I find there’s another dimension to communication efficiency which is nothing to do with cramming information into bits, but rather is about working with a clos

I find there’s another dimension to communication efficiency which is nothing to do with cramming information into bits, but rather is about working with a close-knit group. What does it mean to be a close-knit group? When you spend a lot of time working, training or living together, you tune into each other’s frequency. You know what they are doing and how they are doing it. You each build a mental model of the others. You can focus contact time on the out-of-model communication that really matters. You can start to make accurate assumptions about what they are thinking. (This is infinite communication efficiency: information transmitted via zero bits!). It’s like a kind of compression where your experiences together build a pre-shared dictionary - which of course is exactly what a written language is; this is a further optimization through customization. I’ve seen this kind of “co-experience-bond” communication happen in small teams in the workplace, and I’ve heard third-hand about it emerging in military squads. And of course my wife and I can communicate across a room with a look and an eyebrow.