Back and Forth

Communication is one of the most important aspects of our lives. Before coming to the UWI, Mona, I never really considered communication. I mean, I understood, I'm sure like most people, that to communicate with someone is to say something; send a Whatsapp message, phone call, Skype call, regular communication. My first Communication class changed all of that. Nothing was the same. I understood Digital Media Production and Media holistically from a whole new perspective. I learned that Communication is the sharing of information through shared meaning between intelligences. That was something I knew, something I understood, something I did daily. Then I was made to understand that that same communication, is the basis of our culture. That opened me up. What and how we communicate to each other varied from culture to culture. Our history of communication, even the way history communicates to us, is what really builds our culture. That class was when it hit me. Communication is a major factor in building culture.

I sometimes pretend to imagine a reality without communication, I have come to believe that the human ability to communicate on the level we do is what separates us from other animals. I recently watched Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The earlier parts of the movie depicted Man-kind at "The Dawn of Time" Where we were apes, apes that communicated with each other by the most simplest of means. Hand signs, body language, aggression. The movie then took us into the future, 2001. Where a space traveler video calls his daughter back on earth. Without development of our ability to properly communicate with each other, we would have never reached the point we are at now.

Communication is the sharing of information through shared meaning between intelligences. As a media practitioner, my goal is mind control. My understanding of communication has led me to strongly believe that,  if I can completely understand communication, I would be able to build culture, imprint myself in it; and become immortal.