language

One core tenet of media is "the more you repeat something, the more people will believe it." This is why we are bombarded with advertising - so that the brand name occupies a larger region of our minds.

Unfortunately, whereas advertising is simply driven by the desire for profit, other applications of media are even less commendable. I am referring to the political uses of media, that have given us among others the first tragedy of the 21st century, 9/11, as the century had just been born.

How does media - the discipline - manage such success?

As an information junkie, one of my favourite pastimes is to think about words that carry more than one meaning. The first word that lit that particular lamp in my brain was "reflection", with meanings related to thought and to physical light. Very soon I formed the following theory/conjecture: those loaded words don't in fact carry more than one meaning! Instead, they refer to processes that occur on different levels of abstraction, but that are similar from an algorithmic point of view.

My friend Islam made this. He once told me his vision of a world language where letters from all alphabets are used. I like that!