ABSTRACT

The chapter discusses the role of time in communication and why time enjoys a special status in communication theory. Special attention is paid to the ‘Signs of the Time’, i.e., anything that captures meaning and preserves it through time, and also to ‘Telling a Tale’, i.e., how people have dealt with time through the ages by creating certain signs. Four stages are identified and discussed in detail: the Tribal Stage of Homo loquens (‘Speaking Man’); the Traditional Stage of Homo Scriptor (‘Writing Man’); the Modern Stage of Homo Vestigium (‘Searching Man’); and the (Re)Tribal Stage of Homo Nodus (‘Man as a network node’).