Chaos, Communication and Consciousness Module PH19510 Module structure :Lectures - 2 per week, Monday Physics 320 Thursday Biology Main Web Notes : Lecturers: Dr. Dave LangstaffDr. Tony CookDepartment of Physics room 202Room dpl atc

Aims of Module Understand how human communication has evolved into today's global networks and the information superhighway. Follow the development of ideas attempting to unravel the complexities of the natural world, from the deterministic universe to chaotic systems. Relate the brain, the mind and consciousness to complex artificial entities and networks.

Assessment 80% - Semester Exam -1.5 hours 20% - Assignment – Poster

Highly Recommended Electric Universe David Bodanis £7.99 ISBN  Aventis prize for popular science How Electrons hold the universe together

Human Communication - from grunts, grins & gestures to the information superhighway A brief history of communication Key technologies, discoveries & people How communications technology has affected society

What is communication? Transfer, processing and storage of information Latin – communicare  to impart, share or make common  to bestow gifts (munificence)  originally tangibles rather than abstract Entered English language in C14 th

Earliest Communication Expression of Emotion through facial expression Universal throughout humanity for over 1,000,000 years

Not just humans… Guess the emotion?

Charles Darwin, b. Shrewsbury, 1809 d. Downe, Kent, 1882 >24 books >150 papers Beagle Origin of Species, 1859 Descent of Man, 1871

Charles Darwin & facial expression The Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals, 1872 Cites facial expressions as evidence for evolution Expression of emotion innate not learned Trace back to prehistoric ancestors Trace further back to other primates

Facial Perception New born babies look at faces Large proportion of brain Can recognise very subtle clues Evolutionary pressure

Limits to facial expression Limited range of expression Only in line of sight Only close up

Gestures Use hands, fingers & arms More visible Greater range of expression Mostly learned rather than innate Not universal – cultural differences Beware the international traveller !!

Gestures OK – Most of world Hitching a lift Obscene in Greece, Sardinia, Iran, middle East

Gestures OK – U.K., U.S.A.etc Are you OK? - Underwater Money in Japan Zero in France Obscene in Brazil & Germany

Gestures Hook ‘em Texas Longhorns? Horned Hand Satanic Symbol ?

Body language & gestures Desmond Morris zoologist, ethologist The Naked Ape:A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal, 1967 Manwatching (1977) reprinted as Peoplewatching (2001)

First words – Beginnings of spoken language 100,000 BC – Homo Sapiens develops first oral language Arched bones at base of skull   lower larynx (voice box)  ability to produce complex speech Likely that earlier hominds had mental capacity for speech but not larynx

Language & birth of civilisation Language allows communication of facts, ideas & emotions between individuals. Possible to pass on wisdom about:  good & bad foodstuffs  hunting grounds Aboriginal Dreamtime stories

Common roots of language 6000 languages spoken on earth 14 major groups Bancel & de l’Etang studied 1000 current languages from all major groups ‘papa’ (or similar) present in 700 similar results for ‘mama’

First recording of information ≈30,000 BC Cave paintings Chauvet, France Preserve Information Start to form historical record Jean-Marie Chauvet © DRAC

Review of Lecture #1 First Communications from pre-history to early man  Expressions (1,000,000 BC)  Gestures & Body Language  Early Spoken language (100,000 BC)  First cave paintings (30,000 BC)