Introduction : the problem of communication. The historicity of communication
The varied senses of "communication"
Sorting theoretical debates in (and via) the 1920s
Technical and therapeutic discourses after World War II. 1. Dialogue and dissemination. Dialogue and eros in the Phaedrus
Dissemination in the synoptic gospels. 2. History of an error : the spiritualist tradition. Christian sources
From matter to mind : "communication" in the seventeenth century
Nineteenth-century spiritualism. 3. Toward a more robust vision of spirit : Hegel, Marx, and Kierkegaard. Hegel on recognition
Marx (versus Locke) on money
Kierkegaard's incognitos.

4. Phantasms of the living, dialogues with the dead. Recording and transmission
Hermeneutics as communication with the dead
Dead letters. 5. The quest for authentic connection, or bridging the chasm. The interpersonal walls of idealism
Fraud or contact? : James on psychical research
Reach out and touch someone : the telephonic uncanny
Radio : broadcasting as dissemination (and dialogue). 6. Machines, animals, and aliens : horizons of incommunicability. The Turing test and the insuperability of eros
Animals and empathy with the inhuman
Communication with aliens. Conclusion : a squeeze of the hand. The gaps of which communication is made
The privilege of the receiver
The dark side of communication
The irreducibility of touch and time.