SI 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Homo Sapiens, Sociotechnical System, Cave Painting
Document Summary
Lecture 2: brief history of info & info overload (memes) A signal or message that effects a change in the receiver. Sociotechnical systems that produce, receive, process, transform, retain, transmit information. Information technology: systems and artifacts created by humans for the representation, communication, storage, and retrieval of information. Ex: language, writing, printing, mail delivery, film, telecommunications, etc . Humans have a special relationship with information (we"re informavores) A hunger or a drive for information that goes beyond what is needed for basic survival. ~500k-350k years ago was when scientists believed that the physical apparatus of spoken language was evolved. Neanderthals emerged around ~230k years ago and there was for sure spoken language. Base human condition (natural condition for humans) is oral; most of our history and evolution occurred during a time when our only form of communication was oral. Writing is a technology that is not really natural. In spoken languages, sentence structure is fairly simple.
