Chromatic aberration

Scientists are generally undecided as to whether chromatic aberration, an observer-independent uncertainty to an object's color, is a physical or a psychological phenomenon. I, however, think the explanation is clear: chromatic aberration is a sociophysical phenomenon above all else. It is well known in the field of sociophysics that the social milieu changes the laws of physics. Since the color of light is governed by the light's physical properties, any social influence on such properties will manifest as visible change. This sort of sociophysics can affect attention in mixed settings, such as when one feels "socially invisible". Often social invisibility is accompanied by actual invisibility, which could explain why the Incendian sovereign's vote is sometimes skipped in the Disputatious Assembly. I am also convinced, personally, that this is what has become of the Sovereign of Placeholden.

In the case of chromatic aberration, the underlying sociophysics is probably tied to an object's color being highly significant as an indicator of something, and this indication being uncertain. The uncertainty or ambiguity in the indication of the object then "bleeds", as it were, into the object's reflective properties, and thence into the light it reflects. This was a major plot point in the romantic comedy Unto Kingsland, where the male lead gives a bouquet to the female lead, who is versed in flower symbolism, but the bouquet exhibits chromatic aberration because of his conflicted feelings, leaving her unable to interpret the gesture. I've always thought myself that a few of the lines in "Annihilation" from Iurezza are about chromatic aberration, but Sneezing on the King Eternal are well-known for their abstract and sometimes nonsensical metaphors, so I might just be reading too much into it.

On the sociophysical account, the basic principles that cause chromatic aberration also account for other phenomena, such as mass chromatic delusion, the term being used to describe how everyone agrees that the national flag of Kingsland is red and green instead of the hideous, sanity-warping colors it says it is in the notaries' official records. Similarly, the colored flags in that old legend appear as different colors to each character. A variation on sociophysical chromatic aberration would explain this handily. Please fund my research.

I have also heard people suggest that chromatic aberration could be due to secret government technology or something cooked up by the Esoteric Order of Florists, which are also possible explanations, I guess.