So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.
1 COR. 14:9–10 KJ

This Cosmic “communication” will breathe life from “The Problem of Communication 5,” the introduction from Peters’ Speaking into the Air – A History of the Idea of Communication

About the book:

“Communication plays a vital and unique role in society-often blamed for problems when it breaks down and at the same time heralded as a panacea for human relations. A sweeping history of communication, Speaking Into the Air illuminates our expectations of communication as both historically specific and a fundamental knot in Western thought.”

About the author:

John Durham Peters (born 1958) is the María Rosa Menocal Professor of English and of Film & Media Studies at Yale University. A media historian and social theorist, he has authored a number of noted scholarly works. His first book ”Speaking into the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication” which traces out broad historical, philosophical, religious, cultural, legal, and technological contexts for the study of communication. His second book Courting the Abyss: Free Speech and the Liberal Tra…

Reading / Watching / Listening

Introduction from Peters’ Speaking into the Air – A History of the Idea of Communication
Speaking into the Air.pdf 5 (171.8 KB)

• @Douggins suggests reading only the first 6 pages for the Café. The complete introduction is provided.

Seed Questions

• How does understanding the history of communication help us to understand our present definition(s) of communication?
• Do we agree with John Durham Peters that the general “sense” concludes that communication is always breaking down? That the “difficulty of communication across various social boundaries—gender, class, race, age, religion, region, nation, and language—confronts us daily.” ? Is communication breakdown a sign of our time? Are we really unable to bridge the gaps of communication? How do we work with the concept of difference?
• Can we have an empathetic experience of difference? From someone outside of our circle?
• How Bodily Aware of the Tension when Difference arises are we so as to respond with honesty & skill?

Context, Backstory, and Related topics

• Cosmos Café: Creating Transparent Language [3/6]
• Cosmos Café: Communicating About Communication [5/22] 1
• Other relevant links or topics, e.g., leading up to this talk

Agenda items

• Check-ins/talk about the weather
• Brief discussion of Cafe Framing & Proposals 1
• Open Discussion; reflect on seed questions