Mis-communication

Where, When and How do we start to go wrong? Gregory Bateson, on whose thinking a great deal of NLP is based, maintained that dealing with other people is about as predictable as playing snooker with mice. In other words, given the laws of physics, one can more or less predict what a snooker ball will do when struck in a certain way; whereas, if we substitute live mice for the balls, no amount of physics is going to help. My granddaughter, Charlie, just two, has a means of communication that is entirely unambiguous. 'Danma, tome on!' accompanied by a beckoning hand, elicits the response of a following grandmother. 'Up!' accompanied by raised arms, produces a lift in the direction she is facing, and further pointing and commands refine the positioning until the desired outcome is achieved. On this occasion, standing on the worktop by the bread bin. The lid is removed, and 'Mummy bread' is drawn to Grandma's attention, by way of explanation, and then discarded. 'Ducks!' is the comment attached to the bread in the bottom of the bin. This is extracted, followed by 'Down!' And Grandma's next task is to equip both of us for a trip to the park to feed the ducks. This is all so pure and simple, that my question - because I believe that most of the problems in the world are caused by miscommunication - is: when, how and why does it all start to go wrong?