In 1926, Nikola Tesla wrote:
Now the majority of the ills from which humanity suffers are due to the divergence of meanings and values in fractured, culture-specific languages. The instantaneous connectivity over large distances makes our inability to understand one another clear, the Tower of Babel is fundamental.
Tesla was right about the benefits of “virtually eliminating distance,” but we aren’t even close to realizing the potential of this view, which is only possible to achieve in the context of increasing shared understanding. This unrealized upside should be a source of hope. We are talking about a new technical problem that most people are unaware of, innovators included. Just look at the lack of social media tools even pretending to address this.
Technology is the first phase. Breaking down the distance-based barriers and allowing subcultures from every corner of the world to communicate with one another instantly. The second phase is semantic, meaning the full benefits Tesla imagined are still far from realized and depend on a revolution that will reduce the rate at which people talk past one another.