Digital and Analogical
Communication
Med 7 - Fall 2005
Digital Culture
Aalborg University Copenhagen
Natural and artificial systems
 All natural systems of communication employ both
analog and digital communication at some level in
the system.
 Manmade “primitive” organisms (systems) 
cybernetic devices, control mechanisms,
computers.
 But also in information transmission  within the
human organism, in ecosystems, between
organisms, between human beings.
The analog computer
 The analog computer  any device that
‘computes’ by means of an analog between real,
physical, CONTINUOUS, quantities and some other
set of variables.
 An analogy  is a comparison between two
different things, in order to highlight some form of
similarity.
The analog computer
 An analog/analogue computer  is a form of
computer that uses electronic or mechanical
phenomena to model the problem being solved by
using one kind of physical quantity to represent
another.
 Real quantities  the distance between points on
a scale, the angular displacement, the velocity, or
the acceleration of a rotating shaft, a quantity of
some liquid, the electrical current in a conductor.
Examples of analogical devices
The flyball governor
The shaft of a flyball
governor is spun by a
steam engine. As it spins,
centrifugal force throws
weights outward, moving
linkages that slow the
machine down. As the
shaft slows down, the
weights fall, engaging a
throttle that speeds the
engine up. The flyball
governor forces the
engine to operate at a
constant and consistent
speed.
The map
The map
The map
The ruler
The thermometer
The sextant
The astrolabe
The astrolabe
 Used originally for measuring the altitudes of
heavenly bodies and for determining their
positions and movements.
 For many centuries it was used by both
astronomers and navigators.
 A disk of wood or metal with the circumference
marked off in degrees.
The astrolabe
 It was suspended by an attached ring. Pivoted at the center
of the disk was a movable pointer called by Arab
astronomers the alidade. By sighting with the alidade and
taking readings of its position on the graduated circle,
angular distances could be determined.
 Mariners, if sufficiently skilled in navigation, could use the
astrolabe to determine latitude, longitude, and time of day
and as an aid in making other calculations.
 The more elaborate astrolabes bore a star map (the
planisphere, a circular map, was added by Hipparchus), a
zodiacal circle, and various other useful or decorative
devices.
The astrolabe
For a sun sight, the
astrolabe was allowed to
hang freely and the
alidade was adjusted so
that a ray of sunlight
passed through the hole in
the upper vane and fell
precisely on the hole in
the lower vane.
The astrolabe
The proctractor
Computing devices
that use analog representation
 The slide rule
 The planimeter
 The harmonic analyser
 The mechanical or electrical differential analyser
The slide rule
The slide rule is an analog computer, usually
consisting of three interlocking calibrated strips
and a sliding window, called the cursor. It was
commonly used until the 1970s, when the
electronic calculator made it obsolete.
The water integrator
An early analog computer
built in the Soviet Union in
1936. It functioned by careful
manipulation of water
through a room full of
interconnected pipes and
pumps. The level of water in
various chambers (with
precision to fractions of a
millimeter) represented
stored numbers, and the rate
of flow between them
represented mathematical
operations. Amazingly, this
machine was capable of
solving non-homogeneous
differential equations.
Direct and indirect analogy
 Some of this devices use direct analogy  no
mediator intervenes  the ruler, the
thermometer.
 Others use indirect analogy  differential
analyser  the analyser is a direct analog of a
mathematical formula  which is an analog of a
real situation.
Back to digital
Analog  continuous
Digital  discrete
The digital computer
 The digital computer  involves DISCRETE elements 
discontinuous scales.
 Digit  finger  counting with our fingers.
 1398  from L. digitus "finger or toe"  related to dicere
"tell, say, point out".
 Numerical sense  numerals under ten were counted on
fingers.
 Digital (1656)  first recorded in 1945 in reference to
computers  1960  of recording or broadcasting.
Examples of digital devices
 The abacus
 Pascal’s adding machine
 Jacquard punch-card loom.
 Babbage’s difference engine  Babbage’s Difference Engine
No. 2 designed between 1847 and 1849
 Any device employing the on/off characteristics of electrical
relays or their equivalents (such as teeth on a gear wheel.
The abacus
The Late Empire Roman
abacus contains seven long
and seven shorter grooves, the
former having up to five beads
in each and the latter one.
The suanpan of the Chinese is
similar to the Roman abacus in
principle, though has a different
construction.
Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 1
Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2
Jacquard punch-card loom
Jacquard punch-card loom
The nervous system
 Is the nervous system based on digital or analogical modes of
transmission?
 Neurons receive quanta or packages of information via the
axons and through the connecting synapses.
 Upon arrival at the synapses on the body of the neuron 
these quanta are “summated”  results in firing or
inhibition of the neuron.
 The neurons may be said to operate digitally.
 But the synapses and axon, which connect them, appear to
be complex analog devices.
Neuron Anatomy
axon - the long extension of a neuron that
carries nerve impulses away from the body of
the cell.
axon terminals - the hair-like ends of the axon
cell body - the cell body of the neuron; it
contains the nucleus (also called the soma)
dendrites - the branching structure of a
neuron that receives messages (attached to the
cell body)
myelin sheath - the fatty substance that surrounds and protects
some nerve fibers
node of Ranvier - one of the many gaps in the myelin sheath this is where the action potential occurs during saltatory
conduction along the axon
nucleus - the organelle in the cell body of the neuron that
contains the genetic material of the cell
Schwann's cells - cells that produce myelin - they are located
within the myelin sheath.
Neuron Anatomy
Neuron imaging
The computer and the brain:
Boundaries and States
 The boundaries between digital and analogical are not so
clear in natural systems of communication  living systems
 intra- and inter-organism  is there communication out
of the living?
 Do machines communicate?
 But even in machines the analog/digital distinction can be
ambiguous  a code in its totality can be analogical 
hierarchical nature.
 Given unlimited computing time and memory capability  it
is possible in principle to represent the behaviour of any
analog system or computer in a digital computer  provided
that the problem can be stated in a finite number of
unambiguous ‘words’.
Human communication
Not only digital phenomena:
 distinction between the essential and the non-essential.
 between figure and ground  pattern recognition.
 context-interdependence involved in language translation.
 human tolerance for ambiguity  which allows to define and
redefine the rules for a given situation.
 Metaphors.
How to deal with this in
artificial intelligence?
 Von Neumman  analog and digital in the brain 
“the prima-facie digital behaviour of the neuron is
a simplification”.
 It is true that neurons either fire or do not fire 
but this firing may be modified by the recovery
time of the neuron.
Synapses
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Back to neurons
 A neuron may represent a simple, two valued logical network
 its firing after a combined and/or synchronized
stimulation by two connecting synapses represents ‘and’,
and its firing after stimulation from one or the other of two
synapses represents ‘or’.
 But most neurons embody synaptic connections with many
other neurons.
 In some cases  several connecting axons or branches
(ending in synapses) from one neuron form synapses on the
body of another.
More on neurons
 Moreover  the axons themselves may stimulate
or be stimulated by their neighbourhood  the
‘impulse’ then travelling in both directions 
towards the neuron and towards the synapse.
 Apart from the estimated 1012 synaptic
connections in the network  the possible
patterns of stimulation do not involved only the
so-called ‘impulse’ (is more like a proposition).
Close to Home Animation: How Brain Cells Communicate
Not only digital
These patterns probably also include:
 the FREQUENCY of the series of impulses in a single axon
 the SYNCHRONIZATION of impulses from different axons
 the NUMBER of impulses
 the SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT of the synapses to which the
impulses arrive
 the ‘SUMMATION’ time
Analogical brain
 Frequency, spatial arrangement and some of the
chemical processes  are analogs.
 The neuron could be said to fire or not to fire and
only if the requisite analog and digital logical
arrangements have been completed.
 This way of looking at the brain seems to confirm
the notion that every representation in its totality
is analog-iconic.
Biological informational systems
 Similar relations are present in informational processes in
other kinds of cells (somatic cells)  the relation between
“cellular signal transduction” and “gene function”.
 Thinking of this systems in terms of impulses  imply
basically an energetic model  which ‘triggers´ energy in
order for ‘work’ to be done
 But being an informational system  we should think of
logical types and classes.
Boundaries digitalise
 Digitalization is necessary to cross boundaries  between
systems of different ‘types’ or of different ‘states’  this is
the place for coding and decoding  Lotman.
 Transforming differences into distinctions.
 The ‘bit’ marks a boundary  it is a rudimentary
digitalisation of the analog  it introduces some form of
discreteness into a continuum.
 Can human cognition be digitalized in a model?  remember
John Locke
The brain as a whole
 Lashley’s theory of mass action  “the activities of any part
of the cortex in the acquisition, retention, and performance
of more complex integrative functions are conditioned by
the activities of all other parts”.
 Try to relate this with “cross-modal perception”, or to the
construction of a visual image.
 The relationship of an organism to its environment is
primarily an analog one  why?
 The chicken and egg question  ex: the relationship of brain
(an entity) and mind (a relation)  ex: in schizophrenia  is
it the chemical or electrical changes in the brain which
induce the ‘disease’? Or is it the pathological communication
of schizophrenic relationships which set off these changes?
 many other examples.
Distinctions in Logical Form
 The analog computer employs continuous linear quantities to
represent other quantities  there are no significant ‘gaps’
in the system.
 There is no true zero  at ‘zero’ the machine is ‘off’.
 All the quantities involved are positive  they are real 
they are magnitudes.
 There are no minus quantities.
 The introduction of zero into a scale applied to an analog
computer involves digitalizing it.
 What about temperatures below zero in a thermometer?
Distinctions in Logical Form
 The quantities analogically represented are
relatively imprecise.
 The digital computer, on the other hand 
depends upon the combination of discrete
elements made possible by its on/off processes.
 Zero is essential to it.
Distinctions in Logical Form
 Since its combinatorial possibilities depend only
upon the PLACING and ORDERING of its discrete
elements  rather than upon their nature or the
location as such  the digital computer can
represent negative quantities.
 Its representations are relatively precise.
 The analog computers maps continuums precisely
whereas the digital computer can only be precise
about boundaries.
Perception
 Perception involves the transformation of analogs or icons into digital
messages to the brain through both digital and analog processes.
 The retinal receptors are sensitive enough to be stimulated by the
‘smallest possible energy difference’  a single quantum of radiant
energy  a photon  the result at every moment must be like a
digital process.
 Optical stabilization of the image in the retina  which defeats the
purpose of saccadic eye movement  results in fading of the image.
 But the image contains large areas of non difference  as in the
image of a sheet of paper  only the areas of distinction  THE
BOUNDARIES  fade  for the visual system contributes to
perception by extrapolating between boundaries.
More logical differences
 The direct analog computer is a concrete, ICONIC
representation of the behaviour it maps.
 The digital computer is an entirely abstract,
ARBITRARY, and more nearly linguistic
representation (it employs an artificial language).
 It is impossible to represent the truth functions of
symbolic logic in an analog computer  the analog
computer cannot say ‘not-A’.
Negation
 Negation in any language or simulated language
depends upon SYNTAX  a special form of
combination.
 The analog computer has no syntax beyond the
level of pure sequence (and only in a positive
direction).
 There is no ‘either/or’ for the analog computer 
everything in it is only ‘more or less’  everything
in it is ‘both-and’.
Para-linguistics
 In human communication  all non-conventionalized
‘gesture language’, posture, facial expression, inflection,
sequence, rhythm, cadence, and indeed the CONTEXT within
which human communication takes place  a type of analog
or iconic communication  the signal or sign has a necessary
relation to what it ‘re-presents’.
 All denotative, linguistic communication  is arbitrary and
digital.
 All non-linguistic communication through the senses,
between person and person and person and world, with the
single exception of conventionalised signals  involves
analog and iconic communication.
Questions and excersises
 What does this imply to medialogy?  the
construction of digital-analogical interfaces 
coding and de-coding at the borders.
 What does this imply to cross-modal perception?
 Let’s reflect about interfaces  borders 
frontiers.
 Let’s reflect about context.
Questions and excersises
 How do we re-analogised what has been digitalised?
 Is any cultural product digitalisible?  how is this related to
virtual reality?
 Is virtual reality a digital or an analogical representation?
 When several senses are involved in forming mental images
what is the relation between the digital and the analogical
mode?
 When we are in the process of ascribing meaning to a
cultural object or product what is the relation between the
digital and the analogical mode?
Questions and excersises
 Try to trace how many digital-analogical interfaces are there
in the life-cycle of the experience you propose to the user of
the outcome of your project.
 What is it that you as medialogist produce? The hardware
set-up? The software? The information that ‘flows’ in the
system? The (cultural) content? The meaning?
 Is this artistic? Is it informational? Is it communicational? Is it
entertaining? Is it educational?
Questions and excersises
 Compare the digital-analogical interfaces in the
process of human sensing, perception and
cognition and the processes inherent in the
medialogy set-up of your project.
 Combine these two processes into a larger system.
 Eventually you will also place this system within
an even larger system  the “Semiosphere”
Semantics and syntax
 The distinction between analog and digital machines 
consider also the relationship between semantics and syntax
in these two forms of communication.
 The analog is pregnant with MEANING whereas the digital
domain of SIGNIFICATION is, relatively speaking, somewhat
barren.
 It is almost impossible to translate the rich semantics of the
analog into any digital form for communication to another
organism  again, implications for medialogy.
Ambiguity and precission
 How to describe a sensation, a pain, a colour without
ambiguity?  Digitallity has little tolerance for ambiguity.
 The context is the analogical par excellence  a clenched
fist (an icon)  may communicate excitement, fear, anger,
impending assault, frustration, ‘Good morning’, or
revolutionary zeal  in a digital an unambiguous way  if it
depends on a convention, an agreement  but its pure
iconic, analogical interpretation  where there is no
convention or mutual agreement on meaning  will depend
on the context  think about intercultural
misunderstandings.
 Example  international gesture languages  airport human
signals  a digital code.
Syntactics vs. Semantics
 The digital  because it is concerned with boundaries and
because it depends upon arbitrary combination  has all the
syntax to be precise and may be entirely unambiguous.
 What the analog gains in semantics  it loses in syntactics.
 What the digital gains in syntactics  it loses in semantics.
 This is the reason why the analog does not posses the syntax
necessary to say ‘No’ or to say anything involving ‘not’.
Negation is not refusal
 One can REFUSE or REJECT in the analog  but one cannot
DENY or NEGATE.
 Human beings seem to be the only organisms to use the
FUNCTIONS of both processes for communication with their
peers.
 Natural language and human communication  both digital
and analogical in both form and function.
 Humans  the symbolic animal.
From digital to analogical
 The poet  make the digital elements of the page into
analogs  evoking analog sensations.
 A politician  may apparently convey denotative
information about issues and events when in fact he is
actually talking about his relationship to his audience and
their relationship to the image and images he projects.
 The function of the digital  denotative  may talk about
anything  objects, facts, events  its linguistic function 
transmission, sharing or reproduction of pattern and
structures
 The function of the analog  talks only about relations.
A bit on animal communication
 Animal communication  analogical  we know little about
the use of denotation  food calls  danger calls  they do
not signify something  they only signal something about
the relation with the receiver of the sign  Pia, your horse
can signal you that it is hungry and therefore would
appreciate some food  but it cannot give you a sign as to
which food it would prefer.
 But food/no-food can also be considered as digital.
 Dolphin and whale communication may be an exception in
the animal kingdom.
Meta-communication
 Digital communication allows for meta-communication 
communication about communication.
 “A bee can not dance about dancing”.
 The ‘gesture’ language in bee dances to communicate the
path to pollen  is an analog representation of the territory.
 No bee that has not flown the course to find the nectar can
send the message ‘about’ where it is.
 The bee cannot say where the nectar ISN’T.
Consider the following statement:
“In our universities, significantly enough, analog
knowledge – an especially the (analog) context of
(digital) knowledge – is generally denied, rejected
or ignored – except where its recognition can’t do
much harm, as in art and music departments, or
where it simply has to be taken into account, as in
medical schools (which are very interested in the
problem of analog simulation), for no amount of
digitalisation can properly describe the touch of a
surgeon’s knife, which can have rather sudden
either/or effects.”
Digital and Analogical
Communication
Med 7 - Fall 2005
Digital Culture
Aalborg University Copenhagen