Some say the art of conversation is compromised.
How can the art of conversation be compromised when there are, on average, 15 billion telephone calls, 40 billion SMS text messages and 10 billion emails sent each day worldwide?
Each call, message, and letter is part of humanity's conversations. Surely the art of conversation cannot be compromised when it is estimated humans say more words in one day now than they said in an entire year 800 years ago.
We as humans thrive in a social and emotionally stimulating environment structured around communicating with each other.
Conversations make us laugh, cry, feel intimidated, happy, depressed, confused and intelligent.
We are the only animal on Earth that speaks in a concise oral way dominated by language. We are amazing!But it wasn't always like this.
In fact, in only one 10th of man's existence have we been able to communicate so successfully.
The art of conversation began when people started to experiment. More than a million years ago man adopted the meat diet and what a good choice that was.
Over the next 500,000 years the human brain doubled in size and we got smarter.
The development of oral language in humans enabled us to migrate in numbers to greener pastures.
They could do this because they universally understood each other's intentions, emotions and actions.
Compared with modern times, their conversation was compromised because, more than ever, they lacked the ability to record and document it.
In ways we cannot even imagine, humans struggled to communicate.
Fast-forward 45,000 years and the human race developed even further. Humans had developed adequate tools and knowledge to read and write.
This allowed almost permanent records of language, events and stories that can be accessed by many.
Books, letters and scripts emerged and became part of everyday life for some.
But elements of sophisticated conversation were still lacking.
The lack of language features, punctuation and even a structured language format were absent.
Even though this was a huge breakthrough in conversation, it was still compromised.
Moving forward through time again, through the writing of the First Testament and later the Bible, through the epic writings of William Shakespeare and into the 20th century.
In 1900, humans had spread globally and their population stood at two billion.
They spoke about 6000 different languages, some by millions, others by hundreds.
Yet all attempted to live in unity. Compromised?
Yes, but in a different manner than before.
Now people were misunderstood. Instead of the languages of conversation being simple, they were overdeveloped and complicated.
Fourteen years later, World War 1 broke out and the most rapid advancement in technological communications occurred - Morse code, telegrams, telephones, photographs and film became part of conversations across the world.
All 6000 different languages were catered for through technology, and brought humans closer together again.
In the new millennia, we are surrounded by communication technology that aids day-to-day conversation.
Telephones outnumber humans 20 to one and worldwide access to the internet and computers is growing rapidly.
People incorporate video-conferencing into workplaces and homes.
Even to have an online instant message conversation is a skill that is now necessary in our lives and never even thought of 20 years ago.
Looking ahead to the future, towards further development in conversation technology we can expect to see affordable hologram-based devices in homes world-wide in the next 10 to 15 years.
A conversation with somebody 3000km away just got a lot closer.
Yet the traditional method of oral speech conversation still remains as effective as ever.
We know that successful everyday lives depend on successful conversation that is face to face. This will never change.
History has shown us humans are sociable animals that thrive in numbers, and can communicate effectively.
How can the art of conversation be compromised if the 20 years ending 2020 is the communication era?
From 50,000 years ago and the first conversations, to the conversations today, evidence suggests the art of conversation is alive and here to stay.
By GED FINCH
Year 12, Dunstan High School
