Models and signs

Let's look again at the differences, similarities, and possible connections between models and signs in order to have a better grasp of the materials from the sections we have studied.

A model of something is something else that allows us to make judgments about the first thing without interacting with it directly.

A sign is something that we understand as a reference to something else.

These are two different views of the same thing - physical world objects, individuals (sometimes quite exotic objects). Views that differ based on the role from which we observe and the function we attribute to the object of our attention.

If we read in a book that on the fireplace mantel in the home of a retired captain of a long-distance voyage there is a model of a ship, we see a sign and interpret it. In the context of the book, we see a reference to literary characters (clichés) from sea novels, novels about retired captains, comprehend the context of the life of an old man who led an adventurous life. And the ship model on the mantel as a symbol (sign) creates impressions in us, evokes emotions, as the author of the novel intended.

If we see a model of a ship in a hydrological laboratory, we do not perceive it as a sign. We see it as a model on which the flow around the hull with liquid, flow resistance, laminar and turbulent flow sections will be studied before building an actual ship.

But everything depends on the context. Thirty years later, in a maritime museum, the same (as a physical object) model from the laboratory will be just a sign referring to the glorious past of the plant that no longer produces ships of obsolete types, and therefore the useful properties of this model from the past will not interest anyone.

Is a single sign a model? Sometimes it is. For example, pictograms work this way - signs that are also models.

The little human figure on a traffic light is a sign that refers to the requirements of traffic rules. At the same time, it allows someone (for example, an alien) to determine that the inhabitants of this planet have two upper limbs and two lower limbs.

Moreover, if an alien has not read the traffic rules, they will not be able to reference the real behavior indicated by the sign (to stop or go) through these rules. However, if they can think (model) - they can guess the meaning of the sign by perceiving the flashing legs of the figure as a model of the movement of a biped being.

But a single word is almost never a model. Through a word, we can rarely learn something substantial about the object it denotes.

The word "table", like the word "стол", are useful signs, but they are by no means models of real-world objects. From the word "table" alone, it is impossible to understand the function of a table or determine that a table has a tabletop and possibly legs.

Onomatopoeic vocabulary (words that imitate sounds) is more like models. Words like "woof-woof" and "quack-quack" can serve as models, even the word "bark" can be considered a model. However, it is said that this works only in the context of certain languages and cultures acquired in childhood.

However, a few words (signs) organized into a meaningful phrase (statement, triplet, or set of triplets) almost always act as a model. The phrase tells us something about the entities to which the words (signs) it consists of refer. This allows us to learn something about them without direct contact, which is a distinctive property of a model.

The phrase "my kitchen table has four legs" is already a model that informs us of the table's location and the number of its legs.

Moreover, models can, of course, be material, like a model of a ship or an engine. They consist of parts, not of signs.

But a significant number of other models - textual, mathematical, physical (not in terms of individuals but in terms of the science of physics), computational - consist precisely of signs, each of which has an object of reference. Such models are impossible to create or use without knowledge of signs, objects, and ideas related to everything we have learned in this section.