- Oct 2021
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www.sjscience.org www.sjscience.org
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There is a close relation between the conceptual knowledge on which a narrative relies and the notation that it employs. Domain-specific vocabulary directly names relevant concepts. Shorthand notation replaces frequently used words and lengthy sentences that involve these concepts. For example, Newton's laws of motion are commonly written as F=m⋅a
This part resonates strongly with Victor's enunciation on "how Writing made thought visible". (Previous video at 10'33") and "Mathematical notation made mathematical structure visible" (11'33'") and how the invention of modern mathematics was not because of a particular idea, but because of the equations notation "user interface" (~12'30")
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Before the use of computers, scientific knowledge was mainly recorded on paper, using three forms of notation: written language, images, and tables. Written text combines plain language, domain-specific vocabulary, and shorthand notation such as mathematical formulas. Images include both drawings and observations captured in photographs, radiographs, etc. Tables represent datasets, which are most often numerical.
On the relationship between media, representation, communication and thinking, this part remembers me of Bret's Victor Media for Thinking the Unthinkable
In some talk, I don't remember if this one, Victor says that using printing media as the main medium for communication is kind of an historical accident. It could be sound, or other media as main representation/communication vehicle.
On my own memories, I remember thinking the relationship between representation and processing/cognition in my early undergrad years as a freshmen, when I saw the two notations for derivates (Leibnitz's and Newton's) and how both make some kind of operations easier (or not). The example I came with, to explain such insight to my postgrad education sciences students later, without appealing to calculus was multiplying in roman numbers versus in arabic ones (and example I would find years later is also employed by Victor)
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