Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

I. Scope
haptr vnturs yond languags suh as
This
Hindi or Mandarin to onsidr languag
English,
roadly onivd, from th Pionr plaqu
mor
for xtratrrstrial intlligns, to th
writtn
speak nearly seven thousand languages,
Humans
with multiple dialects. The countless other
some
on Earth communicate with innumerably
species
nearly all of which we have, thus far, failed to
more,
… . Human languages are products of
understand
minds, and thereby, can be understood by
human
minds, by means of human senses—sight,
human
touch. How could we begin to imagine an
sound,
language if we cannot imagine with
extraterrestrial
senses the beings communicate? They may not
what
vocal chords with which they produce sounds
have
ears with which they capture them. So we must
or
on universally-understood concepts, and devise
rely
communication method neither specic to location
a
species nor world. Perhaps, the only similarity
nor
our species is the universe in which we both
between
Thus, the language we are most likely to share is
live.
study of the universe itself: science. The result of
the
th Pionr 10 sparaft was launhd
Whn
spa in 1972, it arrid a mssag for
into
intlligns yond th solar
xtratrrstrial
A fw thinkrs in this ara, inluding
systm.
Salzman Sagan, Carl Sagan and Frank
Linda
wr taskd with rafting a mssag that
Drak,
omprhnsil to xtratrrstrials. What
was
ths thinkrs say? How would thy sayit?
would
widly agrd upon ida at th tim, dsrid
A
an artil y Jak Rosnthal, was that sin
in
th univrsal languag. To what xtnt do
was
agr? What assumptions undrpin that
you
If you had to dsign a mssag for alins,
laim?
would you want on your tam to hlp you
who
it and what kinds of knowldg would you
do
for th task?
nd
knots usd y th Inas, to digital od
Khipu
th 3D undrwatr songs of whals. What
and
w know through languag and how do w
an
what w know aout it?
know
symoli mssag on th Pionr plaqu
Th
a standard of distan and tim
ommuniatd
hydrogn, th most aundant lmnt in
using
univrs and, assumdly, th most likly atom
th
studid y wll-informd xtratrrstrials.
to
standard was thn usd to ommuniat
This
onpts. For xampl, th ltromagnti
mor
rlasd y a hydrogn atom during
radiation
is alld th hyprfin transition has a
what
of aout 21 ntimtrs and a wav
wavlngth
of 0.7 sonds; ths wr usd as units
priod
spa and tim in th plaqu. A small mark
of
th hydrogn atoms on th top lft of th
twn
shows that distan and tim valus
illustration
4
I . S C O P E
Figure 4.1 Illustration on the Pioneer plaque written for
extraterrestrial intelligences
this conclusion was the Pioneer Plaque.
(Rosenthal 2016)
I.1 A limitless language
hav n st in inary.
88