Re: Non-earthly communication?

Dewey Dykstra, Jr. (dykstrad who-is-at bsumail.idbsu.edu)
Tue, 14 Oct 1997 06:27:14 -0600

>>Non-human communication
>>
>>What could a different type of communication look like?
>>What could for example communication with colours look like?
>>Geometry? Odours?
> (my translation)

> Daniel Pargman pargman who-is-at tema.liu.se

Daniel, two sources in science fiction come to mind on reading your note.
The first is the work of Hal Clement (Iceworld, Mission of Gravity, Close
to Critical, etc.) concerning encounters between humans and non-humans on
hypothetical, but possible planets. The other is the more recent work by
Timothy Zahn in the Conquerer Trilogy, wherein a common form of human
communication technology is considered an attack on a fundamental aspect of
the culture of an alien race.

Dewey

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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr. Phone: (208)385-3105
Professor of Physics Dept: (208)385-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418 Fax: (208)385-4330
Boise State University dykstrad who-is-at bsumail.idbsu.edu
1910 University Drive Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570 novice piper

"Physical concepts are the free creations of the human mind and
are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external
world."--A. Einstein in The Evolution of Physics with L. Infeld,
1938
"Don't mistake your watermelon for the universe." --K. Amdahl in
There Are No Electrons, 1991.
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