How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
REDUCTION OF OXYGEN CONTENT TO BELOW TWO PARTS PER MILLION WITHIN FIFTY KILOMETERS RADIUS OF SOURCE AFTER DIATOM BLOOM MANIFESTS AEMRUDYCO PEZQEASKL MINOR POLLUTANTS PRESENT IN DEITRICH POLYXTROPE 17A […]. (12.15)
So… Yep, those are words. But we don't know what they mean, and neither does Gordon. And that's a key point to understanding communication in Timescape. If the person receiving the information doesn't have some common ground—be it social, cultural, or even professional—then it can be really hard to communicate more than noise.
Quote #5
There was a blithe certainty that came from first comprehending the full Einstein field equations, arabesques of Greek letters clinging tenuously to the page, a gossamer web. They seemed insubstantial when you first saw them, a string of squiggles. Yet to follow the delicate tensors as they contracted, as the superscripts paired with subscripts, collapsing mathematically into concrete classical entities—potential; mass; forces vectoring in a curved geometry—that was a sublime experience. (15.44)
To answer a question we started this discussion with, yes, mathematical formulas are a form of communication. If you don't understand the language, physics equations look like a bunch of random squiggles—but to the initiated, equations are loaded with ideas and information for consumption.
Quote #6
The bit of playacting with Ramsey had bothered [Gordon] at first, but he realized it was part of dealing with people: you had to adopt their voice, see things from their point of view, if you wanted to communicate at all. Ramsey saw all this as a game with the first message as privileged information, and Shriffer as simply an interloper. Well, for the purposes of Ramsey's universe, so be it. (16.118)
Gordon brings up a pretty good point about communication here. That is, communication is relative to the person receiving the communication. Ramsey hears about the message and assumes spies; Saul hears about it and imagines E.T. trying to phone home.