Deutsch argues that systems evolve toward universality, i.e. they keep changing until they reach a point where they have all the information necessary to adapt without limitations. For example, many civilizations had their own number systems, but most of these only had symbols for numbers up to the highest number that its users could imagine. Indian numerals (the number system that we use today) with their placeholder system became the standard because they allowed users to describe ever larger numbers without having to invent new symbols. Every new concept that humans grapple with requires a period of experimentation and shift before it acquires a set of standardized tools.
As technology advances, we spend more time in front of our computers viewing and posting images, both moving and still. We need a new set of tools to describe the events contained in these images. One way that this is happening is through the use of gestures. When the iPhone introduced “pinching” and “stretching” to change the size of an image, it was a novel idea designed specifically for use with its platform. These gestures are now ubiquitous on smartphones and tablets, because they are universally understood and easily adaptable to objects with screens. If Deutsch is correct, this progression will continue until there is a comprehensible cross-platform set of gestures for manipulating images in space.