The Written Word is Evolving and We are Evolving with It

Okay, so...this might sound sort of fantastical but hear me out. Do you think we might be headed towards the world of Star Wars, Farenheit 451, Minority Report, and all of those other futuristic, high-tech, digital worlds? Do you think they may be just starting to become our reality?

An artist's representation of a future city.

 
I read a book this month called In Bed with the Word by Daniel Coleman. In his book, Coleman talks about how books and, more specifically reading, defines a culture. Without the written word, a culture remains oral. Knowledge is passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth, and knowledge typically remains that which has been experienced by that culture. If you introduce the written word though, suddenly other ideas that cultures have never been able to consider before now becomes absolutely possible. Cultures merge their ideas together and new stories are created. New technologies are invented. Ideas spread faster. The written word begins to transform the world.

Now, the written word is traveling digitally and ideas are therefore spreading faster than ever. In fact, technologies are being invented to help the ideas spread even faster. For example, eBooks can be downloaded within seconds to a digital monitor! It is the written word in its traditional sense, just faster, more accessible, and more instant.

I mean, take a look at this library that just opened in San Antonio, Texas: it is the first library to be only digital! One hundred years ago--heck, even ten years ago-- I don't think anyone saw this coming.

 

 Think about it: the digital allows people to carry literally tons of the written word in the palm of the hand, it allows them to share ideas instantly, and it allows for greater organization.

The written word is evolving and the world is evolving with it. We're beginning to ask the questions that Clifford Lynch asked in his essay The Battle to Define the Future of the Book in the Digital World: "What are our expectations about the persistence and permanence of human communication as embodied in books as we enter the brave new digital world?" While there are still those that cling to the old ways of doing things (e.g. hand-written letters instead of emails, paper flyers instead of digital flyers, and print books instead of eBooks), I think that within a few generations there will be a huge push to go all-digital, and that humanity will be living in an all-digital world by the end of the 22nd century.