Writing to change your mind

Most revolutions involve war, and while not apparent from the onset, writing revolutions are no different. Changing such an intrinsic aspect of any culture will always create friction. There will be those on both sides of an imaginary line in the sand, and writing is no different. As pointed out by Ong, in his Orality and Literacy, Plato himself described a Socrates upset with the very creation of written text. Arguing that writing would weaken the mind, this argument is similar to current day arguments with the latest revolution in writing, computers and electronic technology.

I find that this, the most recent revolution, to be one of the most interesting. Before, most revolutions were breakthroughs in solving logistics problems. Not enough people knew how to read, or books were hard to make until a printing press, or paper was hard to make in enough quantity. These were all problems that were considered a revolution once solved, however computer technology, to me, is the true revolution. Specifically, we are now at a point where the question is no longer simply what to read, but how to read.

With the ability to fundamentally alter the text we create, such as font, color, size (to name a few), presentation of reading materials is incredibly different. As an online culture we can start arguments over the use of font as means of transferring information. Recently, the movie Pandora featured a font that was the target of ridicule. How did this come to be? Simply put, writing has changed us. We can see so many different forms of writing, that the embedded message is no longer the focus. Information is available all the time on anything, so now all that matters is how the message is sent.