If you pocket dial someone and that person assumes you are talking to them, all that happens can only be understood as communication. It belongs to its realm and rules of its reproduction. If you call someone and that person ignores it, because "you are that pocket dialing guy", there is no communication to be continued or observed.

And that's why Luhmann postulates that communication begins at understanding, not with some message or information. The very differentiation of the latter depends on understanding: that you are hearing responses independent from the mere sound that happens to be transmitted - and not observe some ringing sound that is just that, noise in your pocket.

#Luhmann #Sociology #Communication #Systemstheory