![Why is THIS the power symbol? [LGR Retrospective]](https://i3.ytimg.com/vi/VKCFDBPvJ74/maxresdefault.jpg)
Why is THIS the power symbol? [LGR Retrospective]
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Jos-
The -power symbol- by itself is beautiful and perfect graphically, when the I and the O are combined, but separated like this, 2: 45 I always thought there is something essentially wrong about this symbolism, for one simple reason. Semiotically, the image of a circle, versus the image of a line allude to a much more ancient set of iconographic messages - an open eye and a closed eye. So, way before (way, way before) humans invented the binary system, we associated a circle to an eye, and if we put a circle next to a line, the line will invariably alude to a closed eye. I do know it is impossible to switch now, for obvious reasons, but, intrinsically I believe the order is wrong, for a line (to me at least) will always say -closed- or -sleeping- (or off, and a circle says -open- or -awake- or. on!
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The -power symbol- by itself is beautiful and perfect graphically, when the I and the O are combined, but separated like this, 2: 45 I always thought there is something essentially wrong about this symbolism, for one simple reason. Semiotically, the image of a circle, versus the image of a line allude to a much more ancient set of iconographic messages - an open eye and a closed eye. So, way before (way, way before) humans invented the binary system, we associated a circle to an eye, and if we put a circle next to a line, the line will invariably alude to a closed eye. I do know it is impossible to switch now, for obvious reasons, but, intrinsically I believe the order is wrong, for a line (to me at least) will always say -closed- or -sleeping- (or off, and a circle says -open- or -awake- or. on!
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Nari1102
I'm writing this comment before I watch the video. Let me just say what it is I've always assumed it to be, and then I'll edit this comment after to see if I was right or not. I have always assumed that the outer circle represented a circuit and that the line was jammed in between 2 contacts on this circuit to block contact, therefore breaking the circuit and stopping everything (turning the circuit off. Was I right?
Edit: Okay I was wrong, lol. I was just overthinking it.
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I'm writing this comment before I watch the video. Let me just say what it is I've always assumed it to be, and then I'll edit this comment after to see if I was right or not. I have always assumed that the outer circle represented a circuit and that the line was jammed in between 2 contacts on this circuit to block contact, therefore breaking the circuit and stopping everything (turning the circuit off. Was I right?
Edit: Okay I was wrong, lol. I was just overthinking it.
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Jim
For the longest time after I first encountered them, I simply could not understand - as on and the O as off, and always got the confused. I imagined the - to be an upraised hand (as a traffic cop uses to stop traffic, or as a barrier of some kind that would stop the flow of electricity, and therefore should be -off-, while the O was an open conduit allowing electricity to flow, and therefore should be -on-.
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For the longest time after I first encountered them, I simply could not understand - as on and the O as off, and always got the confused. I imagined the - to be an upraised hand (as a traffic cop uses to stop traffic, or as a barrier of some kind that would stop the flow of electricity, and therefore should be -off-, while the O was an open conduit allowing electricity to flow, and therefore should be -on-.
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CavemanCBB
I never understand any of these symbols. I have to just start pushing things at random to see what they do. Sometimes they show up on a screen somewhere and no one I know of can figure out what the symbol means. There are still dozens of these things on my smart phone that I haven't figure out yet. I just gave up.
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I never understand any of these symbols. I have to just start pushing things at random to see what they do. Sometimes they show up on a screen somewhere and no one I know of can figure out what the symbol means. There are still dozens of these things on my smart phone that I haven't figure out yet. I just gave up.
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FreeRadical09
Great video! Smoothly explained something I always wondered about.
Do you still have a copy of the document? The ISO website is faulty and doesn't display the file nor the page where it should be.
I'd love to read the whole thing if possible, I didn't know the Macro symbol was around since the 70's!
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Great video! Smoothly explained something I always wondered about.
Do you still have a copy of the document? The ISO website is faulty and doesn't display the file nor the page where it should be.
I'd love to read the whole thing if possible, I didn't know the Macro symbol was around since the 70's!
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Disthron
I remember back in the '90s when my family got their first camcorder, my mom was amazed that I somehow knew how to record with the thing after playing with it for just 5 minutes. She asked me how I knew the record button. was the record button and I was like, it's the one that has the record symbol on it.
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I remember back in the '90s when my family got their first camcorder, my mom was amazed that I somehow knew how to record with the thing after playing with it for just 5 minutes. She asked me how I knew the record button. was the record button and I was like, it's the one that has the record symbol on it.
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Amal
Hi there I know that this is quite late but might I ask if it is possible for you to share some of the resources you looked at or read to get this information. It would be really helpful as I am writing an essay on the power button symbol and I can hardly find anything on thing.
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Hi there I know that this is quite late but might I ask if it is possible for you to share some of the resources you looked at or read to get this information. It would be really helpful as I am writing an essay on the power button symbol and I can hardly find anything on thing.
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eddiehimself
The IEC is a very helpful organization. One really useful thing they have on their website is the various types of plug socket and which countries around the world use which, so you no longer need worry about going abroad and finding that your domestic plugs don't fit.
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The IEC is a very helpful organization. One really useful thing they have on their website is the various types of plug socket and which countries around the world use which, so you no longer need worry about going abroad and finding that your domestic plugs don't fit.
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uncleWronG
side note: the same symbol was used by Carl Sagan to represent a hydrogen atom on messages we've sent into the cosmos, in hopes that any advanced species who may come across it will use their knowledge of atomic structure to interpret the rest of the message.
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side note: the same symbol was used by Carl Sagan to represent a hydrogen atom on messages we've sent into the cosmos, in hopes that any advanced species who may come across it will use their knowledge of atomic structure to interpret the rest of the message.
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Traugott
No, I never gave it much thought. But at 0: 15 it dawned on me: It looks like a key hole, right? Like back in the days when you could -lock- your computer (LGR already made a video about this? Let's see if I was right.
Nope. I was WAAAAAY off with my idea.
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No, I never gave it much thought. But at 0: 15 it dawned on me: It looks like a key hole, right? Like back in the days when you could -lock- your computer (LGR already made a video about this? Let's see if I was right.
Nope. I was WAAAAAY off with my idea.
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