Communication renders tangible our dreams and visions. Without the capacity to communicate efficiently we would be consumed by our inner desires. The world of wonder in which we presently reside has been built by the effecting visions of a thousand generations. The evolution of communication has paralleled our ascending mastery of nature. From the restraining practicality of our peculiar Western alphabet to the liberating force of the wireless revolution, the communication process has dictated the shape and the content of our society. Our century long experiment with electronic communications has done more to change the way we live than any technology of the previous hundred thousand years. Electric communication promises to continue altering the fundamental make-up of the social world and the way in which we conceptualize that world.

The earliest forms of human communication, as is the case with electronic communication, were primarily acoustic or sensory. The acoustic intake of information implies that there is no single source point from which our senses receive the information. Acoustic input comes from multiple directions or multiple sources. We interpret the sounds we hear while walking on the street in an acoustic manner. This method of receiving communication is starkly contrasted with the written media that built the civilized world. The Western alphabets that gave birth to our literary world are, unlike acoustic information, very linear and confining.

The radio, television, internet, cell phones, and other modern electronic communications devices all epitomize the idea of acoustic sensory perception. The transition from 5,000 years of linear perception to our burgeoning electric world that ascended throughout the 20th century is still very much taking place. This transitional period has been wrought by ups and downs – the typical wrinkles that are to be expected from a sociological shift of such significance. We just finished up the bloodiest century in history. The linear alphabetical world gave us such wonders as the industrial revolution, with its emphasis on precision and efficiency, it is largely responsible for our continued reliance on the industrial schedule even as that schedule has outlived its usefulness.

Every aspect of our functioning lives has been derived from the literary conception of the world including the calendar, the 9-5 workday, the education system. Electric communication is in direct conflict with these traditional conventions. For this reason the transition will be a slow, gradual process. More and more the oppression of the literary world is being trumped by electric innovations. The VCR and the TiVo allow consumers to digest their media free from the tyranny of the schedule. The simultaneity of multiple media outputs that we experience today further unchains us from our formative social conventions.

Adapting to our new methods of communication is a generational process with each succeeding generation becoming more adept at understanding the electric world around them. The difficulty that older generations have in grasping the electric interface of the home computer compared to ten year olds who can grasp the interface much easier is a common example of this. Older generations have been so trained to interpret the world in the literary mode that the concept of simultaneity is very hard for them to conceive.

Evolution toward electric communication carries much promise. Instant access to all of human knowledge is arguably here right now with growing online encyclopedias like wikipedia.org. Aside from this and similar conveniences the transformation of society into the more amorphous shape of acoustic communication promises to be the most exciting byproduct of the electronic age. Every evolution in communication technology is followed by shifts in cultural design. The Roman Catholic church spread its influence largely through encouraging literacy, the Church subsequently lost much of its influence after Martin Luther used Guttenburg’s printing press to spread Protestantism. Continuing this line of thought, modern communications technologies have attempted to eradicate God altogether, with mixed results thus far.

The future of society, following the shape of acoustic information, will be far less structured and tangible. How this will manifest itself is impossible to predict. You can see with your eyes the byproducts of the literary world’s efficiency, not just in books and posters, but on the industrial floor as well. You cannot see the real byproducts of the electric or digital age - there’s no tangible mental imagery associated with wireless technology. This makes it that much harder to predict the social construction of an acoustic world. The industrial era’s tenet of mass production is already being discarded by present society’s fascination with personalization. Today you can customize your life like never before. You talk to people when and where you want (cell phone, email), you watch television programming when and where you want (TiVo, Video IPods, cell phones), and you listen to whatever you want whenever and wherever you want (IPod.) These are the subtle changes that are going to add up to a reshaped society.

Every new mass communications technology that comes along brings with it an equal capacity for educational, economic, and artistic gain. The book is the best examples of this, propelling all three structures with similar force. Throughout time, communications have been becoming easier, faster, and further reaching and will undoubtedly continue to do so. There is an axiom known as Moore’s Law that asserts that change accelerates constantly and exponentially. The theory has held so far. The impact of this statement on communications is enormous. Our methods of communication go a long way in determining how our society functions. It is critical then to examine our rapidly changing avenues of communication in order to make sense of the corollary changes in our society.