Generator
Two identical grey patches on different surrounds
Both inner squares are #818181. The one on the dark field looks lighter. The values are checked to be equal before the figure is drawn, so the claim is a fact about the drawing rather than a promise.
Drawn at its defaults, in what the brain does that the numbers do not. It takes no options at all, so every essay calling it gets this exact drawing.
Called by 2 essays
the blast radius of changing it
What the brain does
These two patches are identical
It is the most repeated and least checkable sentence in visual perception, because the whole point is that it does not look true. Every instance here is computed, and checked before the figure is drawn.
Matching and measuringMatching is not appearance
CIE XYZ predicts when two lights will look the same under identical viewing conditions. It was never a model of how anything looks, and most of the confusion in applied colour comes from using it as one.