Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Binary Thinking

Binary (base two) thinking is thinking in dichotomies like black and white or good and evil. (listen to Evil by Howlin' Wolf.) Binary thinking is a case where media influence ideas about interpersonal linking.

Before the written word, our primary means of communication was oral. Stories, poems and songs were passed around person-to-person. Heterarchical. And many different nuances and variations about things around them.

The written word was in black (ink) and white (paper). The printing press exacerbated the situation. Hierarchical, and still black and white. This favors dominator thinking. For example, because they are printed, all of the Bibles (of a particular edition) are identical - there are no variations, and interpretation is not necessary. The word is there, in black and white.

Radio and Television began the revolution, and the Internet and the World Wide Web are carrying it further. Information is in many forms, visual, aural and written.

Binary thinking is low bandwidth. As bandwidth increases, many voices can be heard and compared.

As communication bandwidth increases, thinking opens up to many options, partnership linking and maximizing joy.

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