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> I'm not sure if this is good or bad (who can really say?). Actually, there are many people who can say whether it's good or bad. > Didn't Marshall McLuhan p

> I'm not sure if this is good or bad (who can really say?). Actually, there are many people who can say whether it's good or bad. > Didn't Marshall McLuhan predict this back in the 60s? The 'book' as we know it has only been around for a few hundred years. And, certainly it's been quite important to our progress and exchange of information. But, information has been communicated for thousands of years, in different means, with success. I'm fairly optimistic that new generations will rely on different types of communication to exchange ideas and to learn. Books will not be irrelevant, but books (and reading) are being replaced, in importance. What will happen when we re-evaluate all of our knowledge outside the context of the 'Gutenberg mind'? I suggest you pick up a copy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows:_What_the_Internet_Is_Doing_to_Our_Brains http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows:_What_the_Internet... to broaden your outlook.

ap22213 13y ago
What I mean is: who can predict the future? The 'book' had certainly impacted the structure of Human thinking, and McLuhan suggested that this resulted in things that weren't necessarily 'good' (maybe some good? some bad?). Likewise, new technologies will again change the structure of Human thinking. But, we can't presume to know how this will turn out.
- mephi5t0 13y ago
  Exactly, nobody can. When we were drawing in horse crap - a car was a life saver. Now everyone complain it's killing us with cancer and drawing us in the future melted ice caps. Nobody can tell what impact it will have on human brains in 100 years... I deff know that watching cartoons all day is bad. And a lot of parents do just that - here is an iPad, just shut up and let me be. But if it used for study... Who knows?!
- johnchristopher 13y ago
  Seriously, read the book or the essay it is based on. The 'we don't really know anything so who can say what ?' stance isn't that productive and gets old real fast.

ap22213 13y ago

What I mean is: who can predict the future? The 'book' had certainly impacted the structure of Human thinking, and McLuhan suggested that this resulted in things that weren't necessarily 'good' (maybe some good? some bad?). Likewise, new technologies will again change the structure of Human thinking. But, we can't presume to know how this will turn out.

mephi5t0 13y ago
Exactly, nobody can. When we were drawing in horse crap - a car was a life saver. Now everyone complain it's killing us with cancer and drawing us in the future melted ice caps. Nobody can tell what impact it will have on human brains in 100 years... I deff know that watching cartoons all day is bad. And a lot of parents do just that - here is an iPad, just shut up and let me be. But if it used for study... Who knows?!
johnchristopher 13y ago
Seriously, read the book or the essay it is based on. The 'we don't really know anything so who can say what ?' stance isn't that productive and gets old real fast.