The uninspired correspondent scratches his scalp, but dandruff and lice, not words, fall onto the blotter.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Authors All



"Interntional concern for the minority who can’t read may soon extend to those who can’t publish. Reading—a defining characteristic of civilization as far back as ancient Greece when all Athenian citizens were expected to know how to read—is now taken for granted in industrialized democracies. Publishing by the few Athenian authors brought us drama, philosophy, science, mathematics, literature, and history. As readers, we consume. As authors, we create. Our society is changing from consumers to creators."
Sadly, when it comes to creating or consuming it's a zero sum game. One necessarily impedes the other. Technology is thrusting the choice on us even more. In a society full of authors who would be the audience? Will the next generation's Plato fall on deaf ears? Perhaps in the future our brains will be connected to a ubiquitous datasphere and instances of our personality will swim through the ether gathering and filtering information, so we don't have to.

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