IIRC the color gamuts which are used to "define" RGB and other computer models of color were based on experimental averages of testing lots of people in the 1920s. They were of course then limited in testing for what was easy to see and discern using their equipment (ie., visible light, but not tunable, and no lasers, just mixing). But in tests when there's no 'visible' light going into the eye, the human eye can just barely detect some infrared, although I think people seeing that don't consider it a different color from red. (I need to get the gels so I can try this myself). I've wondered if that is because of limitations in the receptors of the eye (IR and red send exactly the same signal to the brain) or that people grow up in an environment where the IR contribution is so small that the brain never learns to make a color for IR.
Similarly, I've heard stories about aging scientists who have had cataract surgery who get called up every time the physics department needs to calibrate their UV spectrometer, as they can discern colors in the UV which people who hadn't had the surgery could only discern overall intensity.
As there are people doing corneal tattooing, no doubt people are also planning to have their cornea modified to allow more UV.
Ocular implants, designed to repair blindness by allowing patients to see in the normal range, could be boosted to allow anyone to see in the infrared or ultra-violet spectrum, Dr Vint Cerf says....He does not find the idea overwhelming or dangerous. But he is less enthusiastic about technologies that change the way we think or make decisions.
from "Net Creator Says Bionic will Boom"
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