On the Progressive Nature of Communication

On the Progressive Nature of Communication

"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven."-Colossians 4:1. An interesting quote no doubt. It provides insight into the biblical mentality surrounding the practice of slavery; more specifically, the mentality of biblical authors who were followers of Christ and few in number. This was the mentality of revolutionaries, people ahead of their time in respect to the idea of valuing human well-being. There are many quotes like this one that command the fair treatment of slaves, yet there is not a single condemnation of the practice itself. Any person today with a sixth grade education can understand how the institution of slavery is fundamentally wrong, but Jesus and all his apostles could not describe the wicked nature of bondage or the irrefutable moral unsoundness of its advocates. The concept that forcing people into labor is as demeaning an atrocity as they come simply did not exist, or if it did, the majority of people were unaware. Of course I am not claiming Jesus or his apostles were morally unsound people. They were as good as they could be in the time that they lived, and they lived in a time in which slavery was enormously inconceivable as an immoral practice. The immorality of slavery is a relatively modern concept in the scope of human existence, one of many progressive concepts that mankind has uncovered since the days of the first testament. It is impossible to examine an idea or concept that cannot be described or defined by language. This is not to say that these ideas and concepts can't exist in the future; clearly they can. How advanced a society can be relies heavily on the complexity of the way the society communicates.

Communication is the basis of understanding. Communication at its core operates much like a game of catch. Success depends on the cooperation of both catcher and pitcher and their proficiency in their roles, but failure can be the fault of either. When we make advancements in the way we communicate we develop better understandings of our collective worldviews. When we have a better understanding of how minds outside of our own see the world, we become a more empathetic society. Empathy in a society welcomes cooperation and progressive reform. Today we find ourselves in a golden age of communication. Social media has connected millions of minds all over the world. In Dr. David Snipelisky’s, “Social Media in Medicine,” it is estimated that 1.28 billion people around the world communicate through Facebook and another 255 million use Twitter. Many of these people are physicians who take advantage of this advanced state of communication to deepen their understanding of the medical field. QuantiaMD is an online community for expert physicians to deliver presentations regarding all aspects of medicine. According to Dr. Snipelisky, one-third of adults have used social media to help reach a medical diagnosis.

Some may doubt that progression is limited by the complexity of language and communication. These people might suggest that emotions and morality are innate and can exist independently of language. This is not entirely false. Basic emotions can exist in the absence of advanced language, but this is true for all mammals. The advancement of language and society has welcomed humanity to a multitude of emotions far surpassing the comprehension of less intelligent animals. Empathy, for example, is an extremely advanced emotion that is unique to human beings as well as compassion, appreciation, and wonder. The question of morality has a similar explanation. Patricia Churchland, a renowned analytical philosopher, offers much insight on the matter in her book, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells us About Morality. Churchland criticizes what she believes are naturalistic views of morality founded on poor evidence. Churchland rejects the idea of morality being innate. She holds instead that morality is a response to complex social problems. Morality did not exist before it could be recognized and described by a sentient being. When a lion forcefully copulates with another lion it is not considered evil because the lion has no concept of rape. The lion is incapable of understanding its actions are the cause of suffering nor does it have any idea why this suffering would be bad in the first place. However, when a human being commits this act it is obviously and undeniably evil. But it is unlikely you will find a newspaper article about a man “forcefully copulating” with a woman. It is much more likely that you will find an article about a man raping a woman. Humans are distinctly different from other animals and we often use language to distinguish the actions of animals from the actions of humans. Gophers burrow, humans excavate. Doves mate for life, humans marry. Lions forcefully copulate, humans rape. In tandem with the advancement of communication and language, human beings have developed an understanding of suffering, they have become empathetic and thus morality manifests itself in the conscious decisions of humans to commit or not commit certain acts.

The historical span of language has breathed life into an incalculable number of ideas. Ideas are like photographs. The real, physical world exists independently of either. But the magnitude of detail and information captured of the physical world in both a photograph and an idea depends on the complexity of the system that produces these things. A photograph can only be as detailed and accurately representative of the physical world as its camera allows it to be just as an idea can only be as descriptive of the world as communication permits. As technology advances, more sophisticated cameras will invite more complex image capture. Similarly, as language evolves and the way we communicate advances, ideas will only become more complex which will serve to forward the progression of society and humanity as a whole.

Work Cited

Churchland, Patricia S. “Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us About Morality”

Princeton Univ. Press: 2011. 288 pp

Snipelisky, David. "Social Media in Medicine: A Podium Without Boundaries." Journal of the  

American College of Cardiology, 65.22 (2015): 2459-2461.

Reviews

[Wez Hardyn]

I had to stop reading after you said: 'they lived in a time in which slavery was enormously inconceivable as an immoral practice' - have you never heard of the 'Servile Wars' one of which featured Spartacus to whom this assertion would be an insult.

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed your words and thoughts.
"The historical span of language has breathed life into an incalculable number of ideas. Ideas are like photographs. The real, physical world exists independently of either. But the magnitude of detail and information captured of the physical world in both a photograph and an idea depends on the complexity of the system that produces these things. "
I liked and agree with the above lines. I liked the knowledge shared. Thank you Evan for sharing the interesting information.
Coyote