Gregory Bateson & Communication -The Ecology of Mind

Bateson has really expended the definition of communication by challenging the common thought that communication consisted only of two or more people speaking or writing to each other. For him, the world is full of communication processes, between every kind of human being. Nature greatly communicates with humans: one of the most know communication the earth made with the human development is the melting of icebergs raising the sea levels around the world. It was a simple communication process: through industrialisation, men have increased the climate temperature, and the earth has responded consequently. Communication between men and animals as well has been undermined. A random person talking to a dog will not have the same outcome as the dog owner talking to him. If his owner asks him to sit, he will follow the order, but might ignore someone else telling him to sit. This example can also relate to the element of metacommunication. Metacommunication is adding up the communication process to the relationship between the two members communicating. In a group of friend, a person can make a joke, start a communication process, but how each person will respond to the joke will depend on their relationship with that person, which is the metacommunication process. It might be an inside joke between two members of the group and they may laugh, and someone new to the group who does know any members might not find it funny. The relationship between a dog and his owner is the same case. For Bateson, the world is full of relationships and communication relies on all those different connected nots. In addition, Bateson explains that changeability is key in the communication world. Then again, the same joke thrown in a group of people can be taken differently said a month later. The world is ever changing, and Kate Milberry expresses in Media Ecology that the “focus [should be] on the interaction of communication, culture, and consciousness as a dynamic process rather than on communication technology as the singular and driving force of social transformation” (Milberry 2012).

Reference:

Kate Milberry 2012, Media Ecology, Oxford Bibliographies, accessed 21 March 2014, <http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756841/obo-9780199756841-0054.xml>.