i was looking at this hanging lamp and i realized that it was trying to mimic an old candelabra, with it’s bulbs faking flames, and attached to white candlesticks with fake melted wax. i thought it was funny that more than almost two centuries after the invention of the light bulb, not only we still keep designing lamps after the ancient way of illuminating houses, perhaps looking for inspiration in shapes or design, but that we actually mimic the full candle thing.
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the second thought that crossed my mind was that, in fact, many kids have probably never had to use a candle in their lives, nor seen one other than in birthday cakes, so what does the actual candle-shaped electric lamps look to them? like some arbitrary design? are they conscious about what that shape actually is/was?
the third though went to the smart phone next to me, which is digital and tactile (funny thing that “digital” actually means “with the finger” already in roman languages!), which has this phone symbol to trigger a calls. now, that symbol is designed after the old phone hook device, which most kids today have never seen or heard of. so, how the hell do they understand that that symbol means “call”? it’s not by association as the symbol means nothing to them, but memorization, making this symbol pretty arbitrary as a choice for the function it represents. so, how many other symbols are out there which have meanings i learnt by heart without me ever knowing they actually represent? |
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