The world has suddenly been divided into two groups: the Blue and Blacks and the Gold and Whites.

The BBs and the GWs are screaming at each other in loungerooms, in offices, in different lighting across the globe. The cause of the great debate? The color of a dress.

On Thursday, a user going by the name of Swiked posted a photo of a striped dress to Tumblr. “Guys please help me — is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Me and my friends can’t agree and we are freaking the fuck out.”

With this one insignificant question, the Internet fell apart and we all forgot about llamas. Some people claim the stripes are blue and black, while others can only see gold and white. Various techniques are being deployed in an attempt to change the side you were born on: dimming lights, changing brightness, switching device, throwing computers off balconies.

There are random theories popping up about what causes the violent difference of opinion — yet many are just reduced to name calling — such as one posted on the forum Neogaf that blames your cones and your rods in your eyes.

Blue and Black: Your retina’s cones are more high functioning, and this results in your eyes doing subtractive mixing. White and Gold: Our eyes don’t work well in dim light so our retinas rods see white, and this makes them less light sensitive, causing additive mixing, (that of green and red), to make gold.

Or there is this Vine, which insulted everyone for even thinking there could be a paranormal explanation.

Or this patronizing tweet.

So, as an example of how fun color perception works, A and B are EXACTLY the same color in this image: pic.twitter.com/pU66dkNgZs

— Kathryn Long (@StarKat99) February 27, 2015

Mashable has contacted the Sydney Eye Hospital and is awaiting a more educated explanation.

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