The ability for individuals and groups to communicate and carry on a conversation has been dramatically transformed by personal computing/memory devices, easy to use software, and the Internet. For example, consumer communications have evolved over the past twenty years from almost solely using land-based home phone lines for verbal communications and discussions to mobile phone devices which enable both verbal communications and the use of written words as messages in the form of text messages or electronic mail. In this interconnected Internet world, verbal communication is taking a back seat to software that manipulates words enabling text and email messaging. In this new abbreviated-text, quick-phrase Internet world, meaning can be lost, or the electronic message can be easily misinterpreted.
Since the evolution of written communications, natural language words have dominated communication and dialogue, while descriptive pictures have been used to provide ad hoc insertions to words and stories. Even in the current electronic digital age of the Internet, natural language words dominate dialogue, as witnessed by the almost universal use of email and the more recent explosion of text messaging on computers and cell phones.
The continued investment in (1) advanced computer processor and memory technology with the vast manipulation capabilities they provide, and (2) the electronic communication networks that carry the message from one computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), cell phone, or other electronic device to another computer, PDA, cell phone, or other electronic device is the modern day equivalent to investment in the word printing press. More and more efficient natural language word communication is happening at electron speed to instantly connect one user to another user almost anywhere in the world. Yet, the understandable meaning being conveyed may be confused, as words do not always carry enough information for full meaning. For example, when a user texts “Bring home an apple for me,” it is not all that clear what type of apple that the user wants: red/green, small/large, juicy/dry, sweet/sour, etc, so the apple that the user gets may not be the one that the user wanted.