Communication

Summary

Dominique Pagani starts from etymology: in "communication" there is "common." Communicating presupposes something that goes beyond singularity, if only language or the code1. As long as people communicate, they do not fight; denying this common ground means the war of each against all2. From this he draws a critique of the present: never have there been so many means of communicating, nor so many words that fail to reach their destination3, and capital's dream is to isolate each person in their own bubble4. He links this modern theme of the lost message to the voice trapped in the throat in Baudelaire and to Kafka's messenger5, and illustrates it with the signal-to-noise ratio of information theory. He sees no contradiction between the unique and the shareable, even though the common code requires leaving behind part of what is one's own6. He distinguishes programmed animal communication, such as the bee dance, from language. He locates the first communication in the nurturing voice, which is also the first political relation between power and powerlessness.

1. 1#2.2 Between crisis and war: philosophising?15 Feb 2016 · 1:21:21
2. 2Is history a subject?9 Mar 2017 · 1:02:34
3. 3#2.2 Between crisis and war: philosophising?15 Feb 2016 · 5:37
4. 4#4 Nomad and sedentary: the case of Nerval4 Oct 2021 · 39:57
5. 5#5.9 Kafka, “An Imperial Message”29 Jul 2019 · 9:53
6. 6Polymorphously perverse Mozart1 Jun 2022 · 6:37

Summary produced automatically from 12 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.