A History & Evolution of Communication: Verbal, Written, Visual

Originally published on ebrandme.biz November 7, 2019.

These days, we have various methods for communicating. The internet, our cellphones, traditional pen and paper, television, radio and the list goes on. This wasn’t always the case. Early humans had their voice, even before the invention of “language” which is said to comprise of three parts: phonetics, grammar and semantics.

While today we can call up a friend as if we were a guest on the gameshow “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” back then communicating over long distances might’ve taken place in the form of smoke signals, drums, or fires as in the case of Gerolamo Cardano — who suggested that five torches on five towers could be used to spell out letters, with all five beacons figuring in the code as “light” or “dark.” A precursor to binary code.

In today’s post, we’ll explore some of the innovations that came with the evolution of communication.

Communication is mankind’s most important single act. When improperly performed it turns friends into enemies and plunges nations into wars.

— Anonymous

Writing

What we can identify as writing, seems to have evolved around 3000 BC with pictograms in Egypt and Mesopotamia, spoken…