2 ms·

Is that the politically correct term for illiterate?

by nottorp 2y ago

magic_smoke_ee 2y ago
America's illiterati idiocracy went mainstream.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
I'd answer, but I didn't read the article
OutOfHere 2y ago
I don't believe that entirely captures where we have been going. The danger is more that people now read only what they already believe in. They don't read to question, update, or correct their beliefs, mostly only to reinforce them. This can be done with bad books just the same. The open-mindedness is unidirectional rather than omnidirectional. It moves people into extreme orientations.
hagbard_c 2y ago
It is more likely to be akin to the development described in Stephenson's Anathem where textual writing eventually is displaced by something called kinograms which seem to resemble animated emoji. Only scholars locked in in walled institutions of learning from which they rarely venture still read script, outside those walls it is only in some religious orders where textual writing is still practised. Kinograms seem to be mostly used to convey commercial and practical information like user manuals, not for storytelling which is done through some form of video. In a way this is 'post-literate' since it adds an extra dimension to illiteracy: relatively complex information is still conveyed by standardised symbolic means, just not through text. Having said all this it does seem like society is dumbing down, partly due to the way information is distributed. Having said that I think this sentiment was common in previous generations as well.
- jareklupinski 2y ago
  > textual writing eventually is displaced by something called kinograms > I think this sentiment was common in previous generations as well you're the man now, dog
- gsf_emergency 2y ago
  Thanks for timely reminder that Anathem was more than just a much needed upgrade of The Glass Bead Game (besides getting rid of the neuroses while covering roughly the same themes, Neal also shipped his signature thought-provoking gimmicks, more effectively helping to stem the dumbdown than Hesse)
dredmorbius 2y ago
A post-literate society is a hypothetical society in which multimedia technology has advanced to the point where literacy, the ability to read or write, is no longer necessary or common.... <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-literate_society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-literate_society>
- vixen99 2y ago
  Interesting use of 'advanced'.
  - dredmorbius 2y ago
    It follows in a similar sense that mechanisation makes the need for physical strength an stamina redundant; that transport networks make walking, draft wagons, and sailing ships redundant; and that digital computers make arithmetic and pen-and-paper information management redundant. Given that high levels of literacy are typically limited to less than a quarter of the population, and low-to-nil levels may be the fate of a third to half (I've addressed this in several previous HN submissions and comments on US adult literacy, searches for posts <https://hn.algolia.com/?q=by%3Adredmorbius%20adult%20literacy https://hn.algolia.com/?q=by%3Adredmorbius%20adult%20literac...> and comments <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adredmorbius%20adult%20literacy&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...>), as well as the tremendous number of people who have to interact in societies in what is not their own mother tongue, there's some merit to this view. There are of course counterarguments, and I'm highly aware of those as well.

Is that the politically correct term for illiterate?

magic_smoke_ee 2y ago

America's illiterati idiocracy went mainstream.

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago

I'd answer, but I didn't read the article

OutOfHere 2y ago

I don't believe that entirely captures where we have been going. The danger is more that people now read only what they already believe in. They don't read to question, update, or correct their beliefs, mostly only to reinforce them. This can be done with bad books just the same. The open-mindedness is unidirectional rather than omnidirectional. It moves people into extreme orientations.

hagbard_c 2y ago

It is more likely to be akin to the development described in Stephenson's Anathem where textual writing eventually is displaced by something called kinograms which seem to resemble animated emoji. Only scholars locked in in walled institutions of learning from which they rarely venture still read script, outside those walls it is only in some religious orders where textual writing is still practised. Kinograms seem to be mostly used to convey commercial and practical information like user manuals, not for storytelling which is done through some form of video. In a way this is 'post-literate' since it adds an extra dimension to illiteracy: relatively complex information is still conveyed by standardised symbolic means, just not through text. Having said all this it does seem like society is dumbing down, partly due to the way information is distributed. Having said that I think this sentiment was common in previous generations as well.

jareklupinski 2y ago
> textual writing eventually is displaced by something called kinograms > I think this sentiment was common in previous generations as well you're the man now, dog
gsf_emergency 2y ago
Thanks for timely reminder that Anathem was more than just a much needed upgrade of The Glass Bead Game (besides getting rid of the neuroses while covering roughly the same themes, Neal also shipped his signature thought-provoking gimmicks, more effectively helping to stem the dumbdown than Hesse)

dredmorbius 2y ago

A post-literate society is a hypothetical society in which multimedia technology has advanced to the point where literacy, the ability to read or write, is no longer necessary or common.... <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-literate_society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-literate_society>

vixen99 2y ago
Interesting use of 'advanced'.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  It follows in a similar sense that mechanisation makes the need for physical strength an stamina redundant; that transport networks make walking, draft wagons, and sailing ships redundant; and that digital computers make arithmetic and pen-and-paper information management redundant. Given that high levels of literacy are typically limited to less than a quarter of the population, and low-to-nil levels may be the fate of a third to half (I've addressed this in several previous HN submissions and comments on US adult literacy, searches for posts <https://hn.algolia.com/?q=by%3Adredmorbius%20adult%20literacy https://hn.algolia.com/?q=by%3Adredmorbius%20adult%20literac...> and comments <https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adredmorbius%20adult%20literacy&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...>), as well as the tremendous number of people who have to interact in societies in what is not their own mother tongue, there's some merit to this view. There are of course counterarguments, and I'm highly aware of those as well.