In Dan Sperber’s article “The Future of Writing,” he assesses the presence of writing and reading in our society, as well as where it may lie in the future . He addresses the possible downfall of writing, the prevalence that reading will hold in our society, as well as how our society will adapt and handle the changes. He also covers the emergence of text-to-speech and speech-to-text technological advances, the effects on society and how the disappearance of the two of them will never fully occur.
Sperber’s main claim throughout the article is that writing, with the help of technology, may eventually cease to exist, or at least be far less prominent . While writing has obtained a unique and prominent standing in most places of the world, despite its more recent development, it still has the ability to become a “thing of the past.” Writing did not always hold this risk, but rather in the past it held much prominence in that it became a product of specialization due to the large demand. However, over time the demand has begun to shrink and become considerably smaller with the help of substitutes and alternatives. Originally, there was the option to dictate to someone as they type or write what the other is saying. However, now the marvel of technology has come along, with software that performs the same position but quicker and easier. The introduction of speech recognition software has the ability to cancel out the act of writing all together, yet there are still many problems that leave it far from foolproof. However, with technology only improving, Sperber predicts that, “in a matter of years, it will be possible to speak normally, have the machine transcribe one’s speech with very few errors,” thus allowing the more ...
... middle of paper ...
...her expressing the importance of something that might often be taken for granted. Yet as one learns to read, the task takes little thought, and so the relevance that it holds in the world may easily be overlooked.
“The Future of Writing” addresses the power that technology holds on society, and practices that now hold valid importance. Yet sometime in the future, technology will have the ability to deplete the importance of writing, according to Sperber. Reading will forever hold importance in society, because it holds aspects that cannot be mimicked through a machine. But with the constant desire for technology, that is able to fulfill the desires for a better and easier life, the need may never be fully fulfilled .
Works Cited
Sperber, Dan. “The Future of Writing.” Dan Sperber. 2002. Associated Institution. 30 Jan. 2012 < http://www.dan.sperber.fr/?p=75>
If you had the choice between your phone and a book,you would probably without thinking grab your phone. But what if you knew that reading is crucial to a future. In “Reading for pleasure Is in Painful Decline” by Stephen L. Carter and “Twilight of the books” by Caleb Crain, both authors argue about the state of reading in The United States. Within both passages they give valid points as to why and how the state of reading are negatively affecting the country. Stephen L. Carter represents how the decline in reading for fun is the main concern, while on the other hand, Caleb Crain shows it’s technology and social media that actually are the main contributors.
In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates mourned the development of writing, fearing that people would rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge; they would, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” They would be filled with false wisdom, full of knowledge that makes us lose touch with our culture. Everyone would also be losing a part of himself or herself.
In The Power of Writing by Joel Swerdlow, we are presented to the importance of writing to our civilization. Throughout the years written information has emerged as a primary method of communication. Individuals use whatever is available to write to convey their message. Early forms of writing include carving symbols in stone and bone, written leaves, silk, papyrus, parchment and paper. At the present time writing is used in many settings; for example we have books, text messages, online blogs, lyrics, street signs and emails. There are no limits to written information, and most importantly it can be preserved indefinitely. Writing helps me communicate to others, my identity, creativity and imagination. Individually, I use writing to compose lyrics, write about my personal experiences and to connect with my family. In my opinion, writing is an important tool of communication in my personal and professional development, because it gives an insight of my individual ideas.
In the article “Clive Thompson on the New Literacy,” writer Clive Thompson argues that the widespread use of technology and social media does not make kids illiterate and unable to form coherent sentences, but instead, keeps them actively writing and learning. Thompson’s article is based off of a study done by Andrea Lunsford, a writing professor at Stanford University. Thompson agrees with Lunsford that the use of social media and the Internet allow students to be creative and get better at writing. In his article, Thompson quotes John Sutherland, an English professor at University College of London, to inform the audience of the opposite side of the argument. He states, “Facebook encourages narcissistic blabbering, video and PowerPoint have
While preparing for one of his college lectures, Dennis Baron, a professor and linguistics at the University of Illinois, began playing with the idea of how writing has changed the world we lived in and materials and tools we use in everyday life. This lecture slowly transitioned into “Should Everybody Write?” An article that has made many wonder if technology has made writing too easy for anyone to use or strengthens a writer's ability to learn and communicate their ideas. Baron uses rhetorical strategies in his article to portray to his audience his positive tone, the contrast and comparison of context and his logical purpose.
In recent years the meaning of literacy has become much more than that. Now literacy includes things such as, numbers, images, and technology. Literacy can be something that developed through things like Books, the internet, television, family, and many other resources. In this literacy narrative I will discuss the origins of my current attitudes about writing, and reading.
...d processor continues to open up new ways of thinking for authors, by broadening what they think about and connecting them to the realm of publishing. Now, messages have become even more informal and common as people use the keyboards on their computers to quickly write e-mails and instant messages. Companies can be linked internationally and quickly due to the fast connections communication has developed though the Internet. Authors also have quick access to other writers’ ideas and the option to post them on the web. However, the word processor has taken some of the charm and creative spirit out of the typewriter. It seems that anyone can be an author with the spell-checking and thesaurus capabilities of the modern PC, as if there is no need for creativity and true talent.
Elementary and high schools are not preparing their students well enough to understand the writing process, which mostly affect them during the transition from high school to college. It is clear that elementary and high school students don’t fully understand the five steps of writing the limitation of sentences per a paragraph and how to gather information from different sources and give credit to the source or cited.
I believe that text-speaking is an unacceptable procedure. It limits people’s writing and literature possibilities.
Writing is one of the many factors which can lead to an unequal world. Writing was “One of the most important inventions in human history” (Prososki, “Writing”). It was believed to come from the Fertile Crescent called Sumer around 5,000 years ago. Over the years, writing has advanced as people created writing and printing systems, which were able to reach
Within the 20th Century, many changes happen in the world due to the dominant of technology. As a result, in the field of literacy, the forms of text, knowledge, and learning has been changed to adapt the new changes in the field of technology and respond to the need of the society. Gunther Kress, in his article “Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning,” he argued that the new forms redefine the role of author and reader and transform the process of reading and learning; however, on the other hand, they take away authorship and create crisis for both reader and author. I totally agree with Kress on both issues of gains and losses, and I will present evidences to support those claims.
Mankind at present is on the cusp of a new era of information: where society as a whole was once dominated by the inescapable grasp of writing, then print, human progress is now carrying us, in part kicking and screaming, into digitality. This marked shift from one paradigm to another, and its effects on our human identity, is by its very nature incredibly well-documented, just as was the carry-over from writing to print. But what of the first shift, the diffusion of writing and literacy that appeared to completely scrub primary orality from the face of every civilization that took up its successor? According to Walter J. Ong, that first diffusion of literacy completely rewired the human mind in order to create a more advanced society that depended on writing to survive.
Ong, Walter. “Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought.” Writing Material. Ed. Evelyn Tribble. New York. 2003. 315-335.
It is my personal belief that as time goes on, the role of the reader and the author will be more and more interchanged. With the boundary between the two already fading, it is possible that there will be hypertexts where someone can be a reader and a writer at the same time. Continuing advances in technology and writing will constantly redefine the roles of everyone involved, it is simply society’s decision to accept the changes that will keep blurring the line between the traditional reader and author.
Reading – we do it every day. In almost every aspect of our lives and often take it for granted. Reading is essential for human communication and increasing knowledge. However, because reading is so important even a small change can have a significantly large impact on our modern society. We are currently in a midst of a cultural revolution. In which the printed word is being transformed by the digital.