15  The Signal-to-Noise Ratio

15.1 Key Message

đź‘Ť Fine-tuning communication models

Like Data Science, Func Comm is concerned with optimisation, minimisation and the Signal-to-Noise ratio.

Fundamentally, communication just means that we have some message to transmite.g. we transmit a thought in our brain so that it can be recreated in someone else’s brain.

  • Imagine ordering food, the waiter needs to receive your desired order in their head.
  • For the most part this is unambiguous and although mistakes happen, they are rare.
  • Thus we move a piece of information from one form, our brain, to another form, our partner’s brain.

  • Unfortunately, the waiter can’t read our mind, and we can’t implant our thoughts in their head, so we need an intermediate form:

15.1.1 Communication is translation among forms.

  • We translate the thought in our head to speech. the waiter translates the words they hear to a thought in their head.
  • This is the process of encoding & decoding.

15.1.2 There are many forms and many modes of translation.

  • We have three forms here: two thought forms and one oral form.
  • The encoding mode is speaking and the decoding mode is listening.
  • Speaking is the act of translating (encoding) thought to speech.
  • Listening is the act of translating (decoding) speech to thought.

  • If the communication is immediate, then the transition form is typically temporary and short-lived.
  • When the intermediate form is last longer, or can be cataloged at a later date, it becomes the target form itself.
  • Imagine a text

  • If the communication is immediate, then the transition form is typically temporary and short-lived
  • When the intermediate form is last longer, or can be cataloged at a later date, it becomes the target form itself.
  • Imagine a text that will be read as some undetermined time in the future

15.1.3 Mode follows form.

The choice of mode is limited.

  • First, by the origin form. i.e. not all modes apply to all forms.
  • Second, by the target form. i.e. which is the most appropriate mode to achieve the target form.

Depending on the target, many modes of translation may be used simultaneously