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Communicate: 1. Share or exchange information, news or ideas. 2. Impart or pass on (information, news or ideas) I think it can be argued that to say sand dun
by saltyfamiliar 7y ago
Communicate:
1. Share or exchange information, news or ideas.
2. Impart or pass on (information, news or ideas)
I think it can be argued that to say sand dunes communicate with each other is not anthropomorphization at all. I didn't take it that way and I doubt very many people took it to mean that sand dunes were exhibiting sentience and chit-chatting about the weather.
- flareback 7y agobut the article state "This interaction is controlled by turbulent swirls from the upstream dune". Are the sand dunes themselves willfully creating these swirls? Could they choose not to create the swirls?
- SonicScrub 7y agoNowhere in the definition is intent specified. This article is hardly the only place the word "communicate" is used to describe the behaviour of inanimate objects. For example, "communicate" is a handy descriptor in gas dynamics to explain the differences between supersonic and subsonic flows. In subsonic flow, the particles can communicate with upstream particles, but in supersonic flows they cannot. This is a useful way to conceptualize the differences between the two flow types, and can help a student gain an intuitive understanding of why a wing flap that works in subsonic flow may not work in a supersonic flow without a radical redesign. In this situation, the use of the word communicate is accurate to the definition, and also a useful tool for gaining an understanding of what is happening. The word is used because it is useful. It serves a purpose beyond anthropomorphizing for the sake of anthropomorphizing.