For some reason it seems social media has gone nuts over what colors are in the dress in this photo:
 

 
Apparently the dress is blue and black in real life but the debate centers around what colors are shown in this photo, which is obviously overexposed or filtered or something. I've scrolled through hundreds of comments in disbelief as the disagreement seems to be based around whether the colors are either blue & black or gold & white. A small minority of people actually identify the colors correctly - periwinkle and gold. In no way are the stripes on that dress either black or white. Yet a majority of people are reporting that's what they see. Of course it's easy enough to take pixel samples and determine the actual colors - I took a sample of the periwinkle parts as #7D8AB7 and a sample of the gold parts as #7E6E4C. Of course you could argue that those colors are not strictly defined as periwinkle or gold, but the fact remains that they are what they are, which is anything but black (#000000) or white (#FFFFFF). 
 
Of course it doesn't really matter in the slightest and I can't believe I actually got interested enough to take readings of the freaking pixels. I'm just freaked out that so many people, a clear majority by my estimation, are getting these colors wildly wrong. What's going on? Is color blindness an epidemic? Or are most people's computer screens so unbelievably crappy that they're actually misrepresenting these colors to that extent? I'm genuinely curious. I'm at the point where I can no longer believe anyone when they describe something's color. 

You underestimate them humans. I'm sure there's someone out there who'd argue that it's actually a picture of a green camel or of an alien that sort of looks like Ben Affleck.
 
Actually, there's probably enough of them to start a cult...

She has very short arms...

Well.
 
I have an 'A' level in art. I studied graphic design for 4 years, achieving the regional diploma after 3 years, and a degree in the final year. If I so wished, I could have the letters LSIAD after my name.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Is it brown?

That reminds me of the above and below images.  The color of the middle cubes on all sides above is the same (provable by pulling the image into a photo imaging program and sampling).
 
Sure looks like brown on top and orange on the main face towards you, doesn't it?
 

The top and the bottom are actually the same color.
 

 
One last one.  Squares "A" and "B" above are actually the same color.
 
Conclusion?  Our brains are messed up! 

craigb
 
Our brains are messed up! 

Let's see -  would you or wouldn't you wear that dress?

Rain

craigb
 
Our brains are messed up! 

Let's see -  would you or wouldn't you wear that dress?

I would if it wasn't so green..
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
and it came in a big enough size...

Karyn
She has very short arms...

...and deep pockets. Must be from around here.

I saw that on the tele today a couple of times and frankly.. I don't get it. It always looks white and goldish to me. How could anyone see it as black and blue? Really? Elaborate, I cannot get my little mind around this.

craigb

That reminds me of the above and below images.  The color of the middle cubes on all sides above is the same (provable by pulling the image into a photo imaging program and sampling).
 
Sure looks like brown on top and orange on the main face towards you, doesn't it?
 

The top and the bottom are actually the same color.
 

 
One last one.  Squares "A" and "B" above are actually the same color.
 
Conclusion?  Our brains are messed up! 

One last one... no they're not, at least not on my screen. I never claimed to have a brain, I have never seen my brain so I'm not sure if I have one or not but if I do... well, it has been disassembled and reassembled. There may have been some parts left over, or maybe that was earwax. How can those squares be the same color? Did you get this off Facebook, that would explain it! LOL.