If people are evolved from primates and primates can recognize basic shapes, then is it fair to say that symbols influence behaviors for both people and primates? Yup. This includes any living being with a fatty brain.
Take for instance a cross. It is two intersecting lines formed perpendicular to each other. This symbol means to `mark a spot`, like the letter `X`, as in a target or at least remind the religious zealots of a crucifixion of a person’s death at one point in history.
Take for instance a star. It can have five points. Some say that upside-down star represents Satan or something Satanic. Some say that upright star is the symbol of perfection.
Take for instance a square. It has four corners and four sides. It’s supposed to be flat, spatial plane. And of course something meant as a surface, such as a table. Once people believed the earth was flat. Now people believe the earth is spherical, like a ball.
Take for instance a triangle. It has three points and three sides. It is supposed to support a square, giving it strength and integrity in architectural and building structures.
There are other basic shapes, such as the oval, rectangle, cylinder, pyramid, etc.
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Earlier today, I thought about how shapes make people do stupid things. Give them a cross and they believe in salvation. Give them a star for their flag and they are patriotic. Give them a square and a triangle and they are secret societies. Take away the association to any combination of shapes and the meanings behind those symbols are lost.
For experimental primates in the lab, that’s too easy to demonstrate. Show them a stimuli and administer the proper response of pleasure or pain in the form of reward or punishment. Show them a cross (or a plus sign) and reward them with food. Show them a line (or a negative sign) and punish them with electric shock.
In another example, Zion is represented by the Star of David – the six-pointed star or two intersecting triangles at the points. Zion could be a lion or an animal with sharp teeth. The letter Z of the word Zion happens to be the last letter of the American alphabet. And being the last means being `The End` (or Ω Omega).
Whatever the people chooses to see and have been conditioned to believe, the minds of both primates and people are easily manipulated. There are videos showing chimps who outsmart humans in spatial memory: Push the circle to being experiment and press squares in ascending numerical sequence.
So who is more primitive? The animals or humans?
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