Archiv der Kategorie: Meaning design

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Through the veil of symptoms

We still have no explanation of how we are actually able to think consciously. Already the appropriation by means of We that implies that others think is not a matter of fact. And yet we have a silent agreement that we see, hear, feel, taste, smell and think similarly. But we still do not know how the stimuli of the environment are translated into our mental inner self and how our consciousness evolves. All we got is our ‘Cogito ergo sum’. Nevertheless, we ask whether machines have awareness. Only indirect symptoms are measurable – electrical activations and the observable activities. Through this veil of symptoms, we continue to search.

To penetrate the veil, we have at hand the elements of the world, sensory signals, our own consciousness and the resulting activities and artifacts.

  • The world as such
    We take the flora and fauna as well as the natural and man-made things for granted. We are convinced that they are, independent of the observer. The philosophical question is: Do the leaves rustle in the forest, even when we are not there to listen?
    Such questions can come to our minds without being able to find them in others, also not in other living beings. How could you do that on a computer?
  • Perceived signals
    We perceive the world through the five senses. Thus, the receptors in the eyes receive light that is transformed into mental images, the ears perceive sounds that become music, touches on the skin trigger emotions, delicacies stimulate the tongue and create taste experience and scents we sniff and trigger memories. The individual components can be taken more or less good with measuring instruments. However, the triggered experiences cannot be translated from the measurements.
    Of course, we get the signals into a computer. However, we have no idea how to translate the signals into an understanding?
  • Subjective processing
    Nerves transmit the received data from the receptors into the brain. How the signals are translated along the way is unclear. From our own experience, we can certainly confirm that we are aware of our environment. We create images from shapes and colors, which we even recognize in two-dimensional images. High and low, bright and dull, loud and soft sounds become symphonies. The surface of a wooden table feels good. The Madeleine reminds you of the childhood by the sea. The scent of damp grass smells like summer.
    There are still no approaches to let mental processing run in a computer – let alone to be able to observe an emerging consciousness.
  • Visible action
    What we observe in ourselves we cannot see in others – at least not directly. We only have the indirect view of the actions of others. We see their body language, gestures and facial expressions, hear their intonation and observe their activities. From this, we derive their mental and emotional state. The visible acts that (presumably) result from their thoughts, only allow interpretations of what is going on in their mind. We observe the consciousness of other people even more indirect than with ourselves.
    The processing of a computer can be easily tracked – the results that are displayed on the screen or printed out. This goes so far that we can create three-dimensional worlds in the computer and even print out artifacts.

The feather that we can see and touch triggers feelings that make us, for example, smile. In a computer, one could program a feather that is recognized by a camera and sensed by a sensor to make an artificial face smile on the screen. However, this does not mean that the computer develops feelings, as we have. In the medium term, the fast processing speed will lead to more and more visible actions being trained into the computer. The impression will be that the computer behaves like a human being. Whether it develops consciousness or not, will be hardly recognized, just as with other people.

Bottom line: In artificial intelligence, a lot is still argued with faith. The stimuli that the things of the world trigger will be sensitively measured. The processing in humans will not be transferable in a foreseeable future – especially not as long as we do not know what is happening in our consciousness. However, the programs are becoming increasingly powerful so that they can trigger visible actions as if … Believers can look through the veil and presume that there is consciousness behind. Nonbelievers can think the opposite. For the moment, there is no chance than glimpsing through the veil of symptoms.

We only recognize, what we recognize

For all those, who do not master Chinese, Cyrillic, Thai, Arabic or cuneiform script and hieroglyphics, those written documents in a foreign language are a collection of lines and forms that may mean something, but do not reveal their content. So far only scriptures are known, which approx. six thousand years old are. Meanwhile, Genevieve von Petzinger has found in Stone Age caves thirty-two characters all over the world. Thirty-two in total. And we recognize, what we always recognize (see figure). The particular aspect of these signs is the fact that it is again and again a matter of the same signs that were ‘written’ everywhere in the world, up to forty thousand years ago. And we have no chance to know, what they mean.

We still find these characters in the fonts of our computers (×, Ο, ↑, ∇, #, ∼, ♥, ω, —). Since we only recognize what we recognize, let’s take a look at what there is to see.

  • Lines
    There are straight, rounded and jagged, sometimes solid and sometimes dotted lines. Perhaps the heritage of this cave graffiti is still plugged in our perception today – horizontal lines convey calm; vertical lines awaken dynamics; bent lines appear energetic; curved lines transmit tension; wavy lines indicate snakes or water. Lines are used to create shapes and characters in the following.
  • Forms
    One recognizes basic forms that are familiar to us – circle, rectangle and triangle. The circle appears balanced without start and end. The rectangle gives a stable impression. It creates clear boundaries and order. The triangle stands on its tip and suggests dynamism and femaleness.
  • Signs
    Some seem to be signs for something – double cross, horizontal bracket sign, double arrow, positive and negative hands, heart, hashtag, spiral, etc. What these symbols represented, we will never know. For example, the hands could be a kind of signature or I-was-here. Could the heart-shaped form be a heart or is that unlikely? I’m interested in what the hashtag (#) might stand for.
  • Context
    The most obvious seems to be the context – a cave. But why here? In the dark. These are the Stone Age caves, in which research has dealt so far with the depicted animals, people and everyday scenes. Here these signs can be found again and again on the sidelines and in the entrances. Surprising is the fact that there are only thirty-two that have been used around the world – actually, for forty thousand years until today. The fact that they were found in the surroundings of the wall paintings is an indication that they fulfilled a special purpose in this context.
  • Without meaning
    These signs could mean anything and nothing. Perhaps they are collateral stains left over from performing rituals. On the other hand, they could be abstract representations of mental imagery or theoretical concepts. Or the simplified depiction of the fauna and flora of the time. It would be exciting to determine whether the illustrations are art work that have been refreshed or renewed over a long period of time, the same way as the Aborigines in Australia still practice today.

Bottom line: It is thanks to Genevieve von Petzinger that today, we not only become aware of these lines, shapes and signs from up to forty thousand years ago, but that she also recognized and structured the similarities between the cave arts scattered around the world. I wonder whether these basic forms, which we still use today, have saved their importance over the millennia. All we can do is speculate because: We only recognize, what we recognize – the original meaning was taken to the grave by the artists many thousands of years ago.