No man is an island – David Pye’s 1985 Christmas Lectures 1/6
In his first lecture, David Pye explains how people communicate using sound and visual cues.Watch all the lectures in this series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbnrZHfNEDZy0xpMYpU1CVc4JmlPeIfP6
Watch our newest Christmas lectures here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbnrZHfNEDZyQJZLPMjwEoOLdkFBLU2m1
This was recorded on 1 Dec 1985.
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This year marks 200 years of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures — a world famous series showcasing science, curiosity, and mind-blowing demos, and started by the legendary Michael Faraday himself. To celebrate, we're unlocking the archive. Every Saturday, we’ll upload a classic lecture to our YouTube channel — some not seen since they aired on TV. Sign up as a Science Supporter and get early access here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeF244yNGuFefuFKqxIAXw/join
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From the 1985 programme notes:
As any other animal, we are equipped with a complex system of muscles and air pipes to be able to produce sounds. Sounds that when received by a fellow human being can be interpreted and interact accordingly. In one of his demonstrations, professor Pye, uses a very old instrument by Paget to show how simple human sounds can be produced.
When communicating through sound fails however, other methods have been devised and adapted to utilise visual cues as a way to pass on concise information like for example sign language.
He finally goes on to explain how technology came into play allowing us to record sound and store it in a high fidelity format using the newly emerging technology (then) of compact discs.
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About the 1985 CHRISTMAS LECTURES
People communicate all the time. A lecture is one special kind of communication but we communicate with each other in a wide variety of different ways, for otherwise, life itself would be impossible. The basic principles are really quite simple but the details are endless and fascinating. We will explore together the fundamental 'rules of the game’ of communicating and use them to examine a wide range of different examples.
The thread will run from personal exchanges and the rich variety of methods used by animals to modern telecommunications systems. A special branch of the subject is the use of echoes by radar and bats, which show remarkable parallels in their operation. Communication systems also link all parts of the body, coordinating its external actions and its internal maintenance under the ultimate control of the brain. This will lead us finally to computers that mimic many aspects of brain function and now extend our mental abilities enormously. Indeed, we will use computers for many demonstrations throughout the series of lectures.
All these topics will take us from the microscopic scale of silicon chips and nerve membranes to worldwide technology and even deep into space. We shall need to draw upon elements of chemistry, engineering, physics, zoology and many other branches of science for the subject is truly universal in scope.
Find out more about the CHRISTMAS LECTURES here: https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures
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