Inter Humanity – become aware of the world

The world already managed to create a network which lets us virtually connect to any place we like in realtime. But how far is the individual? Are you ready to get in contact with the world? Are you aware of the world?
Of course we already are using new technologies to communicate but the same problems which have existed forever still exist within the new media. It is the problem of the “sender” and the “recipient” which could basically be interpreted as “What the sender says does not necessarily have to be the same as what the recipient is understand… even if he told you that he understood”. That is because the content of the message does not necessarily have one unique way of interpretation as soon as it is delivered from one individual to another. There are many different aspects which influence the content such as the cultural and social environment of the individual which gives each individual slightly different understandings of one and the same thing. This effect even applies to a couple of people who lived together for a very long period. There is still plenty of room for misinterpretation when doing conversation. And now imagine what the possibilities are if it is not an old couple which is communicating but two almost complete strangers who are having a conversation over the new medium (no matter if it is via skype, icq, msn, irc, email, a forum or a usenet newsgroup).

I guess during my existence I might have offended a lot of people from other cultures, religions and locations just by not caring enough about some simple principles and by acting as if I were talking to other locals living next to my door. The fact is… if you are meeting people from other places on the internet you should remind yourself about the physical distance and on some media of communications you should remind yourself that there is some lack of transporting emotions. Be aware that your conversation partner might read the same line of text which you have written with another emphasis and therefore getting a completely different meaning. He might not be understanding that you are making a joke and get offended. Another thing is that if you are both communicating in a language which is not the native language of any of you there are many possibilities for misinterpretation too. Try to imagine what the result of my thoughts in German, written down in English could mean to a Japanese. There is plenty of space for wrong translation and unintended offense. This actually really can do serious harm to inter cultural relationships. A common German phrase translated into another language could mean something really offensive for the other person. And then there is the cultural aspect as well. What if the other person gets offended by that very phrase and the culture of your conversation partner prohibits to talk about that condition. There are many things which are well accepted in one culture but are seen as really rude in another culture.

Surely I do not have the one perfect solution and answer which fits to every problem the current communication connectivity is causing but let us find useful approaches together. This is how far I came until now (please share your opinion with me by using the comment form on the bottom of the page):

I would define the concept of inter humanity as the goal to get along with each other (in both – the virtual and the real world) without doing any (physical or psychical) harm to each other.

The concept is based on two main columns: RESPECT and KNOWLEDGE.
• “Respect” stands for the endeavor of tolerating others and their opinions and therefore be accepted by others without conditions.
• “Knowledge” stands for teaching others but also to learn new things. It also can be translated into a concept of free information sharing which represents a constant taking and giving of information.

And then there are some basic rules of thumb which apply to the most dangerous topics (which even caused most of histories wars):
Religion, Politic, Cultural values, etc…
Everybody should be able to talk about those topics and everybody shall be able to explain his thoughts to others. But he should also pay attention to some limitations. Do not force anybody to talk about a topic he does refuses to talk about. Do accept other opinions and beliefs and do not try to convert others. You can have discussions but it is not about “winning” or “losing” a discussion. Just share your opinions in peace.
We have to accept the fact that there are other point of views as well which are the truth too in their respective environments. We should not try to convince by violence. We should use a certain culture of discussion to solve conflicts. And one important thing (which I constantly have to remind myself of and which really is hard to follow all the time) is that we should open up for the ideas and opinions of others. Maybe our own point of view is not fully correct either. I have often erred myself and it was not always easy to admit that I was wrong. But it gives a good feeling to realize that nobody can know everything. Everybody can be a teacher for someone.

So far so good. There are still plenty of things on my mind but I will stop for now and wait for other opinions and comments. Maybe it was just bullshit what I just wrote down… we will see.