Who needs to read anymore???--a jumble of random thoughts
Have you ever wondered...are we becoming a readerless society? Is the written language being forced into obscelesence by the influx of new data storage and retrieval methods. Is our society becoming ever more video and audio oriented?
What does all of this say about our future? Is it good or bad?
I know the questions seem endless, maybe even pointless, but somehow I can't help but wonder. To me learning to read was like breaking a code or solving a puzzle. The alphabet was my key to knowledge, to the worlds of other peoples imaginations. With it I was able to unlock the door to a boundless plane filled with creations, discoveries and possibilities enough even to keep my bottomless curiosity sustained and constantly coming back for more.
And so it puzzles me when I realize how many people I know, my age and younger, who will not pick up a book, paper or electronic, and read unless they absolutely have to. It's not that they have anything against reading, at least not so far as I can tell. They can read. They google information when they must. They simply don't see the point in reading something as thick as a novel or a history tome, when they can get the same or similar information from a movie or audio source. I see a future coming when even these sources will seem outdated, when all you will have to do to acquire knowledge on a subject is step up to a vending machine, speak what you want, slide your atm card (or whatever form of currency we are then using) and receive an injection of Sherlock Holmes best know tales or Einsteins Theory of Relativity directly into your brain. No learning or reading required. You will simply know.
And I wonder, is this progress? Is this really such a bad thing? Would I be among the first to step up and try this new fangled device or would I be sitting back among the old fogies who are reading their bound paper books and their e-books, wondering what the heck is wrong with the kids these days? How could they have forgotten their alphabet? Do they still know what magic and imagination are? Can they still think for themselves? Will they still be able to discover and learn, to invent? Or will all knowledge simply have become an imprinted process, and all genious and determination have been irradicated?
The questions seem simple enough and redundant, but they are not necessarily easy to answer. There have been societies (cultures?) on our world that did not have written forms of communication. (Sorry, I didn't have time to google it, so I don't have an example.) What did their old-timers think when the kids came home and said, the heck with all this story telling and verbal history. How can you possibly expect us to remember everything you say. If we write it down, we don't have to remember. We can just look it up later.
Would the reaction of the older members of that society, a society that was gaining a written language, really be all that different from their counterparts in ours, a society that may well be losing written language, albeit very slowly. And are we really losing anything, or is it simply becoming archaic. The knowledge is still there. It is still being stored. We can still look it up when we need it. Maybe, we're just growing up and progressing on to yet another higher level in our mental evolution--leaving behind a tool, a crutch, that was only a temporary bandage and is no longer needed.
What does all of this say about our future? Is it good or bad?
I know the questions seem endless, maybe even pointless, but somehow I can't help but wonder. To me learning to read was like breaking a code or solving a puzzle. The alphabet was my key to knowledge, to the worlds of other peoples imaginations. With it I was able to unlock the door to a boundless plane filled with creations, discoveries and possibilities enough even to keep my bottomless curiosity sustained and constantly coming back for more.
And so it puzzles me when I realize how many people I know, my age and younger, who will not pick up a book, paper or electronic, and read unless they absolutely have to. It's not that they have anything against reading, at least not so far as I can tell. They can read. They google information when they must. They simply don't see the point in reading something as thick as a novel or a history tome, when they can get the same or similar information from a movie or audio source. I see a future coming when even these sources will seem outdated, when all you will have to do to acquire knowledge on a subject is step up to a vending machine, speak what you want, slide your atm card (or whatever form of currency we are then using) and receive an injection of Sherlock Holmes best know tales or Einsteins Theory of Relativity directly into your brain. No learning or reading required. You will simply know.
And I wonder, is this progress? Is this really such a bad thing? Would I be among the first to step up and try this new fangled device or would I be sitting back among the old fogies who are reading their bound paper books and their e-books, wondering what the heck is wrong with the kids these days? How could they have forgotten their alphabet? Do they still know what magic and imagination are? Can they still think for themselves? Will they still be able to discover and learn, to invent? Or will all knowledge simply have become an imprinted process, and all genious and determination have been irradicated?
The questions seem simple enough and redundant, but they are not necessarily easy to answer. There have been societies (cultures?) on our world that did not have written forms of communication. (Sorry, I didn't have time to google it, so I don't have an example.) What did their old-timers think when the kids came home and said, the heck with all this story telling and verbal history. How can you possibly expect us to remember everything you say. If we write it down, we don't have to remember. We can just look it up later.
Would the reaction of the older members of that society, a society that was gaining a written language, really be all that different from their counterparts in ours, a society that may well be losing written language, albeit very slowly. And are we really losing anything, or is it simply becoming archaic. The knowledge is still there. It is still being stored. We can still look it up when we need it. Maybe, we're just growing up and progressing on to yet another higher level in our mental evolution--leaving behind a tool, a crutch, that was only a temporary bandage and is no longer needed.
2 Comments:
I don't think we will lose the written word completely, but books may become more of an "art" form, like performance art, even -- a presentation you cannot alter, but view and then interact with friends about it. Non-fiction will become entirely interactive, I suspect.
Wow! Haven't seen you in a while. Welcome.
Whatever happens, it will be interesting to see. At least I hope that I am around to see some of the changes.
I was also thinking the other day that publishers, as we know them today, may become nearly extinct. That most authors will have to go the way of the artist and publisize themselves on websites and with promotional items (mugs, postcards, mousepads, bookmarks, etc.? Possibly even become self publishers and sell their work solely from their own sites, in joint agreement with other authors on their sites--if you buy miss Lackey's book and like her work, try so-and-so's first book for $1 more--or through book club sites. I don't think the on-line bookstore will go away, just the traditional book as we know it may become more rare, and the stores will turn more to downloadable e-book formats.
How successful you are will depend on your skill as a writer as well as your ability to market yourself.
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