Re: I know one when I see one

From: Philip Jonkers (ephilution@attbi.com)
Date: Thu 24 Oct 2002 - 04:49:47 GMT

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    Grant:
    > It is only when information is conveyed by actions that the medium is the
    > message. If one man punches another in the nose, the action conveys a
    > mesage. But what was the message? Without words to modify the action,
    the
    > man being punched might have no idea why he was hit. The man who bangs
    the
    > wall with his fist in a fit of anger is also sending a message, but to
    whom
    > and why? Can we say the fist banging into the wall is the message? Or is
    > it just a way of transmitting what was going on in the mind of the man who
    > did the banging? Things we craft with our hands or mouths are artifacts.
    > What they communicate is something going on in the mind of the craftsman.

    The guy who punches the other guy induces a tactile sensation startoing in the nose of the latter guy. Consequently, the neural sensation quickly travels all the way up to the central nervous system where the neural message is predominantly processed in the pain centers of the brain of the punch-recipient. Hopefully some memory banks and higher cognitive centers are also stimulated so that measures may be taken to avoid future repetition of the event.

    The guy who tries to knock a wall down seems a bit foolish to me for three reasons. 1. The chance of actually taking a wall out is mimimal usually unless the wall is made of prefab or the pucher's last name is Tyson. So why bother right?... 2. According to Newton's principle of action = reaction: The wall hits the fist as much as the fist hits the wall. Consequently, the impact of the punch is equally divided over the fist as well as the wall possibly damaging both. 3. Regarding message transmission: since the wall obviously is incapable of perception
    (unless the wall was recently visited by the CIA/FBI) the only recipient of the message is the launcher of the punch himself (or `herself' for sake of emancipation). And it doens't require much imagination to know that the message isn't exactly one of bliss.

    Phil

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