Did you catch our short exchange on communication and how Andy weaves the necessity of learning communication techniques into his stories? While he didn’t do it on purpose, I think it’s so well done. And since communication, or lack thereof, has been on my mind a lot lately, it’s been particularly impactful. Like Mark Watney in The Martian, or Ryland Grace in Project Hail Mary, we as a society have simply got to start communicating better with each other. And I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, wow, Dan, your segue sucks. It does. I get it, but this has been bothering me so much lately. I look at Twitter or Facebook since returning from my military deployment and it makes me so incredibly sad. Sometimes angry too! No one is actually communicating. Or at least we seldom are. We are simply yelling soundbites at each other. We are not going to get to a middle ground if this is what we continue doing. Take the lasting effects of COVID-19 as an example. I have struggled with each mandate, scientific report, political argument, and Twitter post that has gone public. In so many cases, it’s just us arguing with each other. I know what I feel about it, but sometimes it isn’t worth voicing my opinions because I’ll just incite a hailstorm on social media. It’s infuriating. The interesting thing about communication is that it’s different in person than it is online. In person, where there’s a real chance that an argument can come to blows, a person might think twice about the level of aggression he shows. In an online argument, there are no such concerns. Furthermore, I rarely know the people I am friends with online. Sure, particularly with Facebook, I have at least met the person and some are even old friends or family. On Twitter, however, I rarely know the people I’m interacting with. I’m working on that of course, but it’s a process. And Twitter is where the real clash happens. But that’s not how it is in real life. I’m constantly amazed by how many times I can drive or walk down the street, or sit for a meal at work or at a restaurant, or interact with people in my social circles, which include many ethnic and economic backgrounds, and not get into an argument. Or, if a discussion turns sideways, we can at least find a way to realize we’re not getting anywhere and back down. Interacting in real life, with flesh and blood people, instead of online personalities and people hiding behind their keyboards, is completely different. Yet both situations require communication. Indeed, both situations are communication. Online communication just has, in my opinion, a chance to go sideways so much faster. Another example comes from my personal background. As a man of the Christian faith, I’ve seen this too often. We honestly do a horrible job of communicating how we feel about a situation, particularly those Christians who tend to see the devil behind every bush. Even in my own heart though, I’ve found myself spouting off on my keyboard, typing as fast as I can think, and sometimes faster. When that happens, we hit the enter key, usually with gusto, before we’ve even stopped to consider who the other person is. A real, live, person who exists and shares the same air I breathe. Someone my scriptures tell me to care for and about. Now, I can’t help it if someone gets offended at what I say in the normal process of communication. Perhaps the other person is just as ready to be angry as I am. Often that’s the case. And perhaps the other person has been burned by Christianity before. But on the whole, I’ve found that if I can just keep calm, and sometimes keep my mouth shut (re: fingers off the keyboard), I can usually have a civil discord. I don’t know if it’s too late for us as a society to go back to communicating freely and respectfully. It will be my goal to find ways to communicate my message with respect. What I have to say will undoubtedly upset people at times, but I hope I will be able to build the level of trust in you, my listener, so that if I do offend you, we can still work past it. Mark Watney figured out how to communicate with NASA and Ryland Grace figured out how to communicate with an alien species. We’re all humans with lots of brain power. We can figure this out too. Thank you for listening to my concerns. To get updates in your inbox, including other commentary posts and news, click HERE to sign up for the Coffee in Space Podcast newsletter.