anticryptography

Anticryptography is a new word for me, but it refers to those many times stupid iconographic signs that are supposed to tell us something where at first blush, a word or two would do. The idea of anticryptography is to assume no prior knowledge in communication, which means independent of ability to have language skill. (and some say a lack of common sense)
On the other hand, I guess I can see that Jane Doe would be more likely to understand (then ignore) this than a lengthy notice on the back of a Wall-Mart cart:



One of the first of these that I made fun of was when the on-off switches on computers started using | O for on and off - I guess digital for 1 and zero, but to me that takes more interpretation. Imagine, say a third world peasant would not know what "on-off" meant on his wireless computer (right), but he immediately might recognize the anticryptographic sign | O .


To take this one step further, the first Pioneer spacecraft that left the solar system had a plaque attached to an antenna as a message to . . . . well it had a message to be read by who or what-ever.
If you want to see what the imagery is supposed to mean to the aliens, check here..


This happened quite a few years ago, and today there would not be unreasonable criticism of things, or course ¦;¬), but at the time, some feminists complained that only the hand of the man was raised and not that of the woman. In response to this criticism, a similar image included on the Voyager Golden Record showed the woman with her hand raised.