8th August 2006, 8:49 AM
Math isn't the answer, in the natural world animals use math on a subconscious level and higher mammals and birds grasp it much quicker and easily than human beings, the entire reason math causes so much activity in the brain is because you're taking a natural function in to the conscious state, we're just applying symbols to it. So logically the best route is to attach symbols such as simple shapes, triangles, circles, etc. Then move on in to colors and eventually move in to preparing some type of communication possibly with a combination of sounds where a question can be asked and answered using symbols, colors and sounds and then move in to math once the idea of symbols with meaning is understood.
Of course the alien intelligence will try his own methods as well which depending on his eye structure, vocalization structure (if any) and components of the brain which may be so vastly different we wouldn't know where or how to start, I mean we just found out recently that elephants communicate using ultra sub-level frequencies that can only be heard by other elephants and specialized instruments, so the odds of us being able to communicate with an alien life form that evolved for millions of years on its own planet that has no mammal/avian/etc families nor the base structures of proteins and common elements (such as carbon) are slim to none. We can barely teach other mammals to do anything beyond tricks yet we factually know that dolphins have a vocabulary 300 thousand times larger than any known language so I dont put much faith in our communication skills.
as for art, if you strip away everything but its purpose it becomes stupid and superficial. We're a visually based creature and we have simple brains in that if we look up to something, or otherwise have a positive feeling towards a person or object we depict it as such. If Jesus christ actually existed he more than likely smelled really bad, had about 10 teeth, scortched skin, you name it, but because of his positive messages and his likability we depict him as an almost female-likeness in his phisical beauty which is obviously rediculous considering the time period and the fact that he's middle eastern and living in a desert. In the case of the cambells soup painting the alien beings would not understand on any level the hidden meanings of its subtext, the move from family to factory, the 'mom's homemade love' to 'condensed canned soup' and the ideal of companies selling our memories back to us in an artifical way, they would see a picture of an object and attach their own meaning to it which is actually the entire reason art is so widely accepted however it would fail to communicate any ideals.
Having said that, simple art (such as combos of colors) would be effective in expressing feeling or emotion. Every planet with life has sunsets and sunrises, multiple colors of stars, a black night sky, frozen condensation, pools of water, etc so these are all things we would both understand. But if they dont see in colors or see outside our spectrum of visible light or have no eyes at all or even more likely have a brain structure so vastly different where the ideal of 'art' has no purpose to them, it would be a wasted attempt. The only reason we create art is so that we can attach meaning to something and in the natural world that's just meaningless.
Of course the alien intelligence will try his own methods as well which depending on his eye structure, vocalization structure (if any) and components of the brain which may be so vastly different we wouldn't know where or how to start, I mean we just found out recently that elephants communicate using ultra sub-level frequencies that can only be heard by other elephants and specialized instruments, so the odds of us being able to communicate with an alien life form that evolved for millions of years on its own planet that has no mammal/avian/etc families nor the base structures of proteins and common elements (such as carbon) are slim to none. We can barely teach other mammals to do anything beyond tricks yet we factually know that dolphins have a vocabulary 300 thousand times larger than any known language so I dont put much faith in our communication skills.
as for art, if you strip away everything but its purpose it becomes stupid and superficial. We're a visually based creature and we have simple brains in that if we look up to something, or otherwise have a positive feeling towards a person or object we depict it as such. If Jesus christ actually existed he more than likely smelled really bad, had about 10 teeth, scortched skin, you name it, but because of his positive messages and his likability we depict him as an almost female-likeness in his phisical beauty which is obviously rediculous considering the time period and the fact that he's middle eastern and living in a desert. In the case of the cambells soup painting the alien beings would not understand on any level the hidden meanings of its subtext, the move from family to factory, the 'mom's homemade love' to 'condensed canned soup' and the ideal of companies selling our memories back to us in an artifical way, they would see a picture of an object and attach their own meaning to it which is actually the entire reason art is so widely accepted however it would fail to communicate any ideals.
Having said that, simple art (such as combos of colors) would be effective in expressing feeling or emotion. Every planet with life has sunsets and sunrises, multiple colors of stars, a black night sky, frozen condensation, pools of water, etc so these are all things we would both understand. But if they dont see in colors or see outside our spectrum of visible light or have no eyes at all or even more likely have a brain structure so vastly different where the ideal of 'art' has no purpose to them, it would be a wasted attempt. The only reason we create art is so that we can attach meaning to something and in the natural world that's just meaningless.