How Paul Ford understands our impulse to string up Christmas lights:
There’s a whole class of human communication that happens through decorational lights. New York City does a lot of this. They light up the tree in Rockefeller center. That moment when it goes from dark to gleaming, that’s a big moment for humans. There’s a lot of ceremony involved. What is actually being communicated, then? What is the difference between the dark tree and the light tree?
He compares it to fireworks and the lights of the Empire State Building:
It’s a way of talking at a distance. Flags and towers, short signals. Hello everyone. Here are our explosives. Hello. Here are our rainbow-colored lights hung from the balcony. Hello. Christmas lights work for the same reason that people on shore wave to people in boats.
(Photo: The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is lit November 28, 2012 in New York. By Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 
