My quick guess is that it is so dim, that our eyes are seeing it mostly with the rods (instead of the cones), which only see black and white. „In the night all cats are gray“
I think a better example probably would just be the night sky (at least in places with non-optimal conditions). Where I’m at there is very little color even when it’s clear enough to see galactic features (interstellar cloud/nebulae, clusters of dimmer stars etc).
From reading the text, I speculate that Franklin was alluding to the preexisting saying as well – alluding to the cat in the dark as an accepted axiom.
My quick guess is that it is so dim, that our eyes are seeing it mostly with the rods (instead of the cones), which only see black and white. „In the night all cats are gray“
I think a better example probably would just be the night sky (at least in places with non-optimal conditions). Where I’m at there is very little color even when it’s clear enough to see galactic features (interstellar cloud/nebulae, clusters of dimmer stars etc).
Wait… Did you really just use the Benjamin Franklin grandma pussy quote for this?
Oh. I didn’t know this was a thing. In my mother tongue (German) it is like a normal expression.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachts_sind_alle_Katzen_grau
Apparently it was originally adapted from Don Quixote
Excuse me the what now
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advice_to_a_Friend_on_Choosing_a_Mistress?wprov=sfla1
Learn and be scarred
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From reading the text, I speculate that Franklin was alluding to the preexisting saying as well – alluding to the cat in the dark as an accepted axiom.
That would make sense, cleverly recontextualizing a regular saying. It would fit the tone of the letter to do that humorously