Idle epistemological thoughts
Imagine a scientist who has been completely colour-blind her whole life, and has paradoxically devoted her whole life towards the study of colour. She knows everything there is to know about specific wavelengths, light particles, interpretation of colour by the eye and brain, and any remote aspect of anything vaguely colour-related. She could tell you the million wavelengths of a sunset, but the only skies she has ever seen are rendered in an unsatisfactory, subdued monochrome.
Imagine, then, that by dint of some miracle, she suddenly acquires colour vision. The question is simply this: when she looks at the sunset, has she gained new knowledge?
Some days, when I am feeling particularly faithless, it does me a life of good to consider the je ne sais quois of this inexplicable qualia, and whether immersing our logical 21st century minds in the ocean of scientific rationality is progress, or drowning.