It used to be that a scribe would painstakingly copy a manuscript, through the process absorbing the text at a deep level. This same scribe could then apply thi

It used to be that a scribe would painstakingly copy a manuscript, through the process absorbing the text at a deep level. This same scribe could then apply this knowledge to his own writing, or just understand and curate existing work. The manual labor required to copy at scale employed many scribes, who formed the next generation of thinkers. With the press, a greasy workman can churn out hundreds of copies an hour, for whichever charlatan or heretic palms him enough coin. The people are flooded with falsehoods by men whose only interest in writing is how many words they can fit on a page, and where to buy the cheapest ink. The worst part is that it is impossible to distinguish the work of a real thinker from that of a cheap sophist, since they are all printed on the same rough paper, and serve equally well as tomorrow's kindling.