May '24

The question is much more scintillating when transposed into the language of colours: Would bright colours exist even if there were no eyes to see them?

Our sock honour does not allow me to take the path of self-serving excuses that everything depends on one’s definition of sound and light and whether we understand them to be a type of wave or a nerve impulse triggered by said wave. Let me therefore unequivocally declare that without eyes, colours would not exist, as attested to by the flowerbed blossoming in your garden this month.

It is no coincidence that the first bright-coloured blossoms appeared about 100 million years ago, i.e., at the time when our famous pollinators began to perceive a broader colour spectrum. Until then, plants had been mostly green in order to maximise photosynthesis. That means that for most of their existence, dinosaurs were surrounded not by picturesque blossoms but rather greenish-brown muck.

The plants’ bold decision to replace their efficient green solar panels with varicoloured nectar enticements launched an epic new era. Every pollinator had its own taste. A honeybee sees yellow and blue the best, a hummingbird fancies some reds and a moth is most likely to notice white blossoms.

In brief, if there were no eyes to admire colours, there would be no colourful socks.