We discussed most these things in class today, and these ideas are all touched upon at some point in the book.
What I didn't really think about much, until we discussed it in class, were the disadvantages of writing things down. But there are quite of few of those as well. When speaking to someone, most of your meaning and emotion is usually implied through gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice. So, when writing something down, how are you to personalize things so the person reading them can feel your emotion through the text. We have come up with expressions to use in writing for this exact reason, such as exclamation points to show excitement or capitalization to show anger. Overall though, I think with text, part of the personal meaning is lost in the medium.
Also, with anyone and everyone publishing books or websites or anything else with textual content, how are we to know what is True? Who can we believe? Or can we believe anyone? This is something that is kinda scary to think about. Most anyone these days can get online and post a website which looks professional and may sound professional. But without comparing what one person says to several other sources, there is no real way to prove one persons content as the real Truth. Crazy.
Yes, the pros definitely outweigh the cons in this entire situation. If the alphabet would never have been invented leaving us with still no written languages, who knows where we would be today. If we would not be able to recall back as far into history and build on things that have already happened and already been figured out, it is not unlikely to think that we would still be living in a primitive culture with no highly critical thinking taking place.
I must say, I am glad I live in a literate society with a written language.
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