On Systems Communicability

Abstract

The article examines the fundamental mechanisms that make communication between living beings possible, focusing primarily on human interaction through acoustic and visual channels based on physical activity. It argues that any effective communication system must rely on signals that can be generated and perceived by all members of a species, which requires that communication alphabets be defined in relative, rather than absolute, physical terms. Using speech as a central example, the article discusses how phonemes are encoded through articulatory movements and proposes that perception occurs through internal reconstruction of these movements. This view aligns with the motor theory of perception, according to which understanding speech involves activating the same motor patterns used to produce it. Extending this principle, the paper suggests that recognition in other domains—such as handwriting, visual forms, and schematic drawings—can also be understood as the reconstruction or imitation of the processes that generated the observed objects. Handwritten letters are interpreted as traces of pen movements rather than static images, and geometric forms can be recognized by modeling their generative construction. More broadly, perception in music, dance, and sports is linked to internal imitation of movements, with richer motor experience leading to deeper and more emotional understanding. Farther the article explores communication in animals, emphasizing that differences in physical organization lead to different communication languages and perceptual worlds. Mutual understanding across species is therefore limited unless signals are adapted to the motor capabilities of each species. The article concludes that imitation and the formation of connections between motor acts and sensory patterns play a central role in learning, perception, and communication across domains