Re: Some Questions About Thinking

erich@uruk.org
Fri, 24 Mar 1995 12:54:35 -0800

> On Fri, 24 Mar 1995, Jon Russell wrote:
>
> >
> > Doesn't a visual representation of an object over come cultural and language
> > problems by being language independent ??
> >
> > .. Just my 2 peneth ... (2 cents for the Americans !!)
> > :-)
> >
> > Jon.
>
> YES! Exactly! You don't have to speak English to understand what it means
> to watch the sun rise, for example. That's what I tried to say, anyway.
> That's also why I'm so evangelistic about VRML. We NEED this so we can
> understand each other better! Look how badly email is doing the job here.
> We're all confused.

Symbols may not be language dependent, but I think it is reasonable to
say they are culturally dependent (which is closely linked to languages).

In one of their development forums, Microsoft included information on
their experience of symbols that make sense to some cultures, but not
others. There was almost always some variance in interpretation for any
particular symbol.

--
Erich Stefan Boleyn                \___  E-mail (preferred):  <erich@uruk.org>
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