Mindscapes And Internet-mediated Communication

Cultures are considered to be epistemologically heterogeneous, and it is assumed that epistemologically similar individuals exist across distinct cultures. Epistemological type is viewed as prior to, and transcendent of, nationality and culture. IdentifYing a shared epistemological basis for communication will be more likely to succeed in dialogical contexts where conformity to prevailing national stereotypes may fail. Two levels of communication are distinguished using Bohm's terms explicate: (conformity to social and cultural symbolic norms and conventions) and implicate: (the level at which implicit communicative intention originates). Cyberspatial interactions potentially undermine normative cultural influences and permit multicultural or transcultural environments in which new codes extending from epistemological types, (rather than cultural) become possible, limited only by media potential and symbolisation itself. A theory with implications for an alternative to the homogenization of verbal communication is advanced, with a consideration of potential elements of codes for universal understandings.