Importance of Non-Verbal Communication

When communicating it is not necessarily what is being said that has the greatest impact. Often people underestimate the significance of body language or non-verbal communication. View this video to see the importance of eye contact when meeting someone for the first time. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzezbYtLvtM). A man may approach a woman and if he is aware of eye contact then he has a definite advantage. The same can be said for a good communicator. An effective communicator is miles ahead when they can interpret others body language and control their own. A tremendous percentage of our everyday communication is done through movements, eye contact, and through tone of voice. Another important area of body language is the context that something is said in. If I was preparing a meal for someone and it was the greatest meal I had ever made and then they complimented me on it I would be pleased. If I burnt the chicken, the vegetables were overcooked, and the pasta was tasteless, then they complimented me, I would be offended. The words coming out of their mouths haven’t changed, but the context has.

China is hoping to expand economically into Africa for their natural resources such as oil and taping into an African market to sell Chinese goods. China is being a smart communicator in their efforts to expand into several African nations. China is making an effort to adjust their body language to convince these nations that they will keep the best interests of these countries in mind. In the case of Sudan the Chinese president, Hu, wrote off a $70 million debt. He then followed by granting a $13 million interest free loan. China also hosted a summit for 40 African leaders. These leaders may have been skeptical of the intentions of China in their countries. Stories circulate the international stage of Chinese pollution and their greed to expand. So what does China do? They think like a good communicator and they control their body language. When the countries came to visit they reduced the amount of traffic and they even shut down the factories temporarily to reduce the amount of pollution in the air. I think that this is absolutely ingenious. Perhaps the leaders of these nations would now go back and say, “China did not seem as dirty or as overcrowded as I had heard”. In doing so China has made a huge impression on these leaders without having to say a word, much like what an effective communicator can do to a listener.

You May Kiss the Robot

The landscape of marriage and relationships has changed a great deal in Canada in the last 30 or 40 years. In the 60’s and 70’s it was very rare to see an interracial couple walking down the street. Now it is even legal for gay couples to become united under the recent law to allow gay marriage. These movements are great, but where is the line drawn?
Recently an artificial intelligence researcher professor in the Netherlands named David Levy made the prediction that by 2050 we will begin to see movements to legalize marriage to robots. When I first heard this I was shocked, I have heard nothing along the lines of saying “I do” to a walking computer. I discovered that related studies and analysis has been going on for over 50 years. A man named A.M. Turning wrote Computing Machinery and Intelligence, in this he spoke of the “Imitation Game”. This game attempts to answer the question “Can machines think?” According to David Levy he believes that in 2050 machines will not only be able to think, they will act as humans, they will have human mates, and they will have sex with humans.
Upon further examination it seems as though this is entirely possible. Robots can be programmed to meet the needs of the individual, although artificially. This theory takes our time binding and space binding society to an all new level. Now we can go online and look for a relationship, meet someone, and keep contact with a webcam as if a couple were in the same room. Combine this with the fact that every second counts now a days and robot relationships seem entirely feasible. Many people do not have time for human to human relationships; marriage to a robot would be the ultimate in convenience for some. Much of the required technology is already out there, or it is in the process of being developed. Some dolls are available on the internet, and they are selling for close to $10,000 each.
Now we know that this is possible, what implications might it have on the way that we communicate? If we can have robotic mates than we can have robotic friends, robotic doormen, and robotic co-workers. We will completely lose every sense of personable relationships and genuine communicating. Technology may develop to the point where a robot can think or converse, but it that really communicating? I am going to take the stand that it is definitely not. This form of technology is called artificial intelligence because it is artificial. The concept of it becoming legal or even thinkable to marry a robot is merely an imitation game, it’s not real.

Poor Voter Turnout - What Would Pinker the Thinker Do?

The results of the Provincial Election and referendum on Wednesday took focus off of another critical pierce of information. On Wednesday night “The turnout was worse than a previous record low of 54.7 per cent set in 1923” , as reported by CBC. The low voter turnout also ties in with the fact that many people barely knew the details of the referendum, I know this, I volunteered at the election. I heard one woman quietly inquire at the poll about what the referendum was regarding. The lack of interest in politics from voters is a critical issue.
This issue stems from the fact that we are a time-binding society. Every second counts, therefore it seems more of a hassle to vote than a privilege. People are always rushing; this includes meals, traveling, and all daily activities. Families spend less time together, therefore less time talking about things like politics.
With this being said I am going to take the stance that society is the main culprit, but so are parents. It is well known that children absorb the most information when they are in the early stages of their lives. If parents instilled a feeling of political importance in their children at an early age this would not be a problem. This can be compared to Steven Pinker’s analysis of learning and language. In Piker’s article, Chatterboxes, he makes reference to deaf children learning sign language. Pinker makes the point that deaf children that are born to signing parents than they learn sign language “the same way that hearing infants learn spoken language”. Deaf children that may be born to parents who don’t know signing are put behind from the start. When they grow up and seek deaf communities they learn it but they “struggle with sign language as a difficult intellectual puzzle, much as a hearing adult does in foreign language classes”. Again he reiterates that the successful learning of language must be done at a critical time.
Just as parents need to teach language to their children early in life they need to introduce them to politics. When children are not exposed to something for many years than why would they suddenly develop the desire to vote, and have the aptitude to understand the way that our electoral system works. The fact of the matter is that there was ample information out there on the referendum, $6.8 million (this video is a piece of the wealth of information that was available, but not utilized - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez6IRIrW-98) of information to be exact.







Look forward to my blog next week on
Steven Pinker's study on the
difficulties of communication while under the
influence

Halo 3 Hype

The hype behind the release of the video game of Halo 3 has compared to that of the introduction of sliced bread, or after the invention the light bulb. Ok, I may be exaggerating a little, but in all honesty the release of this game was greeted with lines of people, at midnight, nonetheless (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO-J5ImDEi8). There are two things about Halo 3 that increase communication dramatically. Firstly, it brings people together who, otherwise would not have met. People who might ordinarily be sleeping are now lined up next to each other, talking. Secondly, it brings people to communicate via the game itself. You can take pictures and videos of game play and on top of this messages can be sent, voice messages recorded, and you can talk to team-mates or friends like on the telephone. The technologies of MSN, You Tube, and the phone are combined into one mixed of the media.
Halo 3 has amazing graphics and incredible sound quality, which might lead you to believe that it is a hot media. I, however, am going to disagree. Halo 3 is definitely a cold media as it involves a great deal of participation. Players must cooperate with others in order to succeed. They can make their own accounts and customize their characters. Videos, pictures, and messages can even be exchanged between players. I think that it I difficult to stimulate this many senses at once without actually fighting in a war against aliens. Unless you are a resident of Lincoln County, Nevada (Area 51) than this is unlikely. My point is that this mixture of technology involves its participants like nothing else.

If we can some how harness this technology and enthusiasm in the workplace or in an academic way than that would be the best way of reaching people today. McLuhan also highlighted on this idea when he said that students need to learn from the technology that they are used to and not through outdated textbooks. I do not think that Halo 3 is a bad thing to introduce to children or even young adults. I actually believe that it could be an amazing tool for transferring information from a teacher to a student and it has the ability to change the way that we learn or the speed from which we learn.