HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION
The history of communication is mankind's search for ways to improve upon shouting. When running with a message, to convey it in spoken form, it is safer to do it oneself. Sending anyone else is unreliable, as the game of Chinese whispers demonstrates. So another requirement for efficient communication is a system of writing.
Messages carved on stone pillars communicate very well across time, down through the centuries, but they are an inefficient method of communicating across space. The message reads only within reading range; its recipients must travel to receive it. The system is altogether more efficient if it is the message which travels. This requires yet another ingredient in the communication package - a portable writing material such as papyrus
There are forms of long-distance communication not based on words. The smoke signals used by American Indians (above all perhaps in westerns) are of this kind. So are bonfires lit in succession on a line of hilltops. But such devices are only capable of conveying very limited pre-arranged signals, such as 'danger' or 'victory'.
Some non-verbal systems are more sophisticated. The whistled language of Gomera, in the Canary islands, is used to communicate across deep valleys. It is well adapted to the islanders' immediate needs, but would be incapable of sending this paragraph as an accurate message. For communication of this kind writing remains indispensable.
Read more:http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa93#ixzz3sPPQUzwa
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