23 degrees: feels like 28 degrees.

[crow]

Is there any limit to the distance humans put between themselves and reality?
I've noticed a ludicrous trend that has been becoming ever more ludicrous over several years:
The minimal reporting of what instruments tell us, and what it (apparently) feels like to us.

Minus 5 degrees: feels like minus 20.
2mm. rainfall, feels like 2 feet.
Sunny periods expected: UV danger extreme.
Risk of light breezes.
Stay indoors: thunderstorms a possibility...

I actually enjoy this thing so many seem scared to death of: reality.
Then again, I was always different.

[trystero]

Our bodies do perceive temperature differently compared to the actual ambient temperature due to a number of factors, chief amongst them being humidity. In very humid conditions, the cooling ability of sweat is mostly lost, so lower temperatures can be dangerously high compared to much higher temperatures in drier locales. It isnt just a matter of feelings before reality, but information really relevant to human beings.

[crow]

Who decides what it feels like, for all?

[dead last]

It's a matter of taking into account wind chill and heat index. Sometimes 80 degrees in Indiana feels like 90 degrees in Arizona. Humidity is a factor because at high levels, it makes sweating less effective. Obviously if our sweat can't evaporate quickly, then we won't be able to cool down. Therefore the same objective temperature in two different places will feel different depending on the humidity; hotter to us if the humidity level is high, cooler if it is low.

That's why I like the western states. I like my sweat to work effectively, thanks much.

*edit*

When wind moves over your skin, sweating becomes extra effective, so higher wind chill means lower perceived temperature in general. Forgot to mention that.

[Wild]

What if I sweat more than you, yet less than the weatherman?
Are there 3 temperatures?

What if I come from Alaska, and 80 degrees feels unbearably hot?
What if I come from Florida, and 80 degrees feels mild?

How do you know how I feel?

[death-metal]

Who decides what it feels like, for all?

It's set by a standard that allows us the maximum possible excuses. Done by a computer, probably some old Macintosh (AIDS) hooked up to a Cisco router in the basement.

[trystero]

Who decides what it feels like, for all?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index

Focus groups of course!

[dead last]

The heat index is only a number, it is not telling you how you feel. You are asking a question as unanswerable as this; "How can you tell me how much TEN is? How can I know that TEN to you means as much as TEN to me? What if MY TEN is greater or less than YOUR TEN? How can we really call it TEN?" Sounds like some sort of solipsism.

It doesn't matter how great or small number X means to you, really, because you will never know how 80 degrees feels to me anyway. We just use it as a measurement for the same reason we name colors. We experience the sensation in a relatively similar way and so it is objective enough to identify consistently and give a name to.

Heat index is a plenty bewildering concept if you want to delve into "the problem of other minds" stuff, but aside from that, it is not so arbitrary or imposing as you make it seem by asking who "decides what it feels like for all".

[crow]

I'll leave the significance of the post for you all to figure out, or not.
So far only two takers.
Language and standards exist for a reason.
When you start redefining what everything means, by changing the very terms you'd use to communicate the change...

[Wild]

it is not telling you how you feel.

Actually, that's what its purpose is.

You are asking a question as unanswerable as this; "How can you tell me how much TEN is?

One more than nine.
Two less than twelve.
Five groups of two.

How can I know that TEN to you means as much as TEN to me?

You can't, but feelings are irrelevant. Ten is not reducible further as an idea, it refers to an event in objective reality.

[crow]

I wonder if this is something that can be explained?
Maybe its you either get it, or you don't.
So much of reality is like that.

[trystero]

Its purpose is to tell you how you might feel, a perfectly valid purpose, unless you are some extreme, extreme unique outlier. The attitude in opposition is espoused generally by people who dont believe in reality and believe they are truly unique (You cant tell me what temperature I might be feeling!!!).

[crow]

You can be as clever as you like, but if you don't get it, you don't get it.
This is beginning to be a real factor in the fall of civilization.

[trystero]

I get it, but the heat index is not at fault. It will be (has been) caught along with decrying subjective interpretation vs. objective reality. You can easily make the point without the example, or with a different one. The problem with a broad stroke is that it pushes aside exceptions, whether or not they are valid. While in some cases this is a good idea, the correct course is not to just push on despite.

If it feels hotter than it is, that has real physiological consequences. If you feel hotter, you are very probably hotter. If perceived temperature is dangerously high, you are dangerously hot, even if true ambient temperature isn't. That is live-or-die reality, it doesn't get any clearer.

[NHA]

This thread should probably just be deleted. The original post used a terrible example to illustrate a point.