Mixed Signals

           No, this isn’t some whiny blog post about unrequited love or anything like that. This is me, actually considering the importance of signs, symbols, signals, etc. I first stumbled upon this idea when I realized the “math” class I was taking hardly used numbers anymore. It is more a mix of variables (letters), Σ, e, ∞, θ, ln, π, and ⌠. After developing basic arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry skills, I (more or less) understand and can use these symbols in calculus to some extent. Let’s suppose that, although I don’t see any evidence for it, there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Would the most intelligent mathematician from another planet be able to understand my work? Even if our understanding of calculus was the same, he (or she… or it) would be totally lost because the symbols we use would not be the same.

            I also noticed this phenomenon while sight-reading The Semiramide Overture in orchestra (pretty cool piece, by the way). What are musicians actually doing when they read music? To the outsider, it looks like staring at a piece of paper with little black dots attached to sticks on a set of five lines—with some funny looking b’s (♭) and hashtags (#) thrown in the mix. Each little dot corresponds to a note, and the flats and sharps tell you how to manipulate that note to the correct pitch. Would the most proficient musician from thousands of years ago be able to sit down play a piece given the music notation we have today?

            Is anything actually as it seems? Is there anything that doesn’t need interpretation? Honestly, I don’t know. Everything we experience is picked up by one of our senses, but only has meaning because our brain interprets the signals. The feeling we call love is, in part, a confluence of chemicals in our brains: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, etc. This is not meant to downplay love by any means. It is a beautiful gift from God, and without God there could be no love, even with all the chemicals in the world. However, it is amazing that we can figure out what signals our brains that we love someone! This is only one example of how reliant we are on the interpretation of signals.

            I guess it just surprises me how much our brains do for us, that we don’t even realize. On top of the involuntary interpretation of bodily signals, we are also able to use our brains to decode outside signs. Like reading a book, driving a car, playing a game, or playing an instrument. The amount of things we are interpreting at one time is, to me, astonishing.