On 17 Jun 2005, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > With the permission of the student who wrote the following note to me, I am > passing this question along to your wiser heads > > 1. Has there been any success in the search for underlying > symbols/archetypes that are recognized a most people in the world (without > previous instruction). > > 2. Can most humans recognize a "stick person" when drawn, or other simple > symbols? If even moderatly so, to what degree? > > 3. How possible is it to create visual "instructions" (think of the > pamphlet on an airplane of a fire evacuation)--not bound by language--that > most people can understand (without previous instruction)? >
It's taken me a while to get back to this interesting question but better late than never. If the focus of the question is changed somewhat, it seems that the US government, through its entity NASA and the late, great Carl Sagan, tried to answer it. They changed the question so that it concerned how best to achieve recognition, not by an untutored human population, but by an extraterrestrial one, presumably one which would be profoundly more intelligent and technologically advanced than we are (even more than George Bush and Paul Martin). If I recall Sagan's science fiction novel, _Contact_ correctly, he envisaged extra-terrestrials trying to communicate by sending us a stream of digits which encoded instructions to build a spacecraft. But how could we communicate with them? He tried to answer that question for real twice. The spacecraft Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 were launched in 1972, each carrying the same plaque with symbols on it designed to be understandable to advanced extraterrestrials. It included a diagram of the hydrogen atom, intended as a measuring ruler, a map indicating the place of the earth in the solar system and galaxy, and most, interesting, a drawing (not stick figures) of a naked man and woman (with reasonably accurate, if slightly fudged genitals) The man is depicted with his right hand raised in what was hoped would be a universal (hopefully, _really_ universal) gesture of goodwill. The woman was depicted cooking a meal and vacuuming (no, she wasn't). Alas, it seems that not everyone was happy with NASA sending dirty pictures into space. [based on a Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_plaque] NASA through Carl tried again in 1977 with Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, this time sending a primitive device which seems to be a cross between a conventional record and a primitive CD (which is now _so_ obsolete in less than 30 years that one wonders what ETs would make of it). It contained the hydrogen atom ruler again, but no porno this time. Instead the device contained images of the earth and its sounds, including those of humans and whales, various music selections (from Bach to Chuck Berry), greetings in 55 languages (Yo, ET! Howzit goin' eh?), and printed messages from famous U.S. President Carter and infamous United Nations secretary-general Kurt Waldheim. see http://www.cedmagic.com/featured/voyager/voyager-record.html and you can see and listen to much of this stuff at: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html But so far, ET has not yet returned our phone call. Maybe he'll get back to us in a few billion years or so, if he can understand what we said. Stephen __________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm _______________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
