Benjamin Jon

Professor Smajda

Writing and Rhetoric

October 2020

Project Proposal: Sending and Receiving Messages

A communication barrier that arises when we communicate with others is the Curse of Knowledge, the “cognitive bias that causes people to fail to account for the fact that others don’t know the same things that they do.” The Curse of Knowledge leads to data loss when we attempt to share messages with others. This communication barrier inhibits effective communication as messages that are being sent lose data as it transfers from one person to another. In my upcoming major assignment, I plan on discussing this problem that is causing a barrier in communication, its causes, effects, and how we can solve it. My method for expressing my topic will be in the form of a traditional academic paper, as it allows me to deliver my message in a structured format as precisely as possible.

The barrier of communication I am introducing involves the loss of data in messages as they travel from senders to receivers. When a computer transfers files and information with other computers, its job is to deliver exact copies of the files needed to be transferred. A computer can transfer files quickly and effectively, and the chances of a file failing to be copied exactly are very slim. However, when humans communicate, there is always a loss of data from the sender to the receiver. The intended construct that a human communicator wants to send to a human receiver will not be displayed exactly from the sender to the receiver. When a message is communicated between humans, it is prone to miscommunication— whether it be from misinterpretation, failure to receive the message or failure to retain the message. I will address the causes of this communication barrier (e.g. receiver cannot understand the language, the receiver does not have adequate comprehension skills), its effects (e.g. what happens to listeners who cannot understand the messages), and the solutions for this communication barrier (e.g. increasing empathy).

When thinking about the prompt for this research paper, I thought of a quote from Elon Musk, who once said “I think having a high bandwidth interface to the brain [is extremely important], we are currently bandwidth limited.” He introduced to me the idea that our minds have a high input bandwidth when extracting information from the world, but when we communicate, we are trying to pass large amounts of information through an output that has low bandwidth (e.g. using only two fingers to text). I understood that human’s abilities to input information in our brains are much higher than our abilities to output them and communicate information through messages to others. This led to me thinking of communication as the transferring of data between entities. A computer can transfer information and keep it in its original form, a 100% exact copy, but a human cannot. Unlike a computer, when a human communicates with another, there will always be some lost or misinterpreted information. My work with explaining the causes, effects, and solutions of this communication barrier can be useful for people who want to overcome it. Whenever we communicate, we suffer from this unbreakable communication barrier, but we can make its effects less drastic if we understand why it occurs and the effects of it on communication.

Most of my research will come from online databases like the SUNY New Paltz Library search or articles from browsing the web. I will need to cite articles or studies that explain why people do not want to listen to communicators or what makes a communicator ineffective in spreading their ideas. I am also going to use articles that explain and apply the Curse of Knowledge in communication. Since my work will be in the format of an academic essay, I will be sure to include more sources that back up my claims.

This project will help me explore to understand the barrier of communication that inhibits our daily communication. I found the idea of poor data retention through communication mediums a very interesting topic and writing about the subject helps me clearly draw out the concept. I look forward to writing this research paper and develop a claim backed by evidence and analysis.