# reply (communication)

a message that is sent after one receives a message

- Computed level: L9 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: communication  ·  Arena: reply

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [message](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-message.information), [receive](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-receive.communication), [send](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-send.communication), [time](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-time.dimension)

**Through:** When a message is received and then a new message is sent in response, a reply is produced.

**Novel properties:**
- response dependency
- temporal ordering
- sequential linkage

## Examples
- In 2023, NASA received a signal from Voyager 1 after a 20-hour delay, then transmitted a corrective command. *(space)*
- After the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak, WikiLeaks posted responses to incoming media inquiries for three weeks. *(politics)*
- When the thermostat detects a temperature drop, it sends a reply signal to activate the furnace. *(engineering)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reply.communication*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reply.communication.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*