system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why can't we imagine new colors?
gpt
I would wager that everything you 'imagine' is some function of everything you've ever experienced - every stimulus you've ever received as a brain with shoes. All we do when we 'imagine' is take things we've experienced, and combine them in new ways.. 

In the case of colors, the 'existing' colors, are every combination of red, blue and green possible... which, given our earlier interpretation of imagination, is also all the colors we're capable of imagining. 

In other words, we can't imagine more colors, because there *are no more* colors - given our known set of previous inputs, at least. 

I theorize that, having never seen the color purple, a young child could still imagine purple...because purple is just a blue-ish-red-ish hue, and exists as a combination of existing stimulus...even though it's a new color for them if they've never seen it before. 


For example: Imagine a new shape, and see how quickly your brain just combines existing shapes to make a new one. Imagine a new smell and see how quickly your brain comes up with 'chocobacon' or something. 

Once you've eliminated all the possible combinations of existing stimulus, your imagination doesn't seem so limitless.