======start quotes======
Michael says,
Sending and receiving as a rather old-fashioned and mechanistic view of
communication. It's a view that in my experience gets organisations into
all kinds of trouble. (...snip)
Rol asks,
In the electronic view of communications, receiving normally includes
decoding, filtering, and much other manipulation of a signal. (...snip...)
I already understand that because of my personal history (...snip...) I may
add a lot of meaning not originally intended, or not add meaning that was
originally intended. However, I do that -- or do not do it -- within
myself, do I not? Aren't I still functioning as a receiver
with all the decoding, filtering and so forth?
======end quotes======
I think what's needed is a supra-individual model of communication, one
that takes into account "fields" of meaning along the lines of metaphor.
It isn't merely the individual that adds, modifies and creates meaning --
certainly there are inter- or intra-group forces acting to create or
modify the original "signal" and it might even be the effect of some kind
of field of meaning that has little or nothing to do with the individuals.
Interesting evidence comes from research into so-called "idiot savants"
who possess knowledge that they have never been exposed to -- knowledge
that they cannot and could not have learned. (Not just arithmetic and
calendars, but air conditioners and automobiles.) We haven't the faintest
insight yet into how this knowledge could be transmitted across a physical
medium, but its existence provides powerful evidence for non-electronic
"fields" of knowledge that are capable of creating meaning inside
individuals.
Bo Warburton
Computer Sciences Corp.
bo@warburton.com
--"Warburton, Bo" <warburton@nv.doe.gov>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>