Well, yes and no, Winterclaw.  The one thing we overlooked in these proceedings is the hardware associated with gamma correction.  The visual data is digitally processed on a linear scale which is perfectly normal if our biological neurons were genetically wired as such.  However, our range of visual perception is not linear, we see much better under dimmer conditions.  We see more details in the shade then we do in extreme brightness.  To retain that same dynamic in electronic devices, we skew that linear curve so that we recapture what we visually interpret in real life.

And gamma correction is not only applied to monitors, it is applied to cameras, scanners, and the internet.