Choose an existing system or technology of earth/human culture and write a short text and an accompanying visual description communicating this chosen system or technology to the aliens in this fictional short story.
For this project, Andrew, Jeeho and I chose to introduce the concept of a pedometer to the heptapods. The picture shown above is a visual representation of how a pedometer functions and will also help the heptapods understand how a pedometer works. The main usage of a pedometer serves as a technology for humans to keep track of our movements and step count. To begin, the basic concept of a pedometer is a small device that can be attached to various parts of our body and the movements will be calculated by swings.The pedometer also has a small lever arm inside which moves up and down based on movement. The movement of walking is described as the body swinging from one side to another side and to capture the step counts, it is attached to the ankle and multiplies the number of swings by the average length of your steps. Because the anatomy of humans and heptapods are different, the way in which humans and heptapods walk are different. Humans have two legs that we walk on and two arms while the alien has “four legs, three non-adjacent arms curled up at its sides..limbs had no distinct joints…it’s “torso” rise atop the rippling limbs as smoothly as a hovercraft…seven lidless eyes ringed the top of the hetapod’s body” (Chiang 5). This description shows the fluidity in movement of the heptapods whereas humans must move each joint individually due to its anatomy. By introducing the pedometer to heptapods, we not only introduce a functional technological device, but also highlight how humans move.
How would you describe it, based on your understanding of the linguistic characteristics of these alien’s mode of communication?
The heptapod communicates in a way similarly to humans as they also verbally communicate and have the same senses as humans. For example, they also have eyes and a medium for verbal communication. When communicating with the aliens about the pedometer it would be best to demonstrate the usage of a pedometer visually, since they have eyes, as there is a very big language barrier. It would be best to use a person using the pedometer as he walks around. This would allow the heptapods to understand that by walking, the numbers on the pedometer will go up. Furthermore, it would also be best if we dismantle the technology and show that when the lever inside is moving up and down the step count increases. The heptapod will then understand fully how the machine works without any verbal exchanges. In the reading, it shows how the heptapod can understand simple concepts so it can be inferred that this type of communication is feasible. However, it is easier to communicate verbally but the most efficient way is to demonstrate visually as the alien’s language has not been translated completely.