Wiio's Laws of Communications

A blast from the past. These "laws" come from a book called, "The Official Explanations," published in 1980.

1. Communication usually fails -- except by chance. Corollary: If you are satisfied that your communication is bound to succeed, then the communication is bound to fail.
2. If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood in just the way that does the most harm.
3. There is always somebody who knows better than you what you meant by your message.
4. The more communication there is, the more difficult it is for communication to succeed. Corollary: The more communication there is, the more difficult it is for communication to succeed. Corollary: The more communication there is, the more misunderstanding will occur.
5. In mass communication it is not important how things are; the important thing is how things seem to be.
6. The importance of a news item is inversely correlated with the square of the distance.

Compiled by Prof. Wiio, Director of the Institute for Communications Research, University of Helsinki.