30366: Leiderman (viewpoint) re 30358, 30343: communication is more than signal transmission (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leiderman@mindspring.com


11 April 2007

dear Readers:

thanks for the useful information on the various telephone-like services in Haiti and viewpoints on whether and which kind of service is useful and dependable for various purposes.  I have not yet had a satisfactory-quality phone call from Haiti.  the calls have been broken, distorted and lacking in voice quality, and it's not been possible to have a conversation at normal speaking volume.

to me, communications is much more than the mere transmission of a signal.  there's also the content, continuity and quality of transmission.  anyone who's losing their hearing or experiencing a headache or painful trauma knows the difference.  the sight of one's broken toe or burned finger, for instance, does not communicate the danger nearly as well as the nerve-wired receipt of the pain signal from the break or burn.

in my experience, the appearance and preponderance of cell phones have sent our communications values and expectations back to the Stone Age, cell phones now are about where televisions were in the late-1940's.  cell phones are signal generators but they are not yet good communications tools.  I believe they are grossly distorting, distracting and interrupting good human relations.  notwithstanding whether wired phone systems are publicly or privately owned, I would be cautious before adopting a national policy to eliminate or disadvantage them.

I appreciate Dr. Bick's post today about leapfrogging technologies, and I recognize the seeming paradox of poor countries being able to take advantage of centuries of technology development to pick and choose the best one for their needs.  but that's a critical point:  the newest technologies are not always the best.  in the north coast village of Labadie, for instance, I've learned that a new organization called "Vwa Ayiti" has successfully introduced composting toilets.  this is an age-old health- and ecology-friendly technology.  wisely, "Vwa Ayiti" is not installing flush toilets and sewering the town.

clearly, the introduction of new technologies and the abandonment of old ones, especially when it comes to utilities, ought to address the needs of public welfare and security first, not solely the availability of items and the pressures of private market forces that come barging in from everywhere but the grassroots.  need I mention asbestos-cement water pipes?

we have all experienced how corporations and institutions intentionally make certain reliable technologies obsolete for no reason other than their own bottom line or boardroom boredom.  in my opinion, this may not be an "organic response," as Dr. Bick asserts.  real entities such as ecosystems, forests and people exhibit organic responses: they are resilient and reliable by matintaining a variety of ways to accomplish similar functions.  corporations have no such life-support responsibilities or consciousness; they are artificial entities and they change at their whims.  but we are not obligated to bet our lives on them.  on the other hand, we are obligated to the future of ecosystems and, by extension into society, obligated to utilities such as communications, transportation and energy.  that's why they are called utilities.

plus, there seem to be historical connections among utilities that one might consider more organically-developed than suddenly flooding Third World countries with cell phones.  roads, railroads, pipelines, electricity and telephone lines often follow the same paths across the countryside, connecting existing settlements and promoting new ones in propitious locations.  typically, the roads (or canals) facilitated the maintenance of water and sewer lines, phone and electric wires, etc.  conversely the need to maintain them facilitated the keeping of good roads.  to many people, Haiti's poor road system and lack of railroads have retarded the country's health, welfare and economic development.  wholesale adoption of cell phones as a communications utility does not rely on roadways, so at first glance this seems to de-link infrastructure elements rather than interconnect them.  is it for the better or for the worse?  what good, for instance, would a cell-phone powered hurricane warning be if the people of Gonaives can't evacuate their city over passable roads?

certainly, the technology paradox that Dr. Bick rightly brings to mind ought to be scrutinized and then considered in just that light.  paradoxes are mental and social constructions first, they are not natural laws of physics, biology or chemistry until proven so.  if indeed poor Haitians can leapfrog telephone systems, does the paradox hold for roads, e.g. should they travel by helicopters (the cell phone equivalent of automobiles)?  should they defecate in plastic bags (the cell phone equivalent of sewer systems)?  should they flee the country in small boats (the cell phone equivalent of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)?  I'm all ears.

thank you,

Stuart Leiderman
leiderman@mindspring.com

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Paul Bick
Department of Anthropology
The University of Illinois at Chicago
Behavioral Science Building
1007 West Harrison Street M/C 027
Chicago, IL 60607
847-863-8725