Communication
is difficult to truly define because of all the mediums it encompasses. Some of
these mediums include the written word in essays and articles, and even
creative instances like books and poems. Additionally, there is also the spoken
word through speeches, simple day-to-day communication, and debates. Even then,
there are the senders and receivers in every instance of communication, so
there is no real “definition” that encompasses all possible situations.
I
agree with the fact that there is no real “definition” for communication
because of this. However, I think there are several correct “definitions” that
can be used for each instance, creating one large, broad definition for
communication. Similar to the word “decimate,” which literally means “to reduce
by one tenth,” it has several other meanings, making it synonymous to “destroy”
or “annihilate,” “communication” has many definitions, each fitting different
situations and mediums.
Hi Christopher,
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree with your topic sentence. I had never really given the matter any thought, until this class.
Now I see that there are nine definitions given for the word communication in our text alone! And while it is difficult or even impossible to conjure up one definition that will fit all situations, we can use a few stock definitions to help us understand the term better.
For instance, “Communication is the process of whereby people assign meanings to stimuli in order to make sense of the world”.
Most of us can likely see the value in this definition.
But it is hardly all-encompassing. I in particular wonder about machines communicating with other machines. It is not science fiction anymore. How do we define these type of communications?
As artificial intelligence and quantum computing become a reality, trillions of communications can take place per second. I cannot even fathom the need for such, but most likely it will happen.
But back in the present day, I am wondering how the emergence of social networks and the Internet in general has redefined communications?
I pose this as a question because although I have lived through these changes, I do not by any measure, fully understand the ramifications.
I always thought that there is only one, single correct definition, but now I agree with you and with the idea, that there is no real "definition", not only for communication but also for many other words. I always love to learn about the origins of words, and it was interesting to find out that, "the term definition comes from a Latin word meaning to determine, bring to an end or settle". As we can understand, if it means to settle, then there must be few different opinions to begin with. The same goes for when we need to determine which one, it already tells us that there must be more than one.
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