The
mysticism of numbers and their meta-physical meanings, of letters
and combinations of letters and numbers, of shapes, symmetry,
etc. are all present. With alphabets and numbers the abstract
nature of visual representation took over the phonetic quality of
language. The concreteness of pictorial representation, along
with the encoded elements (what is the experience behind a
letter? a number? a certain way of writing?), simply vanished
for the average literate (or illiterate) person. This is part of
the broader process of acculturation-that is, breaking through
experiences of language. Experts in alphabets show us the levels
at which the image of each letter constituted expressive levels
significant in themselves. Nevertheless, their alphabetic
literacy is as relevant to writing as much as a good description
of the various kinds of wheels is relevant to the making and the
use of automobiles.
The current use of images results from the new exigencies of
human praxis and developments in visualization technology. In
previous chapters, some of these conditions were mentioned: 1.
the global scale of our activity and existence; 2.
the diversity made possible by the practical experiences
corresponding to this globality; 3.
the dynamics of ever faster, increasingly mediated, human
interaction; 4.
the need to optimize human interaction in order to achieve high
levels of efficiency; 5.
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