Auto communication

The term was introduced by Yu. M. Lotman in the article “On Two Models of Communication in the Culture System” (1973). According to Lotman, communication is carried out through at least two channels arranged in different ways - in accordance with the two possible directions of message transmission. The first, most common, is the direction “I-OH” (where “I” is the addressee, and “OH” is the addressee). When transmitting a message, it is assumed that the addressee knows something unknown to the addressee. The second direction is auto-communication; this is the direction of "I-Z".

Auto-communication may seem paradoxical, but this type of communication is quite common and plays an important role in culture. The “I” address in the case of such communication is equated to a third party. In contrast to the “I-OH” direction, in which information moves in space, in the case of auto-communication, the message moves in time. Lotman is primarily interested in the case when the transmission of information does not perform a mnemonic, but a different cultural function: the value of auto-communication is that the message transmitted in this way becomes more significant, the transmitted information does not become redundant. The message takes on a new meaning due to the fact that it is recoded, a new code is introduced. As a result, the addressee (he is the addressee) is transformed, which does not happen when the information is transferred to a third party.

Information is transmitted through the “I-Z” channel when the subject addresses himself and texts and texts. It can be diary entries, an autobiography, reading your own text. Lotman also calls autocommunication a process when an external situation (for example, environmental sounds) affects the subject’s internal monologue - additional external codes rebuild the verbal message. The same situation occurs when a writer reads his own text not in draft form, but in print. ^[1] By transmitting information to itself, the recipient internally restructures his essence, since the essence of the personality can be interpreted as an individual set of significant codes for communication, and this set changes in the process of auto-communication. ^[2]

Lotman's concept becomes especially significant in the philosophy of postmodernism . Many key concepts for postmodernism (first of all, deconstruction and death of the author ) can be described as being implemented in the mode of auto-communication, through it. ^{[3] [4]}

In the essentially autocommunicative book “Roland Barth on Roland Bart”, first published in 1975, the philosopher calls his contemporary society a society of senders:

“I live in a company of senders (which I myself am): everyone with whom I meet or who writes to me sends me some book, text, report, prospectus, letter of protest, invitation to a performance or exhibition, etc. On all sides, rushing enjoys writing, production; and since this system is commercial, then free production is also experiencing crises, sharp fluctuations and panic; As a rule, texts and spectacles tend to where there is no demand for them; to their misfortune, they do not meet any friends, much less partners, but only “acquaintances”; as a result, this collective ejaculation of writing, in which one could see the utopian scene of a free society (where pleasure circulates without the help of money), today seems like the end of the world. ” ^[5]

R. Bart describes a situation where two models of communication mix. The situation described has intensified over time, and now it is not always possible to distinguish communication from auto-communication. Auto-communication has transformed - the addressee does not need the addressees (the addressee is himself), but witnesses. That is, auto-communication is no longer self-valuable without witnesses, without having the external features of “I-OH” communication. But the message may not find a witness, since everyone is absorbed in the dispatch process.

In postmodern culture , autocommunicative processes are particularly pronounced, since ideas about the particular transform, the person’s life becomes more open. If earlier autocommunication manifested itself mainly in forms that really addressed the message recipient, now autocommunication uses channels created for communication according to the “I-OH” model (for example, social networks).

Modern culture, due to the development of technologies that facilitate the communication of the subject with himself, as well as the accentuation of the subject on himself, is auto-communicative. In this regard, the concept of auto-communication is inevitably expressed in the works of mass culture. For example, the movie "Loafer" (Slacker, 1991) is entirely dedicated to auto-communication. The entire film consists of monologues of many characters. At the same time, the monologue makes one character, moving around the city, and the speech with which he speaks to another or another has all the features of auto-communication. “OH” is not the addressee of the message. Having finished his speech, the character is deleted, and then, as a rule, the previously silent listener becomes the new addressee of the message, addressing the speech to another (but essentially to himself).

The term "auto-communication" is even mentioned in reviews of this film:

“This is a plotless plot illustrating the fascination with auto-communication. There are practically no moments in the film, with the exception of plot peripheral gluings, where the scenario hero would remain alone and completely silent - outside of permanent symbolic work, out of concern for some symbolic discourse. Either talkative companies, or chirping couples, or silent auto-communication, an intense monologue with oneself. Even ordinary everyday activities, like going for coffee or a newspaper, are overgrown with current communication and become its appendage. Here lives, reigns, communicativeness dominates. And strange, skillfully and keenly chosen, fictitious dialogs only lead away from this fundamental involvement in the communication process itself. Involvement ... not even in the procedures of transmitting information, emotional stroking of the interlocutor, but in the process of speaking - everyday “magical”, extremely self-centered, articulating a kind of “self,” personal authenticity. ” ^[6]

Autocommunication in the works of mass culture is not necessarily related to the theme of technology or takes on the features of communication with others, as in the film "Loafer". The motive for a split personality, when the “I” address is perceived as a third party, is often found in modern art - for example, in the book “Fight Club” and its adaptation . The protagonist is transformed through a meeting and communication with the determined Tyler Durden, whose philosophy is manifested in action. As a result, the main character understands that Tyler can only be stopped by killing himself, while not realizing that Tyler is himself.