[Click here for May's riddle] [Click here for the answer to May's riddle]
[Click here for June's riddle]
June’s riddle consists of just one simple question. You can give your answer in the comments section at the bottom and I will provide the answer next month. Again, there is a real answer to this riddle.
Look at the 3 pictures below, and answer the following question:
1. What is the best colour?
Green.
Grey.
“Best” can be defined as “that which is most suited”. This however implies that a function must be defined. It is like saying “what is the best voltage?” without defining what it will be used for. Without a context “best” cannot be determined. So the best color would be the most suitable one. But for what job?
In any case, “best” is ephemeral since the context is always changing. From an evolutionary perspective “best” could be defined as “that which makes the optimum use of its environment and resources at that point in time”. Dinosaurs might have once been best. Humans could now be considered best. However you could also make a strong case that cockroaches are really the best.
The spot colour that is “best = most suited” seems to be the colour making a spot clearly seen in all three pictures and then the answer must be limited to either green or grey.
So far so good! In deciding between those two colours I go for green, just because my gut says so. Bright green is good if not best but better than dull grey. So much for the scientific approach!
White. FFFFFF.
It contains all the ‘code’ necessary to produce any and all other colours
… and it has reproduced more than the others.
Nice thought about reproduction. I didn’t spot that!
Thank you, Mark. It was your answer about ‘the best being ephemeral’ that actually prompted my response. White light contains all the colours of the rainbow, so removing a wavelength (suppressing a gene) here or there would/could produce any other colour needed (as the situation/function/environment changed).
Of course, my answer is most certainly wrong… as white and black are not technically colours… and I can’t envision a critter with zero genes (as Black would imply)… but… those little white dots *do* seem to be a bit ‘busier’ than the rest!
White.
Okay, white contains all the colors, but I will go for simple. Green. It stands out in all three illustrations. Gray is a mixture of black and white. The purple disappears in illustration 3. Yup, I’ll go with green. Maybe it’s the gardener in my soul.
Have you noticed the subtle difference between the two yellowish colours?
Indeed I had not! Thanks for pointing out
blue. obviously.
Thanks Greg for gracing my blog with a comment!
I am going with Grey.
Not only can Grey survive in every “ecosystem”, but it dominates the only other color with that ability- Green.
Where Grey and Green fight for space, Grey wins. Green is like the Neanderthal of this brain game.
Grey is the best.
All of the pictures are the same, only the background changes. Colors seem to appear and disappear but it is only an artifact of them blending into the background. They were there all along. It is a classic perception problem (see here for more examples http://www.sapdesignguild.org/resources/optical_illusions/foreground_background.html). This goes back to my previous comment: best requires a context. Unless you know the environment in which a creature lived you cannot know how well it was adapted to that environment. When that environment changes you must understand the change in order to understand which adaptations would be preferentially selected.
Excellent!
But I can’t help but wonder… if there were only ‘one’ color presented, the answer would be obvious. The ‘best’ would be the only color presented.
If there were two colors presented… then it is a simple matter of choosing one color over the other. But the ‘Truth’ is that BOTH colors are imperative in making the choice, as no comparison can be made without our emotional perception of ‘best’ and ‘not best’.
What I’m (painfully) trying to say is… without Variance, there is no best.
TRUE BLUE
After reading the answer to May’s riddle, I expect Mark Huckabee’s answer to be most appropriate. We are asked for the best color, without being given a criteria. So almost any answer might be appropriate given an appropriate criteria.
Personally I would choose red or magenta or orange. Most other comments seem to be directed towards the color of the dots. But what about the color of the background. What would it’s best color be? This was one of my first thoughts. And I would answer that by suggesting a background color against which all the dots stand out clearly. Since none of the dots is red or magenta or orange, I would choose one of these three colors so that the info about the presence of each of the dots is not lost.