Why does the human eye have such a narrow bandwidth?

Question

There is light information above and below our spectrum. Is that information unimportant? Why did Darwin not create a better eye?

Answer 1

Darwin didn't create anything.  He DISCOVERED the theory of evolution.  Read a book.

Answer 2

Our eyes first settled for the things we desire.  Language marks the limits of experience, those with finer discernment have greater scope.  What we name, we possess. For many reasons we see less as we age, unless we learn how to open another eye.

Answer 3

If we had sharper eyes we'd be even more horny or in some cases the opposite.

Answer 4

Darwin didn't create anything, god did.  He came up with the theory of evolution after studying nature out in the Galapagos Islands.  In his time, he was ridiculed for his hypothesis to the point of renouncing his theory and wishing he never came up with it.  As for evolution, it does exist and it can be proven.  It exists only in the form of micro-evolution, not macro-evolution.  Micro-evolution is subtle changes over time, adaptation, survival of the fittest.  However Macro-evolution is what Darwin came up with, and is the branch of evolution that is just a theory.  Man evolving from monkey, the part that is unproven by science and remains only theory.  The theory can't be tested or proven, and in fact doesn't make much sense.  In nature things go from order to chaos, not the other way around.  There has never been an instance where chaos has turned to order, much less pond scum evolve into semi-intelligent creatures and animals.  As for humans, there is not a need for us to see more of the spectrum than we already do.  What our eyes pick up and what we can see is amazing in itself.  I for one am glad that we can at least see color, imagine if you had the eyesight of a dog.  The range of the spectrum that we can see splits white light up in order for us to pick up every color imaginable.  There is just not a need for the human eye to see ultra violet, x-ray, or heat vision although it would be neat.

Answer 5

Could it have something to do with the human brain? We were given one for a reason; when will we begin to use it?

Answer 6

the human body is weak compared to any other animal on earth. and that's for a purpose.

would we have invented light and electricity if we had night visions like cats for example?

Answer 7

Apparently not for survival it's not required. Perhaps too much info is too confusing to process and not necessary just to hunt for food, avoid being eaten and getting a sexual partner.

Answer 8

The eye has an infinite bandwidth. The brain just limits it to what it wants it to see.

Answer 9

We continue to evolve...many see through diviner eyes...let us hope these mutations breed true and become a dominant trait.

Answer 10

The bandwidth of the human eye is not as narrow as the perception bandwidth of some people. That's my viewpoint.

Answer 11

This question really belongs in the Biology forum.  

But to answer it, the reason is that the photosensitive chemicals in your cones in your eye are sensitive to specific frequencies in the red, green, and blue frequencies and less so to other frequencies.  That means that frequencies of light that they are not sensitive to is out side of the bandwidth of visible light literally.  So frequencies of light in the UV and infrared frequencies produce no electrical signals on the neurons coming from your eyes.

This is not an issue with the brain.  If we had different photosensitive chemicals in our cones which were sensitive to UV or infrared frequencies, we could "see" in those frequencies.