Pioneer Plaque

CURRENCY EXCHANGE PIONEER PLAQUE

To convey that currency exchange requires two things, (a) a desire on at least one member’s part (hence the colored shapes in the head) (b) a common currency necessary for exchange (the green circles), I created multiple simplified examples to show the processes of exchange.

Catering specificically to the aliens of Ted Chiang’s Story of Your Life, I emulated the description that the narrator of the story gives to the alien’s writing style. Lousie Banks, the narrator, describes the heptapods writings stating, “Then I noticed that some of the logograms looked like the logogram for ‘heptapod’ with some extra strokes added to one side or another” (10). In my drawing, I made each character look like a human with additional characteristics indicating possession, exchange, and want/need. 

“Humans had developed a sequential mode of awareness, while heptapods had

developed a simultaneous mode of awareness. We experienced events in an order, and

perceived their relationship as cause and effect. They experienced all events at once,

and perceived a purpose underlying them all.” (31)

 

Adhering to the heptapod’s idea that there is not any sort of sequence in how the exchanges occur as long as they occur in a minimizing/maximizing way, I did not make my image ordered. Those not exchanging do not want to exchange. Those that have something they want may go through one or multiple steps of exchange depending on whether they have currency. Because of the heptapod’s concurrent thinking, I wanted to create a sense of finality after each person has what they want. An endpoint of exchange may be less realistic in human life where we experience constant demand and fulfillment cycles. In that way, I am appealing more to the heptapods than to human reality. If they were to perceive the way humans exchange money, they would perceive an endpoint.