Category: CommLab

Pioneer Plaque

As light travels in a straight line, light from a scene passes through the pinhole and projects an inverted image on the opposite side. The size of the images depends on the distance between the object and the pinhole. This is the pinhole imaging. A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture(the so-called pinhole)—effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. It uses pinhole imaging.

On the left of the picture is a lighted candle. The light that the candle produced travels straightly and passes through the pinhole in the center of the board. Then, an inverted image appears on the right side of the board.

In the book, it says that “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.” “For the heptapods, all language was performative. Instead of using language to inform, they used language to actualize. Sure, heptapods already knew what would be said in any conversation; but in order for their knowledge to be true, the conversation would have to take place.”

To describe this technology to the aliens, I’ll mix my description altogether to form a circle, all characters with different directions, shape and size on a paper. Then I’ll put many pieces of paper around the alien. At the mean time, I’ll try explaining with my mouth, combining written and oral language. I’ll also show the experiment to them. I’ll have different guys performing the different stages of the experiment at the same time, showing different steps for them but not in a linear order. One will use a pencil to stab a hole in the paper. One will try to put the paper with a hole vertically. One will light a candle and put it near the hole. The last person will put a paper near the hole so that the image can appear on the paper.They get to understand the principle of pinhole imaging in their way. After that, I’ll take out a pinhole camera and take photos of them. They’re also able to look at the photos at the same time, which enables them to understand the technology from the beginning to the end. They can also touch the camera if they want, and try using it themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhBC39xZVnw

The reason why we choose pinhole imaging is that this theory is how we humans see the world with our eyeballs. Also, it is widely used in our daily lives and we follow this theory to produce many products, such as cameras.

Ideas about Story of Your Life

After several hours of reading, I have to say that this fiction is really difficult to understand. However, as I continue reading, I do have some insights into it.

I find the way the author wrote the story interesting but kind of confusing. Two parts of the story are mixed together: one is Louise telling the memory of her daughter, while another is her experience with the aliens. At last, when the two storylines combine together, it better explains the theme of the fiction.

Heptapods basically have grammar in two dimensions. They have a full-fledged, general-purpose graphical language, whose writing constitutes a completely separate language from their speech. They are using a nonlinear system of orthography that qualified as true writing.  What really strikes me is that as Louise is getting better at their language, she begins to think as they do and then acquires the ability to predict the future.

I still can’t quite understand the logic behind the book, but it provides me with a new comprehension of language and communication. Language isn’t just a tool to communicate, but it’s also connected to action. If we can know what will happen in advance as heptapods do, then our lives would be a lot different. We may dive into our lives and enjoy the most of them.