159 Rosetta Stone
A strategy for communicating novel information using elements of common understanding.
The Rosetta Stone is an Egyptian artifact inscribed with one message in three scripts (Demotic, hieroglyphic, and Greek). Modern knowledge of classical Greek enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian texts, written in hieroglyphics and Demotic. Before discovery of the Rosetta Stone, the Egyptian texts were undecipherable because knowledge of these languages had been lost.
The Rosetta Stone illustrates the power of embedding elements of common understanding in messages to ensure that their meaning can be unlocked by a receiver who may not understand the language of transmission. The principle has broad applications, ranging from the design of ...
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