The spoken word would simply become subject to the same channel constraint that the written word already faces today. A huge amount of conflict and misunderstanding in online discussion stems directly from the fact that sarcasm is very difficult to convey reliably through plain text. (A sarcasm tag would work, of course, but half the point of sarcasm is that the listener&#x2F;reader &quot;gets it&quot;. Indicating that you are about to say&#x2F;write something sarcastic destroys the in-group feeling that comes from being able to recognize and pick up on it.)