Transduction plays a large role in making measurements, such as the speed of your car. Therefore, it’s important to note that when taking any measurement there’s an associated uncertainty. For example, you can use a ruler to determine a bar is 5.25 inches long. Using a set of calipers you find the bar is 5.2445 inches long. Which number is correct? The calipers, they have a higher degree of accuracy? No, both measurements are wrong. Using the ruler, with divisions at every 1/16th of an inch, the measurement is 5.25 +/- .06 inches. Likewise the micrometer’s measurement is 5.2445 +/- .005 inches. These measurements do not contradict each other like the previous set: they are both correct. Any number, especially statistical data, is meaningless unless it has an attached uncertainty. This uncertainty is affected by the transduction methods and thus the transducer.
Forgive me, I majored in mechanical engineering. But wait, I’m not lying to you with my title: this is surprisingly relevant to culture and the role it plays in all our lives. Transduction isn’t limited to the scientific world. It is involved in any instance where an input of one kind is converted. Replace that speedometer in my first example with the words that I’m typing, now. They started out as thoughts in my head: a combination of things I’ve learned from different sources. They’ve gotten mixed up, rearranged and combined. That is the first level of transduction. They were combined into a new thought that I contemplated for some time. They were written on paper, another level of transduction: the transformation of thoughts into handwritten words. Then they were read over and critiqued for accuracy as I thought, “Are these words clearly expressing my thoughts?” They were edited accordingly, transduction again. I typed them into my computer and again ran through the editing process. Finally, you are reading and converting my words into information, thoughts, opinions, and ideas inside of your own head: the final layer of transduction.
Your thoughts are not identical to my original thoughts. This is what is lost in the transduction process; this is the associated uncertainty. I can only hope that you get a “good enough” impression of what I’m trying to explain. There was an element of uncertainty in the words I originally wrote down; each layer of transduction affected the uncertainty. The more you know about my writing style and me in general (the transducers at work here), the better you will understand my thoughts and the lesser the uncertainty. The more I know about my readers, the more I can anticipate their reaction to my words; the more I can control the thoughts that enter their head while reading. Knowing your audience is the first step when writing: it enables you to adjust your transduction methods and reduce uncertainty.
Communication is a transduction process. Our words, verbal and written alike, are transducers – transferring my ideas to yours. Culture is a transducer: it filters everything we interpret. Behaviors seen as polite in some cultures are seen as rude in others. Despite the same input our cultural transduction systems output opposite responses.
This extends much farther than culture. This is the key to understanding what people feel, why they feel that way, and how they communicate.
Human transduction is specific to each individual, but an understanding at the cultural level is the first step to being able to understand individuals, and more importantly yourself.
“So why study foreign culture?” is a naïve question. You may as well ask: “Why would you learn how to speak?” or “Why would you learn how to read?”
This extends much farther than culture. This is the key to understanding what people feel, why they feel that way, and how they communicate.
Human transduction is specific to each individual, but an understanding at the cultural level is the first step to being able to understand individuals, and more importantly yourself.
“So why study foreign culture?” is a naïve question. You may as well ask: “Why would you learn how to speak?” or “Why would you learn how to read?”
Nowadays is very important to know about different culture specially because many people travel from differents country. When we have some knowledge about the cultures we can understand better the people and we can understand ourselve in a simple way, and is easy to forget any taboo that impide the enjoyment of our life.
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Well said, Kimberly. Even those who are more self absorbed and who don't care about others, they can still benefit by taking the time to learn about another culture. Like you said, it can help us to understand ourselves.
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