Most researchers speculate the writing system is a logophonetic system,in which signs are used to express meanings but also have phonetic values.One theory holds that the underlying language was part of the Dravidian family,still spoken in the region but unrelated to other tongues.Based on decades of computer analysis,the Indus script was essentially similar to the other pictographic scripts created before 2,500 B.C.,and the language of the Indus people was Dravidian.
Homosexual activists understand the power of words.
Please visit my channel to watch a one-minute video clip in which popular atheist author Richard Dawkins admits that homosexual activists "hijacked the word 'gay'".
The word "homosexual" is more appropriate and accurate because it, unlike the word "gay", actually describes the behavior/attraction/relationship being discussed.
The word "gay" helps homosexual activists push their agenda.
Because those pieces were used as stamps wouldn't they need to be printed to be read properly? Which would suggest that most of what they have is completely backwards. Maybe he said that they used the prints or that it was determined that the prints were backwards but I didn't hear it.
very interesting! when he talked though, it was a little distracting because you could hear the wet saliva sound all the time. i loved hearing about it... but yeah
I do not know if this has been touched on in the comments. When you are using a printing press you place the words back words so that the printed word on the paper is left to right. Wouldn't that apply for the seal?
The language could be picturegraphic where a symbol represents a object or action, and not a particular sound - like the chinese and japanese language... unless they already ruled that out.
He's trying a bit too hard to get everyone to laugh...... but the question in itself is fascinating.....I used to wonder what those cuneiforms meant, but i don't agree with the very last part..... you can't ascribe sounds to it...... you need the rosetta stone to even start...... maybe they could get the essence but not the syllables
@scytheslash Yes you can, that way at least one script has been solved this way (a script that was used for transcribing ancient greek after they made contact with the ancient greeks).
surprising that he doesnt once mention the Summerian culture, in that time their influence would still be massive, and stamping images on clay for re stamping was exactly their style.
That and they founded all of the civ in that entire area so any culture that came from that area post 3000BC would directly be influenced by their ways and teachings.
I think they have trouble with learning the language cause they have such trivial samples cant learn it via money and receipts need statements.
because it is used for stamp, then it's should read from left to right, because when it is stamped it will create a mirror image on the stamp medium. In another words, the symbols should be mirrored first before we read it.
I have a theory that some of the languages today are from older languages read backwards. For example, a tribe found information from a neigboring language that was read right to left and when they found it they read it left to right. This was part of the "confusion of tongues".
Great talk. Fascinating topic and logical organization of the presentation. I like the analogy he started out with (credit cards, "Hollywood") - it really helped to connect the Indus civilization with the one we're familiar with now.
wait a minute! did he say the rectangles/squares are seals? that means, when you press them against a surface, the Indus script must start from left to right, not as he suggested??
LOOOOL, europeans do not date back to these ancient times...period! I have friends from egypt who says that it's an easy 140 degrees out by the pyramids, i'm not being racist i'm only using common sense, my lady is italian and a lot of my friends are european and none of them can take the direct sun at 80 -90 degress with or without a skin solution...think about it!
@TheAmen1212 1.) I guess you mean Fahrenheit, note that most of the world does not use imperial units any more 2.) Hearsay evidence is useless, is it the genes or their upbringing?
I hope they thought about this:supposing the stamp-like tablets are written from right to left, when stamped onto something they'd be readable in the opposite direction, that is, from left to right..
@Dysentery7885 This is an issue which every person on the planet should care about. Splitting things up into 'Not my culture' and 'My culture' is just a way of sneaking in an assumption that people can't relate to one another. Just because I'm a white person of white ancestry doesn't mean that I shouldn't care about this, as this language is just another voice in the symphony of all voices that have expressed the human condition throughout history.
Why "should" anyone care about anything? I find this interesting, therefore I care about it. But, you know, thanks for telling me my business, asshole.
9:00 I'm guessing taxes general. paying taxes. deciding taxes. See I'm guessing the "U" is an empty basket and 2 marks is choice. 3 marks is work, in a box is community/government. ??? strung fish Then Fish + house. Contextual meanings have a bounty, have extra. 2 lines, choice, decision micro macro Lots of guesses are good.
Humans didn't become different from animals by being animals.. We did it by being many animals.. We stretched our selfs and you can still find it in our language today. Different animal, different perspective.
Then objects, like basket and jar. Stories and lessons as stars.
One solve this problem by stacking possibilities in parallel and finding what fits.
stack guesses, like double diamond = micro is macro or a frame shift. Does it fit?
@Thayer79 you don't notice it cutting between gaps in speech? nor see the glasses of water most speakers have at their podium or nearby? no one on youtube wants to watch someone drinking so they've cut that out.
@Thayer79 not really, if you're talking about hearing the noises that mouth movements make being in the microphone, that's in quite a few speeches, not just TED. even when they do have water.
@SobaniForce What? I'm not stupid. I know the mouth makes noises when opened and closed near a microphone. It isn't a problem for most speaker. When you watch videos where the speaker is shown drinking water, like comedians, you can distinctly hear a difference in the noise being made before and after they drink. You act like the mouth ONLY makes one kind of sound at one level. I know the difference. If you can't hear it then lucky you. I can hear it and it's extremely annoying.
@Thayer79 You're right. I had to give a speech recently and my mouth got dry and started making those noises... almost started lisping at one point... very awkward, lol.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
what has india and asia invented, they never had civilisation the british came to them and taught them and educated these third world races. Why are they taking credit for the work my race created. I am getting sick and tired of seeing asians in my country taking jobs from native folk
Maybe in the distant future an advanced civilisation will discovery and decipher my hard drive. Hopefully by then there will be computers capable of playing Crysis.
The fact that the bull is so ornate and well done and there is no other know wrighting from the people in question I suspect that this is a tag from a more organized society and is left overs from traded goods this people consumed.
You would expect someone with his knowledge to know the correct name of the areas and languages’ maybe he doesn’t know but what his referring to as Mesopotamia is really Persia and the writing he said are Mesopotamian are really old Persian scripts. Learn the history first; then try to understand the language.
@dfarhani The Persians were in that area LONG after the Indus civilisation , that area WAS Mesopotamia when these people lived. So he's quite right to call it Mesopotamia in this discussion.
@JLCTushingham Even though it is generally excepted that Persia has 2500 years of history most scholars believe it has 7500 years but the evidence has not yet been fund, that’s why in his map there is a gap in the middle where Iran is today, the map of Mesopotamia that he shows is created due to evidence of trade between Mesopotamia and that area is generally understood as Mesopotamia because of that evidence of trade only.
Respond to this video... British Institute of Persian studies. Iran; journal of the British institute of Persian studies. London: British Academy, 1963.
Herzfeld Ernst E. Iran in the Ancient East. London: Oxford university press, 1941.
Huot Jean Louis. Persia volume 1 from its origins to the Achaemenids (English translation by H.S.B. Harrison). London: Frederick Muller limited, 1965.
The symbols are too unified and vertical in nature and point up to the sky with tick marks. In a trade group the one unified thing is the constilations spoken language translation apparently ignored. All that is seen is the few constilation symbols directional and day marks/ quantity. The U I believe is either origine or destination signifying a loop so to not read the directions backwards, and the intricate bull is the only real hieroglyph that is the name of a people. :)
It seems to me that these symbols would take some time to draw out. Maybe the Indus writing wasn't used for communicating ideas in voluminous amounts, but rather in small packs that were understood over a broad audience. From what I see, it seems to be less of a language and more of a symbolic system of some sort. (though Chinese characters are pretty involved too)
This is fascinating and in general I love TED talks. But the intro music is TOO DAMN LOUD. **Please** lower the volume so that it is at the same level as the presentation. PLEASE???!?!
I can only imagine when the rosetta stone was first discovered, how Champollion must of felt! For so long, those pictures drawn on the walls of a civilisation past must have looked like Alien scriptures, mysterious and indecipherable until then! We've learnt so much about ancient egyptian culture (that and their neighbours!) with the deciphering of the language! I hope the Indus script will eventually be cracked.
Fantastic, I love leaning about my ancestors civilisation, Indus and Mohendro daro. I remember in school I asked the teacher about ancient civilisations and all I got told was eurocentric history about the British. They did not teach us about Indus or Mayans, slightly touched on Egypt thats all they did
@CognosSquare that doesn't surprise me a bit. I once told a guy at work that I did not believe in heaven or hell and his response was - "if I kill you then how would you feel about that." To which I replied - I wouldn't I would be dead. Everyone laughed at him, which is as it should be. When you deal with irrational and emotional people such as people who hold beliefs in sociology verses the scientists doing real research your evidence is destroying their sociological, avatar noble beast faith.
we are anonymous, we are aware of the corruption in the world's governments and their apathy for the human lives because of money.
we are aware of the governments' attempt to cover on the news of the rebellions to keep us as slaves for the current system.
we are anonymous, we declare war on the corrupted system, join the plan to get your freedom and rights back. you are a human being, your life has value. we are anonymous, we are legion, expect us!
@Constantine909 Hey, just so you know Yahoo logs your IP whenever you access your account. Combine that with your email, which is probably gmail, and is associated with your youtube account...They know who you are and they know where you live. You're not so anon, son.
@lowerlowerhk That's actually expected, since there are only 4 symbols. Similarly, any long sequence in binary is almost perfectly random. With one symbol, entropy and disentropy don't really hold any meaning, though, so he graphs it as 0. Also, it's not an intelligently-designed code, like human languages and programming languages are.
I don't get why people would want to send this guy hate mail. He is just an inoffensive little nerd patiently figuring stuff out. He is not a threat to anyone. Maybe they were christians that don't like the idea of a written word existing before the bible...
@kurydebarcelona ...I think you meant 'heard' ;-]) ...that aside... I so agree with your comment ...I would have thumbs-upped but my vote fails to register ...respect for the speaker and respect to you
@kmica2008 what??!?? ...stardust is as you describe ...how?!? ...simply a rhetorical question ...still, feel free to reply if you think you can intelligently and respectfully ;-])
Coincidentally I first heard about the Indus script just a few weeks ago... pretty weird that what I learned just a little while ago was a complex problem that may never have an answer is probably going to be answered pretty soon now...
On the ending of this speech: I concur completely that, while we haven't heard anything of them yet, that learned from them will most certainly be a gain in one way or another. Their civilization - while currently quite mysterious - was clearly quite successful.
Impressive, Rao broke it down well for the audience.
I'm a noob on this matter, so perhaps someone can enlighten me. Is it reasonable to compare the script only to linguistic scripts? It seems a bit one sided to me.
@tillearlymorning there's little you can compare linguistic scripts with, though, aren't there? you have a point on it perhaps being one-sided or not objective, but these stamps definitely encoded some kind of information in a regular orthography of sorts- ie. linguistic scripts. can't think of any next best alternatives, but you might come up with something, eh? also, i apologise to everybody here for spamming the comments section. ^ ^
@dantkz it depends on how you stamp a paper or cloth as well. you could stamp down onto it, or place the paper/cloth on top and use a flat surface to impress the shapes on to the paper and then maintain the word order.
@dantkz I imagine the stamps were not necessarily used on paper. In fact perhaps the Indus population did not even use paper, who knows. Maybe these stamp-like items were not made to print on paper, but were themselves the actual stamps, physically sent with the goods, in which case the direction of text would be as it appears.
@dantkz Maybe the stamps were being shown face down, and they were imprinted all the way through? That's how I would show the stamps to an audience if I was trying to explain them. Who knows, though. Hopefully they would have thought of that....lol.
@dantkz You'll note that most of the symbols are mirror images. The left and right sides are the same, but reversed. They all look the same whether forward or backward. May indicate that the symbols were used with stamps very early on in their usage, or were developed for that purpose.
@dantkz I was thinking the same thing. Also many of the symbols are simetrical so the stamp reversing effect may not be an issue, or maybe they did account for that. Plus he has the stamp product it seems (more common) rather than the reversed stamp itself. I like the way you're thinking.
@dantkz brilliant observation. afaik most indian languages are written from left to right, while the arabic is written right to left, so i was wondering that this region which now falls in between these 2 places would have what kind of language !!
@dantkz likleyhood is everything that was thought to be a stamp was reversed and everything that was not wasn't - or he means by stamp more like a label in that the stamp was sent with the item rather than using ink to draw it on.
Fantastic talk! This job requires a lot of patients, and personally can be boring, that's why I can never do this job! But hands off to you Rao and I am amazed there are people out there who still like to use their emotions/false beliefs as a force to diminish knowledge and ideas. Still amazing though! Love how the dead are waking up (no literally but historically and knowledge-wise)!
@FreedomValentine Did you even listen to the talk or not? He said he was being threatened just because of classifying some findings in a category. People don't let others do their work properly by butting in because they are hurt?! I hope you understand that!
NOOO! This was my ambition! Anyway, I'm extremely pleased that Mr. Rao is so actively involved in deciphering this fascinating mystery--one of the most compelling ones we have left in the twenty-first century!
@IC1101 what are you thinking? ...surely you can 'decipher' more intelligently than you evidence by your reply to such an innocently appreciative comment ...perhaps you could evidence some objectivity ...just a thought ;-])
@IC1101 The first century started on the 1st year and ended on year 100, the second century started on year 101 and ended on year 200, so if you do that all the way up to our present time, the 20th century started on 1901 and ended on the year 2000, making 2001 the start of the 21 century.
@ObtuseSage God youre so fucking stupid. The year is 2011 cause it has been 2011 years since Jesus Christ. It could easily have been the year 3254 or the year 8514 if we used different starting point, but no we use life of Jesus Christ as our reference point you stupid fuck!!! Majority of humanity are not Christians!
@IC1101 That has nothing to do with you not knowing what century it is. You are correct, it could have been the year 3254 or the year 8514 but then it would be the 33rd century or the 86th century. It isn't tho. Hope that cleared the air for you.
@ObtuseSage The point i was trying to make is that for many non-christians it is not 21st century... every culture has their own calendar. And that should be respected.
@IC1101 Dude, I'm Hindu--but okay, whatever. I just said "twenty-first century" because that's what this time period is known as to the common folk. I understand your point though. :)
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Most researchers speculate the writing system is a logophonetic system,in which signs are used to express meanings but also have phonetic values.One theory holds that the underlying language was part of the Dravidian family,still spoken in the region but unrelated to other tongues.Based on decades of computer analysis,the Indus script was essentially similar to the other pictographic scripts created before 2,500 B.C.,and the language of the Indus people was Dravidian.
killerpainabc 3 weeks ago
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killerpainabc 3 weeks ago
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Homosexual activists understand the power of words.
Please visit my channel to watch a one-minute video clip in which popular atheist author Richard Dawkins admits that homosexual activists "hijacked the word 'gay'".
The word "homosexual" is more appropriate and accurate because it, unlike the word "gay", actually describes the behavior/attraction/relationship being discussed.
The word "gay" helps homosexual activists push their agenda.
lightandbeautiful 1 month ago
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Great stuff (information)
juliacotic 3 months ago
Language is the source of misunderstandings.
andreeaweed 3 months ago
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Harold Camping was RIGHT about May 21, click on my channel to see...
youneekk 7 months ago
I theorize that some languages today are backwards or transposed languages of the past.
Examples of Middle East City Names:
Latakia (Latak-ia) ---> Ai Katal ("Ai"(Hebrew for Ruin) of Katal/Catal Huyuk(Neolithic Site)
Limah (Li-Mah) ---> Ham-IL ---> (Ham, son of Noah; IL, (like Bab-IL/Bab-el, IL/EL-ohim) (*Limah is a location in Oman)
Saudi Arabia (Saud-i Ar-Ab-Ia)---> Ai (Ruins) Ab (Father) Ra (Sun) Saudi ----> Duas/Dyaus/Deus/Deus/Deuce/Zeus/Theus
Suez Canal Suez ---> Zeus
helpmakethingsbetter 7 months ago
@helpmakethingsbetter Quite interesting theory.
7ombis 7 months ago
he looks like kassem g
SolidArch 7 months ago
Because those pieces were used as stamps wouldn't they need to be printed to be read properly? Which would suggest that most of what they have is completely backwards. Maybe he said that they used the prints or that it was determined that the prints were backwards but I didn't hear it.
RainDancer98 7 months ago
very interesting! when he talked though, it was a little distracting because you could hear the wet saliva sound all the time. i loved hearing about it... but yeah
nightflower6489 7 months ago
@grace007007 Damn, I was just about to post that; Hopefully they're not that silly... lol
Akavashi 7 months ago
if the text reads right to left, and they are looking at stamps, wouldnt the print read left to right?
grace007007 7 months ago 14
@grace007007 He was referring to the basic language structure of indus not that printed seals.
raonaveen1234 2 months ago
I do not know if this has been touched on in the comments. When you are using a printing press you place the words back words so that the printed word on the paper is left to right. Wouldn't that apply for the seal?
cherylsund 7 months ago
ancient pokemon cards ?
twistedbass15 7 months ago 3
The language could be picturegraphic where a symbol represents a object or action, and not a particular sound - like the chinese and japanese language... unless they already ruled that out.
leonidasx666 8 months ago
@leonidasx666 Hm… don't these scripts have higher entropies per symbol?
595o 7 months ago
it would be nice to see similar computational models of language applied to SETI to search for signs of intelligent life.
egokick 8 months ago
Wow that was good... I got turned off to TED when I saw Tony Robbins run off the stage and high five Al Gore but I'm back!
MegaHigster 8 months ago
The people, who don't want it to be a script are the Indo-Europeans...
helloworldhereiam 8 months ago
he says civilization cool, im gonna say it like this for the next 30 days....
meowmeami 8 months ago
He's trying a bit too hard to get everyone to laugh...... but the question in itself is fascinating.....I used to wonder what those cuneiforms meant, but i don't agree with the very last part..... you can't ascribe sounds to it...... you need the rosetta stone to even start...... maybe they could get the essence but not the syllables
scytheslash 8 months ago 2
@scytheslash Yes you can, that way at least one script has been solved this way (a script that was used for transcribing ancient greek after they made contact with the ancient greeks).
595o 7 months ago
What even more great? He's a telugu guy! :-) I hope we achieve more for India and the world!
vijishellboy 8 months ago
that was great! fascinating and fun to see develop.
Liteboyiam 8 months ago
surprising that he doesnt once mention the Summerian culture, in that time their influence would still be massive, and stamping images on clay for re stamping was exactly their style.
That and they founded all of the civ in that entire area so any culture that came from that area post 3000BC would directly be influenced by their ways and teachings.
I think they have trouble with learning the language cause they have such trivial samples cant learn it via money and receipts need statements.
geebus80 8 months ago
mesopotamian insinuates sum=merian
gujjucheap 6 months ago
because it is used for stamp, then it's should read from left to right, because when it is stamped it will create a mirror image on the stamp medium. In another words, the symbols should be mirrored first before we read it.
landscapeview 8 months ago
@landscapeview
I have a theory that some of the languages today are from older languages read backwards. For example, a tribe found information from a neigboring language that was read right to left and when they found it they read it left to right. This was part of the "confusion of tongues".
helpmakethingsbetter 7 months ago
is that dude on amphetamine? I mean srsly. Or is he just that nervous?
paweloyama 8 months ago
Amazing and interesting!
chibiariel 8 months ago
Great talk. Fascinating topic and logical organization of the presentation. I like the analogy he started out with (credit cards, "Hollywood") - it really helped to connect the Indus civilization with the one we're familiar with now.
lleverfreell 8 months ago
wait a minute! did he say the rectangles/squares are seals? that means, when you press them against a surface, the Indus script must start from left to right, not as he suggested??
plartoo 8 months ago 3
@plartoo Good observation
AmFilms123 8 months ago
ancient madgabs
bubu94121212 8 months ago
LOOOOL, europeans do not date back to these ancient times...period! I have friends from egypt who says that it's an easy 140 degrees out by the pyramids, i'm not being racist i'm only using common sense, my lady is italian and a lot of my friends are european and none of them can take the direct sun at 80 -90 degress with or without a skin solution...think about it!
TheAmen1212 8 months ago
@TheAmen1212 1.) I guess you mean Fahrenheit, note that most of the world does not use imperial units any more 2.) Hearsay evidence is useless, is it the genes or their upbringing?
595o 7 months ago
@TheAmen1212 never heard about evolution and adaptation?
Aurin74 7 months ago
Ted needs more computer scientist talkers.
MargusMartsepp 8 months ago 3
awesome .... Dr. Indian(a) Jones !
test123ok 8 months ago 7
I can hear his spit!
luketkin 8 months ago
maybe our language is too complicated to describe the simplicity?
steezitup 8 months ago
I hope they thought about this:supposing the stamp-like tablets are written from right to left, when stamped onto something they'd be readable in the opposite direction, that is, from left to right..
elchafa 8 months ago
Comment removed
chelilandia 8 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
This is not an issue white americans or europeans should care about.
Dysentery7885 8 months ago
@Dysentery7885 This is an issue which every person on the planet should care about. Splitting things up into 'Not my culture' and 'My culture' is just a way of sneaking in an assumption that people can't relate to one another. Just because I'm a white person of white ancestry doesn't mean that I shouldn't care about this, as this language is just another voice in the symphony of all voices that have expressed the human condition throughout history.
Ibuiltatower 8 months ago 3
@Dysentery7885 Buh... what?
Why "should" anyone care about anything? I find this interesting, therefore I care about it. But, you know, thanks for telling me my business, asshole.
jussts 8 months ago
Comment removed
judiccc 8 months ago
great info archeology
DiegoDCvids 8 months ago
It says Our Bailout plan and austerity measures are failing, our civilization is fucked.
kennegun 8 months ago
wow..... never knew archeology can so interesting, awesome !
b88104044 8 months ago
excellent talk. very interesting.
JImmy4336 8 months ago
abram730 8 months ago
Humans didn't become different from animals by being animals.. We did it by being many animals.. We stretched our selfs and you can still find it in our language today. Different animal, different perspective.
Then objects, like basket and jar. Stories and lessons as stars.
One solve this problem by stacking possibilities in parallel and finding what fits.
stack guesses, like double diamond = micro is macro or a frame shift. Does it fit?
abram730 8 months ago
This was brilliant.
scottie0904 8 months ago
I cannot thumbs up this video hard enough. Who could possibly dislike this video?
bayouboyy 8 months ago
Gifted man!
rutsableich 8 months ago
Dude. Take a drink of water man. TED should have water readily available for speakers at all times.
Thayer79 8 months ago
@Thayer79 you don't notice it cutting between gaps in speech? nor see the glasses of water most speakers have at their podium or nearby? no one on youtube wants to watch someone drinking so they've cut that out.
SobaniForce 8 months ago
@SobaniForce Maybe that's the case, but this speaker definitely wasn't drinking water. Could you not hear it? IT was so irritating.
Thayer79 8 months ago
@Thayer79 not really, if you're talking about hearing the noises that mouth movements make being in the microphone, that's in quite a few speeches, not just TED. even when they do have water.
SobaniForce 8 months ago
@SobaniForce What? I'm not stupid. I know the mouth makes noises when opened and closed near a microphone. It isn't a problem for most speaker. When you watch videos where the speaker is shown drinking water, like comedians, you can distinctly hear a difference in the noise being made before and after they drink. You act like the mouth ONLY makes one kind of sound at one level. I know the difference. If you can't hear it then lucky you. I can hear it and it's extremely annoying.
Thayer79 8 months ago
@Thayer79 You're right. I had to give a speech recently and my mouth got dry and started making those noises... almost started lisping at one point... very awkward, lol.
shiftplusone80 8 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
what has india and asia invented, they never had civilisation the british came to them and taught them and educated these third world races. Why are they taking credit for the work my race created. I am getting sick and tired of seeing asians in my country taking jobs from native folk
Jimmyretired 8 months ago
facinating
kontekzt 8 months ago
"who thought decyphering would be a dangerous task?"
probably everyone who ever tried to decypher military or intellegence texts, especially in wartimes....
liquidminds 8 months ago
Interesting stuff.
Maybe in the distant future an advanced civilisation will discovery and decipher my hard drive. Hopefully by then there will be computers capable of playing Crysis.
nikanj 8 months ago
Awesome! I hope we never run out of mysteries. =)
Levikarose79 8 months ago
when you draw i pretty sure 90% of the time you start from the head
Dihan22 8 months ago
The fact that the bull is so ornate and well done and there is no other know wrighting from the people in question I suspect that this is a tag from a more organized society and is left overs from traded goods this people consumed.
1Ryon 8 months ago
You would expect someone with his knowledge to know the correct name of the areas and languages’ maybe he doesn’t know but what his referring to as Mesopotamia is really Persia and the writing he said are Mesopotamian are really old Persian scripts. Learn the history first; then try to understand the language.
dfarhani 8 months ago
@dfarhani The Persians were in that area LONG after the Indus civilisation , that area WAS Mesopotamia when these people lived. So he's quite right to call it Mesopotamia in this discussion.
JLCTushingham 8 months ago
@JLCTushingham Even though it is generally excepted that Persia has 2500 years of history most scholars believe it has 7500 years but the evidence has not yet been fund, that’s why in his map there is a gap in the middle where Iran is today, the map of Mesopotamia that he shows is created due to evidence of trade between Mesopotamia and that area is generally understood as Mesopotamia because of that evidence of trade only.
dfarhani 8 months ago
Respond to this video... British Institute of Persian studies. Iran; journal of the British institute of Persian studies. London: British Academy, 1963.
Herzfeld Ernst E. Iran in the Ancient East. London: Oxford university press, 1941.
Huot Jean Louis. Persia volume 1 from its origins to the Achaemenids (English translation by H.S.B. Harrison). London: Frederick Muller limited, 1965.
dfarhani 8 months ago
Olmstead Albert Ten Eyck. History of the Persian Empire. Chicago: the university of Chicago press, 1948.
Root M C. the King and Kingship in Achaemenid Art. Leiden, 1979.
Shahbazi Alirezas S. the Authoritative guide to Persepolis. Tehran: Safiran Co, 2004.
dfarhani 8 months ago
The symbols are too unified and vertical in nature and point up to the sky with tick marks. In a trade group the one unified thing is the constilations spoken language translation apparently ignored. All that is seen is the few constilation symbols directional and day marks/ quantity. The U I believe is either origine or destination signifying a loop so to not read the directions backwards, and the intricate bull is the only real hieroglyph that is the name of a people. :)
1Ryon 8 months ago
It seems to me that these symbols would take some time to draw out. Maybe the Indus writing wasn't used for communicating ideas in voluminous amounts, but rather in small packs that were understood over a broad audience. From what I see, it seems to be less of a language and more of a symbolic system of some sort. (though Chinese characters are pretty involved too)
how many symbols/characters are there?
are any symbols built off of each other?
can phonics be extrapolated?
super interesting!
jmsparhawk 8 months ago
This is fascinating and in general I love TED talks. But the intro music is TOO DAMN LOUD. **Please** lower the volume so that it is at the same level as the presentation. PLEASE???!?!
PlasteredDragon 8 months ago 3
I can only imagine when the rosetta stone was first discovered, how Champollion must of felt! For so long, those pictures drawn on the walls of a civilisation past must have looked like Alien scriptures, mysterious and indecipherable until then! We've learnt so much about ancient egyptian culture (that and their neighbours!) with the deciphering of the language! I hope the Indus script will eventually be cracked.
FoxBatinaHat 8 months ago
Great talk.
MarkusCharras 8 months ago
the internet is forever!!
haigfeinn 8 months ago
Fantastic, I love leaning about my ancestors civilisation, Indus and Mohendro daro. I remember in school I asked the teacher about ancient civilisations and all I got told was eurocentric history about the British. They did not teach us about Indus or Mayans, slightly touched on Egypt thats all they did
cristoretornebiblia 8 months ago 29
He got threats about this? that is the most amazing thing in this speech.
CognosSquare 8 months ago 2
@CognosSquare that doesn't surprise me a bit. I once told a guy at work that I did not believe in heaven or hell and his response was - "if I kill you then how would you feel about that." To which I replied - I wouldn't I would be dead. Everyone laughed at him, which is as it should be. When you deal with irrational and emotional people such as people who hold beliefs in sociology verses the scientists doing real research your evidence is destroying their sociological, avatar noble beast faith.
generationalist 8 months ago
Praclarush Taonas
axelasdf 8 months ago
Maybe that particular stamp meant "I'd trade you 7 fish for 1 ox".
BehindBen 8 months ago 59
@BehindBen
very good guess but unfair thou 7 fishes for ox !!!
mideastatheist 8 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@BehindBen 'Maybe that particular stamp meant "I'd trade you 7 fish for 1 ox".' your sarcasm was so funny I forgot to laugh.
generationalist 8 months ago
@BehindBen good to know that people scammed back then! lol
mohamedgna 8 months ago
@BehindBen what a bad deal
wachi03 7 months ago
@BehindBen Or maybe it meant I've got a vejazle with 7 rhinestones and a big ass.
We're equally likely to be as wrong - but only he is likely to actually be right.
GraeHall 7 months ago
Ugh badly positioned headmike, I can hear every tiny smack and squelch inside his mouth. urghhhh.
un2mensch 8 months ago
He doesn't mention the Voynich Manuscript
SpacedTime 8 months ago
well its not the last undeshifered script in the world what about the Phaistos disk???
mitsman89 8 months ago
what's with the fake accent rao? #fail
gaganmalik 8 months ago
ghfkshslfuoiosfgjslm;csalm,xvb
Monkey!
omegaroyal 8 months ago
Why didn't he bring Johhny 5 onto the stage with him? I hope hes alive.
troglodyte3344 8 months ago
we are anonymous, we are aware of the corruption in the world's governments and their apathy for the human lives because of money.
we are aware of the governments' attempt to cover on the news of the rebellions to keep us as slaves for the current system.
we are anonymous, we declare war on the corrupted system, join the plan to get your freedom and rights back. you are a human being, your life has value. we are anonymous, we are legion, expect us!
whatis-theplan(dot)org
Constantine909 8 months ago
@Constantine909 Hey, just so you know Yahoo logs your IP whenever you access your account. Combine that with your email, which is probably gmail, and is associated with your youtube account...They know who you are and they know where you live. You're not so anon, son.
NohbdyThere 8 months ago
@NohbdyThere youtube*
NohbdyThere 8 months ago
Entropy of DNA is close to random jumble?! That is really a shocking news!
lowerlowerhk 8 months ago
@lowerlowerhk That's actually expected, since there are only 4 symbols. Similarly, any long sequence in binary is almost perfectly random. With one symbol, entropy and disentropy don't really hold any meaning, though, so he graphs it as 0. Also, it's not an intelligently-designed code, like human languages and programming languages are.
ProfMike789 8 months ago
@lowerlowerhk "Entropy of DNA is close to random jumble?!"
Yeah. Thats a point those creationist idiots don't get when they evoke "information entropy" as an argument against evolution...
DrSpooglemon 8 months ago
@lowerlowerhk
it means that partial sequence doesnt limit the next 'symbol', just like in music you cant predict next note.
its not random, just undetermined by the previous segment.
logoth80 8 months ago
@lowerlowerhk IfError correction?
595o 7 months ago
great talk ted, glad you got back on your game.
dizzle42008 8 months ago
I don't get why people would want to send this guy hate mail. He is just an inoffensive little nerd patiently figuring stuff out. He is not a threat to anyone. Maybe they were christians that don't like the idea of a written word existing before the bible...
DrSpooglemon 8 months ago
@DrSpooglemon Just what I was thinking!
iFoamy 8 months ago
TED CHANGE INTRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SashkoGrigoriev 8 months ago
this is probably the most sane analysis I ever herd about the Indus script
kudos Rajesh!
kurydebarcelona 8 months ago
@kurydebarcelona ...I think you meant 'heard' ;-]) ...that aside... I so agree with your comment ...I would have thumbs-upped but my vote fails to register ...respect for the speaker and respect to you
gaiagale 8 months ago
@gaiagale oh, heard! yes! that's what I meant, thank you
kurydebarcelona 8 months ago
@kurydebarcelona 'most welcome ;-]) ...I appreciate your polite response too! ...so thank-you right back ;-])
gaiagale 8 months ago
@kurydebarcelona I had read the paper he had published. Wanted to follow up but did not have time.
amithbn 8 months ago
ffffffeeeewwWWWWWZZZZZZ
SSSWWWWWWUUUSSHZZZZZZZZZZZZZPPPPPSSSHHH
*turns speakers down
dylanlawless1 8 months ago 2
all this talk just to end up saying he is fucking stardust.
kmica2008 8 months ago
@kmica2008 what??!?? ...stardust is as you describe ...how?!? ...simply a rhetorical question ...still, feel free to reply if you think you can intelligently and respectfully ;-])
gaiagale 8 months ago
@kmica2008 WTF are you talking about?
DrSpooglemon 8 months ago
cool :D very interesting talk kinda opens your eyes about languege
sashakid 8 months ago
Based on the map I can tell that this guy is Indian.
Quintinohthree 8 months ago
Coincidentally I first heard about the Indus script just a few weeks ago... pretty weird that what I learned just a little while ago was a complex problem that may never have an answer is probably going to be answered pretty soon now...
On the ending of this speech: I concur completely that, while we haven't heard anything of them yet, that learned from them will most certainly be a gain in one way or another. Their civilization - while currently quite mysterious - was clearly quite successful.
Truthiness231 8 months ago
Impressive, Rao broke it down well for the audience.
I'm a noob on this matter, so perhaps someone can enlighten me. Is it reasonable to compare the script only to linguistic scripts? It seems a bit one sided to me.
tillearlymorning 8 months ago 2
@tillearlymorning there's little you can compare linguistic scripts with, though, aren't there? you have a point on it perhaps being one-sided or not objective, but these stamps definitely encoded some kind of information in a regular orthography of sorts- ie. linguistic scripts. can't think of any next best alternatives, but you might come up with something, eh? also, i apologise to everybody here for spamming the comments section. ^ ^
FreedomValentine 8 months ago
kings n queens are not ordinary people ?
twistedbass15 8 months ago
Wait a second, these are stamps, right? So, when you use the stamps on paper, won't the direction of the text be reversed?
dantkz 8 months ago 77
@dantkz THe pictures probably already have been reversed. I don't think so many researchers would have missed it.
reafdaw01 8 months ago
@dantkz it depends on how you stamp a paper or cloth as well. you could stamp down onto it, or place the paper/cloth on top and use a flat surface to impress the shapes on to the paper and then maintain the word order.
FreedomValentine 8 months ago
@dantkz LOL very good point! I hope he thought about that!
ImamTime 8 months ago
@dantkz You've solved it 0_o
On a more serious note though I think they may have flipped the picture when the posted it on the screen
FLAlVlE 8 months ago
@dantkz I imagine the stamps were not necessarily used on paper. In fact perhaps the Indus population did not even use paper, who knows. Maybe these stamp-like items were not made to print on paper, but were themselves the actual stamps, physically sent with the goods, in which case the direction of text would be as it appears.
proximumargento 8 months ago
@dantkz Probably the photos he's showing have already been reversed.
GordonCSA 8 months ago
@dantkz not if the stamps are reversed
Danen3 8 months ago
@Danen3 That would make sense, kinda like the block printing style.
STevEKlm012 8 months ago
@dantkz Maybe the stamps were being shown face down, and they were imprinted all the way through? That's how I would show the stamps to an audience if I was trying to explain them. Who knows, though. Hopefully they would have thought of that....lol.
chordogg 8 months ago
@dantkz yeah the replica he holds up is reversed
SobaniForce 8 months ago
@dantkz You'll note that most of the symbols are mirror images. The left and right sides are the same, but reversed. They all look the same whether forward or backward. May indicate that the symbols were used with stamps very early on in their usage, or were developed for that purpose.
theBlueTick 8 months ago
@dantkz you just broke the code
SuperiorApostate 8 months ago
@dantkz I was thinking the same thing. Also many of the symbols are simetrical so the stamp reversing effect may not be an issue, or maybe they did account for that. Plus he has the stamp product it seems (more common) rather than the reversed stamp itself. I like the way you're thinking.
briansmobile1 8 months ago
@dantkz brilliant observation. afaik most indian languages are written from left to right, while the arabic is written right to left, so i was wondering that this region which now falls in between these 2 places would have what kind of language !!
yourtube20061 8 months ago
@dantkz likleyhood is everything that was thought to be a stamp was reversed and everything that was not wasn't - or he means by stamp more like a label in that the stamp was sent with the item rather than using ink to draw it on.
Dixavd 8 months ago
Fantastic talk! This job requires a lot of patients, and personally can be boring, that's why I can never do this job! But hands off to you Rao and I am amazed there are people out there who still like to use their emotions/false beliefs as a force to diminish knowledge and ideas. Still amazing though! Love how the dead are waking up (no literally but historically and knowledge-wise)!
ImamTime 8 months ago
@ImamTime say what? nothing to erode knowledge here, buddy- unless you want it eroded, of course.
FreedomValentine 8 months ago
@FreedomValentine Did you even listen to the talk or not? He said he was being threatened just because of classifying some findings in a category. People don't let others do their work properly by butting in because they are hurt?! I hope you understand that!
ImamTime 8 months ago
Very interesting talk :)
tgseason12 8 months ago
Fascinating!
PlasteredDragon 8 months ago
Holy crap that is fun
aaulia 8 months ago
Amazing, I think Carl Sagan would have be thrilled.
NikiDaDude 8 months ago
Good talk.
twincann0n 8 months ago
this is great! i love the idea of statistics and machine learning. time to get my masters degree in statistics hahaha
sandinsx 8 months ago
@sandinsx Statistical methods in natural language process is just not fun after the first chapter.
amithbn 8 months ago
Sheer Genius!
myfrakingbum 8 months ago
what about the sumerian tablets?
asetentay8 8 months ago
Pretty clever, I hope they figure it all out!
DeoMachina 8 months ago
Wow, amazing work.
mikeye9 8 months ago
NOOO! This was my ambition! Anyway, I'm extremely pleased that Mr. Rao is so actively involved in deciphering this fascinating mystery--one of the most compelling ones we have left in the twenty-first century!
IShudBeStudying 8 months ago 8
@IShudBeStudying ''one of the most compelling ones we have left in the twenty-first century!''
This is not a ''twenty-first century''... maybe it is for you Christians but not for the rest of us.
IC1101 8 months ago
@IC1101 what are you thinking? ...surely you can 'decipher' more intelligently than you evidence by your reply to such an innocently appreciative comment ...perhaps you could evidence some objectivity ...just a thought ;-])
gaiagale 8 months ago
@IC1101 I hate to break it to you but this IS the 21st century. Im curious to know what century you think you live in.
ObtuseSage 8 months ago
@ObtuseSage Why is it 21st century?
IC1101 8 months ago
@IC1101 The first century started on the 1st year and ended on year 100, the second century started on year 101 and ended on year 200, so if you do that all the way up to our present time, the 20th century started on 1901 and ended on the year 2000, making 2001 the start of the 21 century.
ObtuseSage 8 months ago
@ObtuseSage But what happened in that year 0, and why is that relevant for us who are not Christians?
IC1101 8 months ago
@IC1101 There was no year 0.
ObtuseSage 8 months ago
@ObtuseSage God youre so fucking stupid. The year is 2011 cause it has been 2011 years since Jesus Christ. It could easily have been the year 3254 or the year 8514 if we used different starting point, but no we use life of Jesus Christ as our reference point you stupid fuck!!! Majority of humanity are not Christians!
IC1101 8 months ago
@IC1101 That has nothing to do with you not knowing what century it is. You are correct, it could have been the year 3254 or the year 8514 but then it would be the 33rd century or the 86th century. It isn't tho. Hope that cleared the air for you.
ObtuseSage 8 months ago
@ObtuseSage The point i was trying to make is that for many non-christians it is not 21st century... every culture has their own calendar. And that should be respected.
IC1101 8 months ago
@IC1101 Use the CE instead of AD and you're good.
595o 7 months ago
@ObtuseSage he was serious?!
merjemke 8 months ago
@IC1101 Dude, I'm Hindu--but okay, whatever. I just said "twenty-first century" because that's what this time period is known as to the common folk. I understand your point though. :)
IShudBeStudying 8 months ago