On ambiguity in communication see Adler 1972, p. 96-97.
In any society, at the root of any goal alignment problem is the language and its interpretation by various people.
A good example of that is all discussions around gender and identity. We often hear people building argumentation by discussing what men and women should do, or how we can self-identify as a man or a woman.
But few people are framing what is actually a man or a woman at its core.
Then, people can't understand each other, as they can refer to any of the following:
- Chromosomes and baseline science
- Behaviours
- Identity
- Roles in family and/or society
- And so on.
Before arguing for or against any hot topic, we should first make sure we're aligned on the terms we'll use to discuss the problem.
Cf. [[Is it a linguistic problem?]]