Vision (sense)
Vision is a sense possessed by many biological organisms by which they can sense electromagnetic radiation.
Description[edit]
The experience of the sense of Vision is quite varied among various biological organisms. The relative sensitivity to radiation intensity, as well as the particular wavelength bands a given organism can perceive vary widely even among different organisms properly belonging to the same biome. Some organisms may be able to detect radiant electromagnetic energy within a given band, but not be able to differentiate between the various wavelengths, detecting radiant intensity only (i.e. grayscale vision or shades). Others may only be able to perceive particular wavelengths within the given sensitivity band, yielding a limited range of perceived "colors". The width of the band of sensitivity over a specified "spread" of wavelengths in a given range will also vary between different organisms as well. But in general, for those species having the sense of vision, the visions-sense will tend to be centered on or close to the peak-output frequence of the light reaching the surface of the world to which they are native, which is normally the peak-output of the primary star of the star system. An organism will tend to "see" radiant energy in a given number of range bands to either side of this peak frequency but may or may not be able to perceive all of the frequencies in that range, depending on what wavelengths their sight-organ can detect.
The accompanying diagrams show the complete range of the entire radiant Electromagnetic Spectrum. The band labeled as "Visible Light" is the visual band typical for most of the sub-races of Humaniti centered in the "green" wavelengths of the spectrum, as the primary star, Sol, of the Solomani homeworld of Terra upon which all Humaniti is believed to have originated peaks in this frequency range.
In the case of Humaniti, the visual band extends at most to two bands to either side of the green band, which places most of Humaniti in the RGB visual band range (with vision extending one band in each direction beyond the "R" and "B", respectively). The Vargr visual band is similar, but lacks the "R" receptor, yielding the GB visual band range (with vision extending one band in each direction beyond the "G" and "B", respectively, but without the ability to clearly perceive Red (the color primaries combining to generate low-frequency color-perception differently). The Droyne (having originated in a different biome under a different star) apparently operate in the GBP visual band range (with vision extending one band in each direction beyond the "G" and "P", respectively), and giving some insight as to what kind of star their ancient homeworld might have circled.
Species with Vision will not only perceive reflected electromagnetic radiation (i.e. colors and shades of an object when "illuminated" by an outside "radiation-source"), but will also perceive objects that are emitting electromagnetic radiation (such as blackbody radiation due to thermal emission at a given temperature) as "glowing". For species that can "see" in certain infra-red bands and live under conditions that Humaniti might refer to as "room-temperature", they will always be able to see, as any place they go will aways be "glowing-hot" due to the temperature.
The Six Senses[edit]
Vision is one of the Six Standard Senses:
Reference[edit]
|
This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it. |
- Marc Miller, Robert Eaglestone, Don McKinney. Characters and Combat (Far Future Enterprises, 2019), 190-191.