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I've been thinking about how the sun and its effects would be perceived and understood in the blind society I'm working on.
They would perceive the sun mainly as a heat source. They would likely conceptualize it as a fire, because fire is the main heat source that they would have close-at-hand experience of. (Well, and also body heat. But I expect sun-heat would be perceived as more like fire-heat than like body-heat, because fire-heat is more noticeable when you're not in direct contact with its source.) I think it's likely that their word for sun is morphologically derived from their word for fire.
They would perceive the sun as a heat source with a direction. On a fairly coarse level, the direction of the sun is directly perceivable as the direction of the heat on your body, and they would have experienced this from the beginning. They would also have observed pretty much from the beginning that objects block sun-heat (i.e., make shadows). (I wonder how quickly they would connect this to the concept of objects blocking sound, which they would definitely be aware of. In my limited length of time observing small variations in sound, I've definitely noticed sound shadows.) From observing the direction of shadows by feeling where there's shadow and where there isn't, they should be able to determine the direction of the sun with greater precision than simply feeling where the shadow is on their body. I expect they develop an awareness of the usefulness of shadows in determining sun direction quite early.
They would notice that some objects absorb more sun-heat than others. They'd notice that the kind of material makes a difference, but they'd also notice that some objects that are otherwise similar absorb sun-heat to different amounts (corresponding to light and dark colouration). For example, they might notice that some rabbit pelts (ones we'd call black) absorb more sun-heat than others (ones we'd call white).
They'd notice that on some days/at some times, sun-heat is easier to feel and to notice the direction of, while on other days (often cooler days, even in the same season), you can't feel the direction of sun-heat or feel a difference in where objects are blocking sun-heat. They'd notice a correlation between when you can't feel sun heat and when it rains - when it's raining, you can rarely feel sun-heat, and you usually can't feel sun-heat right before or after it rains. I think from this, they'd likely develop a conceptualization that there is something overhead blocking the sun, essentially making a shadow, and that this thing is the source that rain falls from. In other words, they could get a basic idea of clouds.
They'd notice that sun-heat gets more intense in the summer and less intense in the winter. They could either conceptualize this as the sun-fire getting stronger and weaker, or as the sun-fire getting closer and farther. My initial intuition was closer/farther, but now I'm less sure.
They'd also notice the phenomenon of sunburns. I'm not sure what that would contribute to their conceptualization of the sun.
They'd be aware of sun-related phenomena in plants and animals. They'd notice that some plants open their flowers when the sun is up and close them when the sun is down. They'd likely notice that some plants turn their flowers or leaves towards the sun. They'd notice that certain animals have certain behaviour patterns that are tied to the sun. (I wonder what they'd make of birds singing a bit before the sun comes up - how would they account for the fact that the birds know when the sun will be up before its heat is perceivable? Might they even get the cause and effect backwards and suppose that the birds call the sun up? But the birds probably don't sing like that all year, and the sun comes up all year.)
All this they would know by the time period I'm focusing on. A few posts ago, I mentioned that after the time period I'm mainly focusing on, they develop more sophisticated measurement and observation technology. This is basically a period of major scientific development - people who you could call scientists develop an interest in measurement, and in determining properties of things more precisely.
Among the measurement instruments they develop is one for observing the direction of the sun. Here's how I imagine it working. It's based on the idea of localizing light vs. shadow, except rather than localizing a shadow amid heat, it's localizing a spot of heat in an otherwise heat-dark room. (It's hard to know exactly how to talk about these things. I want to say an otherwise dark room, which it would be, but the visual darkness isn't what they care about.) The basic idea is that there's a smallish hole in the wall, which lets the sun-heat in. The sun-heat falls on a certain spot on the floor or wall. It's possible to measure both the horizontal and vertical angle from the floor/wall to the hole. These angles could be marked on the floor. I imagine the horizontal angles are marked on the floor/wall as lines radiating from the direction of the hole, and the vertical angles are marked as increments along those lines. The lines would be some sort of raised or indented pattern - a groove or a bump. How would you feel where the sun was? There are two possibilities. One is that you would feel it on your hand - possibly with a heat-absorbing mitt of some sort on your hand to help you feel it better - and the other is that you feel where the floor/wall is heated, in which case the floor/wall would be covered with some sort of heat-absorbing material - possibly charcoal mixed with some sort of binder. (Would charcoal mixed with clay work as a heat-absorbing paint?) In order to detect the sun over the whole range of angles it can be at, you would need multiple holes facing in multiple directions; in order not to confuse the lines on the floor, these would likely be in different observing rooms. You might be able to do it just with one facing southeast and one facing southwest, but I'm not sure. (I'm assuming a northern hemisphere location at the moment.)
(Would such an instrument really be better than just observing the direction and length of the shadow of an upright object? I think it would be more precise, but I'm not sure. Maybe if you just had a really tall pillar, you could measure the angle and length of the shadow just as precisely.)
Eventually, they may develop an instrument to detect heat, perhaps specifically sun-heat. I'm imagining something along the lines of a thermoscope, but built in such a way that rather than seeing the water level rise and fall in the tube, it would be possible to feel the water level rise and fall in the outer vessel. I still need to figure out the details of how such an instrument could plausibly work. It may also be that they don't use it to measure temperatures per se, but, by making the expand/contract portion of the instrument so that it is good at absorbing heat, they can make it more sensitive to detecting whether sun-heat is present, though not necessarily at measuring how much of it there is.
They would perceive the sun mainly as a heat source. They would likely conceptualize it as a fire, because fire is the main heat source that they would have close-at-hand experience of. (Well, and also body heat. But I expect sun-heat would be perceived as more like fire-heat than like body-heat, because fire-heat is more noticeable when you're not in direct contact with its source.) I think it's likely that their word for sun is morphologically derived from their word for fire.
They would perceive the sun as a heat source with a direction. On a fairly coarse level, the direction of the sun is directly perceivable as the direction of the heat on your body, and they would have experienced this from the beginning. They would also have observed pretty much from the beginning that objects block sun-heat (i.e., make shadows). (I wonder how quickly they would connect this to the concept of objects blocking sound, which they would definitely be aware of. In my limited length of time observing small variations in sound, I've definitely noticed sound shadows.) From observing the direction of shadows by feeling where there's shadow and where there isn't, they should be able to determine the direction of the sun with greater precision than simply feeling where the shadow is on their body. I expect they develop an awareness of the usefulness of shadows in determining sun direction quite early.
They would notice that some objects absorb more sun-heat than others. They'd notice that the kind of material makes a difference, but they'd also notice that some objects that are otherwise similar absorb sun-heat to different amounts (corresponding to light and dark colouration). For example, they might notice that some rabbit pelts (ones we'd call black) absorb more sun-heat than others (ones we'd call white).
They'd notice that on some days/at some times, sun-heat is easier to feel and to notice the direction of, while on other days (often cooler days, even in the same season), you can't feel the direction of sun-heat or feel a difference in where objects are blocking sun-heat. They'd notice a correlation between when you can't feel sun heat and when it rains - when it's raining, you can rarely feel sun-heat, and you usually can't feel sun-heat right before or after it rains. I think from this, they'd likely develop a conceptualization that there is something overhead blocking the sun, essentially making a shadow, and that this thing is the source that rain falls from. In other words, they could get a basic idea of clouds.
They'd notice that sun-heat gets more intense in the summer and less intense in the winter. They could either conceptualize this as the sun-fire getting stronger and weaker, or as the sun-fire getting closer and farther. My initial intuition was closer/farther, but now I'm less sure.
They'd also notice the phenomenon of sunburns. I'm not sure what that would contribute to their conceptualization of the sun.
They'd be aware of sun-related phenomena in plants and animals. They'd notice that some plants open their flowers when the sun is up and close them when the sun is down. They'd likely notice that some plants turn their flowers or leaves towards the sun. They'd notice that certain animals have certain behaviour patterns that are tied to the sun. (I wonder what they'd make of birds singing a bit before the sun comes up - how would they account for the fact that the birds know when the sun will be up before its heat is perceivable? Might they even get the cause and effect backwards and suppose that the birds call the sun up? But the birds probably don't sing like that all year, and the sun comes up all year.)
All this they would know by the time period I'm focusing on. A few posts ago, I mentioned that after the time period I'm mainly focusing on, they develop more sophisticated measurement and observation technology. This is basically a period of major scientific development - people who you could call scientists develop an interest in measurement, and in determining properties of things more precisely.
Among the measurement instruments they develop is one for observing the direction of the sun. Here's how I imagine it working. It's based on the idea of localizing light vs. shadow, except rather than localizing a shadow amid heat, it's localizing a spot of heat in an otherwise heat-dark room. (It's hard to know exactly how to talk about these things. I want to say an otherwise dark room, which it would be, but the visual darkness isn't what they care about.) The basic idea is that there's a smallish hole in the wall, which lets the sun-heat in. The sun-heat falls on a certain spot on the floor or wall. It's possible to measure both the horizontal and vertical angle from the floor/wall to the hole. These angles could be marked on the floor. I imagine the horizontal angles are marked on the floor/wall as lines radiating from the direction of the hole, and the vertical angles are marked as increments along those lines. The lines would be some sort of raised or indented pattern - a groove or a bump. How would you feel where the sun was? There are two possibilities. One is that you would feel it on your hand - possibly with a heat-absorbing mitt of some sort on your hand to help you feel it better - and the other is that you feel where the floor/wall is heated, in which case the floor/wall would be covered with some sort of heat-absorbing material - possibly charcoal mixed with some sort of binder. (Would charcoal mixed with clay work as a heat-absorbing paint?) In order to detect the sun over the whole range of angles it can be at, you would need multiple holes facing in multiple directions; in order not to confuse the lines on the floor, these would likely be in different observing rooms. You might be able to do it just with one facing southeast and one facing southwest, but I'm not sure. (I'm assuming a northern hemisphere location at the moment.)
(Would such an instrument really be better than just observing the direction and length of the shadow of an upright object? I think it would be more precise, but I'm not sure. Maybe if you just had a really tall pillar, you could measure the angle and length of the shadow just as precisely.)
Eventually, they may develop an instrument to detect heat, perhaps specifically sun-heat. I'm imagining something along the lines of a thermoscope, but built in such a way that rather than seeing the water level rise and fall in the tube, it would be possible to feel the water level rise and fall in the outer vessel. I still need to figure out the details of how such an instrument could plausibly work. It may also be that they don't use it to measure temperatures per se, but, by making the expand/contract portion of the instrument so that it is good at absorbing heat, they can make it more sensitive to detecting whether sun-heat is present, though not necessarily at measuring how much of it there is.