-- Transcribed from the personal journal of Nemesis --

[ Communication ]

December 29, 2007

The problem with communication

We communicate with one another in order to share ideas. Human beings have a
distinct advantage over other species for this reason. Every mind follows its
own course, resulting in its own ideas. Unlike other species, human beings can
transmit these ideas to others. The resultant set of ideas is succinctly de-
scribed as the sum of all human knowledge. By contrast, the sum of all sparrow
knowledge will be little more than the sum of one sparrow's knowledge.

The problem here is that ideas are abstract concepts existing only in the mind
and as such cannot be transported across a distance--however small--to another
mind. They can only exist in a mind--not in the space between minds.

The lack of a suitable transmission medium requires us to translate ideas into a
format which can be broadcast and received--namely audible or visible. These two
principal mediums provide an infinite range of communication possibilities but
such versatility brings with it an unimaginable probability of error.

The translation of idea into communication, and from communication back into
idea provides twice the potential for a failed transmission of ideas. No fault
lies with either the sender or receiver for a failure to communicate. Rather,
the fault lies with the mechanism itself.

Star Trek's universal translator sure would be nice.