Sun - November 27, 2005

men, monkeys, and machines 



While I've neglected writing here for a while, my virtual colleagues have been writing up a storm. As a substitute for original entries here, I'll promote some of their new material instead.

Over at Ethical Software, my new favorite site, Alex has added lots of new stuff. A good place to start is How to Beat the Web Anxiety Blues. But don't stop there. Read more. It's amazing to see this new site unfold.

Burchismo also has an unexpected burst of fresh writing, among the best is this item.

I can take credit for nothing about this site except for having suggested the name for it, and having the name stick. (fair enough, because the name of mine was chosen indirectly by someone else, too, it might even have been Mr. Burch who originally coined the term dougonics) Here's a section of his post that got my attention, because I found that it directly relates--in a way he might not have realized--to the art of cartooning.

Seeing Faces. Primates have evolved both increasingly sophisticated gestural and facial expression signalling and the neural capacity to perceive and interpret that signalling, all as part of their social nature. As a result, there is the well-documented natural tendency of primates (most especially humans) to see faces in just about everything. Thus the "face of Jesus in an oil slick" or "man in the moon" phenomenon.

This is at the core of how we immediately recognize and embrace cartoon characters. We accept, without thought, or question, the simplest assembly of scribbled lines as a 'face". If these lines follow a few simple rules, we not only accept it, we have affection for it. The rule is (and this has been explained better elsewhere, probably by Scott McCloud) that baby-like features provoke a predictable response. Mainly that the head is abnormally large in relation to the body.




The Rule: we feel an involuntary empathic, protective, or affectionate sensation when we see the face of an infant, or a child, whether it's a mammal, a human, or a representation, a drawing or photograph of a baby mammal or human. Or in this case, a cartoon. It's even been suggested that the protection and survival of immature creatures is guaranteed by this evolutionary trick. Having an adorable face on a small body with a big head isn't just an advantage for getting more affection or extra candy, it's a key to getting the fundamental care required to survive into adulthood. As mature mammals, we have this automatic, hard-wired impulse, we want to love and protect it, we can't help it.

A mild version of this predictable care-and-affection response can be invoked representationally with three dots and one curved line inside a circle. That's the dirty little secret cartoonists don't want you to know. We don't have to do much work at all. With the minimal visual information, the viewer, not the cartoonist, creates the picture. The simpler the features, the more predictable the response is. It's not surprising that the most beloved cartoon characters have also been the ones that--either intentionally, or unintentionally--obey this rule.

Which begs the question: How do primates respond when presented with elementary cartoon images that obey this rule? I'm sure somebody has tried this. I'd be curious to know how gorillas and chimpanzees--if they do at all--respond to simple drawings of faces.

My observation focuses on one tiny, narrow part of the essay, it doesn't even touch on the larger themes discussed, I recommend reading the full item.

Speaking of Searching for meaning and finding God, I'd also like to again promote this book, which I'm reading (an advance copy of) now, it's killer. When it hits bookstores this February, it will rock the world.




I'd also like to take this opportunity to cross-pollinate. In a more recent post, Burchismo poses a software-related question, I recommend a good place to look would be over here, at Ethical Software, if Alex doesn't know the answer, nobody does. These two guys should read each other's stuff. Besides having more in common than they realize, they're two of the most interesting thinkers I know. Plus, their inspired burst of new material has given me an excuse to goof off, and direct visitors to their new stuff.  

Posted at 09:04 PM    

Fri - July 1, 2005

Billy Bob Thornton resigns from supreme court




Posted at 11:06 AM    

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