelenght combinations that stimulate the retina of the eye in colour recognition - but she has never actually seen any colours. Notice there are no mirrors in her room, so she can't see the pigmentation of her own face, eyes, or hair, and the rest of the body is covered. Then one day she's allowed out of the room, and the first thing she sees is, say, a red rose. Does she have a totally new experiment?

'Mary.' Stigwood speaks to her through a PA system, making her jump.
'Yes?' she looks round the room, trying to identify the location of the speakers, not realizing that the opaque panel in the walll is a one-way window.
'What do you see on the table?'
'A rose.'
'What colour is it?'
A pause. The longest pause either man ever experimented in their lives.
'Red,' she says.
Stigwood punches the air. Dickinson looks stricken. He snatches the hand mike from Stigwood.
'How do you know?' Dickinson asks.
'It's the colour of blood.'
'Blood?' It is Stigwood's turn to look dismayed. 'How do you know the colour of blood?'
Mary blushes. 'Every woman knows,' she says. ¶ 7:42 PM